Chivalry In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

When one thinks of chivalry in the 21st century, some of the first things that come to mind are a man holding the door for a woman, men walking on the outer side of the sidewalk – closer to the street – in order to allow women to stay further away from the street and cars, and a man opening the car door for his date. However, the chivalric code of the Anglo-Norman period was fairly different from what we consider chivalry today, though the chivalric actions of our modern times certainly reflect chivalry in early England. Miriam-Webster defines chivalry as “the system, spirit, or customs of medieval knighthood” or more simply, “the system of values (such as loyalty and honor) that knights in the Middle Ages were expected to follow” (Miriam-Webster). Knights of the Middle Ages

Such is true for the anonymous author known as “the Pearl Poet’s” portrayal of the knight Sir Gawain in his Arthurian legend titled Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. According to Carolyn Larrington of the University of

Gawain’s fortitude again shines through as he faces the blade of the green knight. Though Gawain knew death was practically eminent at this point, he courageously proclaims to the supernatural being “…bring on the blade…deal me my destiny”, and then goes on to say that he will stand perfectly still and not move a bit while the knight shifts to behead (183). Gawain’s fortitude was also fairly evident over the course of his journey to find the green knight. Throughout his search of the green knight, Sir Gawain battled bad weather, the sadness of being separated from his family, and to top it off, he had no idea where to even find the green knight – but he stayed with his task and never backed down, and ultimately found the green knight in the