Treason in Arthurian legend his unwillingness to reveal the affair to Arthur and his concealment is a violation of Arthur's trust. Gawain is duplicitous throughout Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. He is tempted by the wife of Bertilak, a lord who offers his home to Gawain. While Gawain eventually learns the harms of duplicity, Gawain violates “his responsibility to honor the host-guest relationship”. Gawain keeps the magical girdle, refusing to honor his agreement with Bertilak that he will give everything Lady Bertilak gives to Gawain to the Lord. Instead, Gawain hides the girdle. This treason against the Lord necessitates a physical punishment from
Treason in Arthurian legend pillory, the wheel, or the removal of the accused's eyes. One source reads that “in 1476, Jean Bon, the would-be assassin of the dauphin Charles, was fortunate not to be punished capitally, though he did have his eyes gouged out.” Punishments of treason could also contain a sense of a macabre “poetic justice,” or a punishment tailored to fit the crime, as in the instance of counterfeiter Jean Jouye who was boiled alive “presumably because his crime involved the melting down of coin.” Imprisonment for traitors was usually the result of a reduced death sentence, rather than of an initial