The Pentangle and the Scales: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Measure for Measure.

This article examines the thematic and ethical parallels between Shakespeare’s *Measure for Measure* and Simon Armitage’s translation of the medieval poem *Sir Gawain and the Green Knight*, both prescribed texts by the Cambridge International Examination Board in 2023. Despite their differing historical and cultural contexts—medieval Catholicism for *Sir Gawain* and Reformation-era Protestantism for *Measure for Measure*—both works explore issues of virtue, justice, temptation, and the complexities of moral governance through motifs such as shame, substitution, and tests of integrity. The article highlights how each text negotiates the tension between absolute ethical standards and human fallibility within their respective social orders, with *Sir Gawain* emphasizing corporate chivalric values and *Measure for Measure* focusing on individual responsibility amid conflicting legal and moral codes. It also discusses the differing narrative resolutions, noting *Sir Gawain*’s integration into Arthurian romance contrasts with the ambiguous, unresolved ending of *Measure for Measure*.