Who is the Real Hero of the Story?

I am going to go against the grain once again to point out that I think the Green Knight is the hero of the story.  I know that Gawain gets top billing and fits all of the stereotypes of the hero, but ponder a few things.  Gawain is somewhat flawed as a hero.  Near as I can tell from sifting through the language of the story, it is quite possible he violated all five of his knightly virtures.  This is not to say that Gawain isn't trying, he just isn't succeeding.  For those of you that are keeping score at home, the five knightly virtues are courtesy, chastity, piety, generosity and friendship.  If you examine Sir Gawain's actions in the story, you can question whether any of the virtues come through unscathed.

Let's contrast Gawain's actions with those of the Green Knight.  The Green Knight, though not a member of King Arthur's round table, adheres to the knightly virtues much better than Sir Gawain.  Now maybe it is because he is supernatural and knows exactly what is going to take place in the future; but I like to believe that it is because he holds the same type of values that the knights of Camelot aspire to hold.  For the Green Knight it comes naturally and he is able to succeed where Gawain fails. 

The great examples of knightly virtues in the story are the two covenants negotiated by the Green Knight and Sir Gawain.  Both of these seem to give Sir Gawain the upper hand.  It is obvious to the casual observer that Gawain is in the superior position in both deals.  In the first, he can kill the Green Knight (or so he thinks) without ever having to face the prospect of losing his head in return.  I just don't see anything noble about beheading a defenseless man.  The Green Knight exposes his neck willingly and Sir Gawain swings hard and takes his head right off.  In the second covenant, Gawain feels like he makes a great deal.  He will be rewarded with the proceeds of the Green Knight's hunts in exchange for perhaps nothing.  All Gawain is doing is lounging around the castle all day.  There is very little way he can not be the beneficiary of this covenant (or so he thinks).

By the end of the story, we can see that despite Sir Gawain's efforts, he has failed in his knightly virtues in both covenants.  I may be stretching a little bit, but it would seem that the generous thing for Gawain to do in the first covenant is to do exactly what the Green Knight did at the end --- swing and nick his opponent rather than taking off his head.  While this would certainly have been a risky play, it does seem appropriate given the situation.  In terms of the second covenant, Sir Gawain had a really easy part to play.  The only thing he needed to do was exchange gifts with his host.  He wasn't able to do this is an honorable way.  He withheld the girdle for personal gain.  After the Green Knight had lavished so much on him, Gawain still chose dishonesty instead of doing the right thing.

At the end of the tale, it is the Green Knight who has represented knightly virtues the best.  He has never violated his word, or behaved in an improper way.  Even after he gave Sir Gawain a chance to show his mettle through a second covenant, Gawain proved to not be up to the task of keeping his word.  Despite that outcome, the Green Knights still sprares Gawain's life.  If that is not heroic behavior, I don't know what is.  The Green Knight continues to shine as a hero because he does not behead Gawain like he could have and maybe should have due to Gawain's failures.