Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (II)

In lieu of talking about persuasion this week, I thought I would talk about how the lady of the castle in which Sir Gawain stayed used persuasion to try and seduce Sir Gawain. The first time the lady tries, she sways Sir Gawain with flattery, logic, and divinity. She starts by saying:
"For I know who you are, Gawain himself,
Honored all over the world. I've heard them
Praise your perfect chivalry, pure
To lords, to ladies, to everyone alive."
To a knight, this is quite a complement. Several things all knights strive to achieve are honesty, chivalry, and chastity. Her acknowledgement of his accomplishments is topnotch flattery.
Then, the lady continues by saying:
"And here you are, and we're alone,
My lord and his men away in the woods,
All men asleep, and my maids too,
Your door shut and locked with a bolt..."
Now, after the flattery, comes the logic, but twisted. She says that everyone is either out of the castle or asleep, so no one would know anything. The funny thing is that she is offering him to relinquish the virtues that she just praised him for having! This contradiction caused a loophole in the lady's argument, which gave Sir Gawain a way out.
In order to redeem her mistake, the lady then throws in her godly reasoning. She says:
"My love for our Lord who rules in Heaven
Restrains me, thought His grace has given me what
all women
Want."
Basically, she is justifying herself by backing up her desires through God's will. Piety is another aspect knights strive to obtain. This appeal to religion is the lady's last resort, and a weak one at that. For Sir Gawain is much smarter and more willful than she originally thought. After trying for three nights, the lady finally gave up. Her modes of persuasion were no match for the noble Sir Gawain.