It may be said that Gawain's chief fault was that of sinning against courtesy. If courtesy was in fact what he was being tested on, Gawain had no chance of passing this test. For him, courtesy was respect for the woman, obeying her and serving her. The Lady's idea of ​​courtesy was completely different and included adultery in its meaning. Because of the coexistence of these two meanings Gawain had no choice but to violate one of them. The concept of penance and absolution does not change when courtesy is what Gawain is tested on. What changes is the scope of the allegory. In the first understanding of Gawain's sin, his weakness of character was a personal fault for which he was penalized, but which he was later forgiven. In the second it can be said that man in general cannot reach perfection and is destined to sin. There's no escaping it. But the sin will be forgiven if admitted and atoned for