How does the shifting between narrative viewpoints serve to support the narrative's message?

The narrator shifts to first person in the First and Second Reverie of Sir Gawain. The author uses first person to show the ambiguous nature of the past. While the third person narrator is reliable, Gawain is looking for the truth. Is his version right? Do his actions sound like those of a coward? One can distort the past based on their perspective and motivations. Is he really trying to fight a truth that the readers already know? He isn't a reliable narrator, and the reader must make sense of it all and draw their own conclusions.

At the end of the novel, the boatman speaks. Through him, truth emerges. Beatrice is ready to make the last part of her journey alone. She and Axl may walk together on the island in the future, but that will come at a later time. Axl's time has not yet come.