The point in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight at which the number five is most clearly seen symbolized is when Gawain is given his shield that is painted with a golden pentangle. This gifting occurs at the beginning of part 2, just after the Green Knight has challenged Arthur's knights to his beheading game, and Gawain volunteers and receives this shield in preparation for his journey to search for the Green Knight.
On a basic level, the number five is meant to be seen as a representation of ideal knighthood. Stanzas 27–28 of part 2 elucidate that not only does the pentangle represent a "five" with its five points but also that each point represents its own set of "fives." Since the poet tells the reader twice in those two stanzas that the pentangle "is a figure that has five points, / and each line overlaps and locks with...
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another, / and everywhere it is endless," the reader should realize that each of the individual symbols is meant to have ultimate unity.
The five senses of taste, touch, smell, hearing, and sight are represented in the first point and demonstrate the importance of a knight's vigilance. The five fingers of the knight are the second point and symbolize the strength that a knight must have. However, the paragon of knighthood, according to the poet, must also look outside himself, specifically to religion, which is what the next two points do. The third point represents the five wounds of Jesus at his crucifixion, and the fourth symbolizes the five joys of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Those five joys are the events of Annunciation, Nativity, Resurrection, Ascension, and Assumption. Lastly, the fifth point, the virtues of free-handedness, friendship, continence, courtesy, and piety, are qualities that human and deity must work together to fully achieve.
Thus, the "five of fives" works as a means of literal protection for Gawain yet also serves as a reminder to him, and to the reader, of the unity between humanity and deity that an ideal knight should display.