Qualities of a Good Leader
Monkey see monkey do; that is how people in a community follow their leader. They may not follow him or her action for action but in essence they do. If the leader is selfish and greedy then the people will grow selfish and greedy. If a leader is humble and has a mind and heart to serve the people instead of being served, the nature of the people will become more cordial. A leader is tasked with the governing and care of those under him/her, dictionary.com says a leader is " a guiding or directing head". A leader should lead by example; serving willingly, taking responsibility, and staying humble because the people under them will start to adopt and behave like their leader.
A good leader is humble, willing to serve; one of the people, selfless, firm, wise, on and on the list goes. There is an abundance of attributes and characteristics of a good leader but we cannot have them all. No matter how how hard we try, we cannot be a perfect leader. The only being capable of being the perfect leader is God. He fulfills all the qualifications of a leader; He is the example that we should strive to be like, especially the people who are in charge of others. One leader in particular, King Arthur, is a great example of a leader that did very well for being a man. There were times where his judgment and actions were questioned but he succeeded nonetheless. Now, success is not what defines a good or bad leader; it is merely the fruit of their labor.
In the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Arthur's decision to send Gawain (who was the "runt of the litter") to go and fulfill the challenge of the Green Knight stirred up some questions. The challenge put the reputation of Arthur and the court on the line; ...
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...mple; by their small actions towards the least of us and the big actions that influence the course of many.
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"Arthurian Legend." Arthurian Legend. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2014. .
"Background Information." INT296b Character Analysis Joseph Demma. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2014. .
"History." King Arthur. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May 2014. .
Radmacher, Earl D., Ronald Barclay. Allen, and H. Wayne. House. Nelson's NKJV Study Bible: NKJV, New King James Version. Nashville, TN: Nelson Bibles, 1997. Print.
"Story of King Arthur and the Lady of the Lake." - Sword in the Loch. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2014. .
Some readers of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight may think that the challenges Gawain faces are no more than tests to show off his knighthood. I believe that the Green Knight’s challenges do more than try to test a knight’s might, but instead challenges the institution of chivalry and knighthood. At first, the Green Knight’s proposition appears to be nothing more for him than a game, but the challenges that he sets up a part from the original beheading game alludes to a much more serious goal. These goals I believe are to challenge the court of Arthur and their supposed authority over all that is chivalric and masculine. By the decree of the Green Knight, Gawain and the court pass the tests, but in my view they do not “pass” the tests and instead fail to realize that the Green Knight was exploiting their views on knighthood.
Sir Gawain, although not the mightiest of knights, proved to have a sense of integrity and honour when he offered himself for the Green Knight's game in place of the king. He stated in his speech to the King that he was “the weakest...and of wit feeblest;” (354) and that “the loss if [his] life would be least of any;” (355). Although knowing he stood an unfair chance to the large, bold Green Knight, Sir Gawain proudly and courteously took King Arthur's place in the game. He was allowed one blow to the Green Knight in exchange for a return blow a year later. On his journey to receive his blow, Sir Gawain stops at a castle and, during his stay, is offered another game from the host; at the end of each day the host will exchange his hunting prize for a prize Sir Gawain inherited around the castle that day. Of course, Sir Gawain accepted the game and played it fairly for the first two days. However, on the third day, he received a green girdle from the host's...
The basic story of Arthur (and Gawain) found in Geoffrey's Historia was later translated and reworked many times: by Wace in the Norman French Roman de Brut, in an Anglo-Norman fragment, by Layamon in the Early Middle English Brut, and in the Middle English Alliterative Revival piece the Morte Arthure (the AMA), among others.
King Arthur and his knights represent the pinnacle of bravery, chivalry, and honor. However, when a strange knight, the Green Knight, enters Camelot with a challenge, none of the knights accept it (?). No knights wanted to go blow for blow with the Green Knight for fear of losing their lives. It is not until Arthur rises to face the challenge, to defend the honor of his court, that Gawain steps forward and accepts it. Therefore, the purpose of the Green Knight is to teach Sir Gawain to value his honor and the honor of the king more than his life.
The passage (130-202) of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight describes the appearance of a strange knight in King Arthur's court. The anonymous author of the epic describes the rider in great detail, emphasizing the importance of this character. The passage is intended to arouse readers' curiosity, and at the same time, to introduce the mighty danger that the main character, Sir Gawain, will have to face. Furthermore, the strange knight is shown to be a test or trial for King Arthur and his knights. Finally, the passage presents the actual dynamics of Arthur's court as incompatible with the poet's initial praising of nobility, justice and chivalric ideals.
Everyone has their own ideas of what a leader is, what they might look like, act like or maybe what their accomplishments were. They, who are the leaders are the ones who have made a changed in the world and have shown people how true leaders are recognized as. They may have made mistakes in life, but they each take leadership and they each are unique, having their own personalities and an individual quality that makes them a true leader. A leader can portray attributes like courage: having bravery and overcoming fears, confidence: to believe in oneself, and action: to be able to accomplish amazing deeds for the benefit of family, friends and others.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a tale spun from the Legends of King Arthur and his knights of the round table. Typically intended to inspire lessons of chivalry and humility, Sir Gawain’s story follows the road paved by previous Camelot accounts. In thoroughly providing an analysis of this story one must first determine the plot, followed by the metaphorical use of illustration and imagery, which the storyteller employed in order to reveal the nature of Gawain and his mysterious foe.
Sir Gawain is, undoubtably, the most varied of the Arthurian characters: from his first minor appearance as Gwalchmei in the Welsh tales to his usually side-line participation in the modern retelling of the tales, no other character has gone from such exalted heights (being regarded as a paragon of virtue) to such dismal depths (being reduced to a borderline rapist, murderer, and uncouth bore), as he. This degree of metamorphosis in character, however, has allowed for a staggering number of different approaches and studies in Gawain.
Sir Gawain is the nephew of the most famous King Arthur. Gawain being in line of the throne knew he must show his bravery and man up in front of his fellow knights. The Green Knight stormed into the king’s courts riding on a mystical horse. He taunted the men asking for the bravest knight in the kingdom to stand up and take his outrageous challenge. As the men sat quietly not knowing what to do, Sir Gawain decides t...
The Court of King Arthur in the Tales of Lanval and Sir Gawain the Green Knight
Sir Gawain is originally faced with the challenge of the Green Knight. The Green Knight appears in King Arthur's court and causes a disturbance, issuing an open invitation to all in the court "to strike one stroke for another" (Norton, line 287) with his strong, sturdy, and finely-crafted axe as the prize. This test appears simple enough, and it puts Gawain into a straightforward, short-term conflict with the Green Kni...
In a land of magic, love, betrayal, hatred, loyalty and mystery, there exists a kingdom called Camelot. At the heart of Camelot are the Knights of the Round Table who maintain their loyalty to King Arthur. From the famed knights emerges one knight, who stands out as being traditionally the most loyal, chivalrous, and courtly of all: Sir Gawain. It is during one of Arthur's New Year's feast, that a stranger rudely gallops into the great hall and begins what will be a yearlong test for Sir Gawain. His color, physical stature, power, and magic are astounding to the Knights of the Round Table. Only one knight dares to accept the challenge of this green giant. This is the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a fourteenth Century Arthurian romance by an anonymous poet.
Sir Gawain, the central character of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, is the tale of a brave knight whose rise to greatness begins with a challenge given by a mysterious green warrior. When his beheading game was rejected by the Knights of the Round Table, the Green Knight taunted them by stating “What, is this Arthur’s house.../that everyone talks of in so many kingdoms? /where are now your arrogance and your victories, / your fierceness and wrath and your great speeches?/now is the revel and the renoun of the Round Table/ overwalt wyth a worde of on wyghes speche, for al dares for drede withoute dynt schewed!”(Fitt 1.309-315). At this point Arthur, angrily, decides to take the challenge. Gawain gives the reader a glimpse into his character by describing himself and the reason as to why he should be the one to take on the challenge. With respect to Arthur, Gawain states “the weakest of them, I know, and the dullest-minded/ so my death would be least loss, if truth should be told/ only because you are my uncle am I to be praised/ no virtue I know in myself but your blood” (Fitt 1. 354-25...
Ashton, Gail. “The Perverse Dynamics of sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” Arthuriana 15.3 (2005), pp. 51-74. JSTOR. Web. 2 Dec. 2013
To become a truly effective leader, one must encapsulate the various behaviors related to the aforementioned course learnings in his/her persona and demonstrate such behaviors daily. This course has allowed me to identify four behaviors that all leaders must portray to be effective. The first of which is that a leader must be inspirational. To do so, a leader must set the appropriate vision and direction for the organization and provide a path to achieving defined goals. Additionally, a leader must induce the proper levels of motivation so that each employee has sufficient incentive to work towards the organization’s goals. As discussed in the class, motivation can be accomplished by factors such as rewarding hard work and providing the correct opportunities to employees. While these are motivating in that employees desire to be fairly compensated and to be doing work they deem valuable, inspiration comes more from organizational culture. A leader will be inspirational by setting a tone that appreciates each employee’s contribution, no matter how small in scale it is. Further, employees are inspired when they work collaboratively in a group setting and can capitalize on individual strengths to drive organizational goals.