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Code of chivalry in sir gawain
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Sir Gawain and The Green Knight has prompted scholars to examine and diversely interpret the medieval narrative. One of the underlying questions that has been proposed embodies the analysis of the relationship between Christian and Pagan ideals and how knightly chivalry is influenced by religion during the Arthurian Romance period. It is no mistake that the two varied religious ideals are intertwined throughout the poem due to the nature of classical antiquity. Amidst the overlap between superstitious rituals and Orthodox- Christian beliefs it is clear that Sir Gawain has a sense of personal integrity guided by a moral compass. The poem’s intricately balanced structure challenges the reader to seek out a resolution coherent with his or her own ethics. An admirable knight of King Arthur's renowned court, Sir Gawain is directed by a complex set of ethos, a collaboration of principles symbolized by the mystical pentangle. A five-pointed star composed of five interlocking lines; the figure represents a multitude of guiding tenets, representing both religious and knightly ideals. One can recognize that “the pentangle cognizance is explicated by the poet to signal Gawain’s complete Christian perfection, and for the reader to be aware of contemporary concerns about magical protective practices, hinting at human frailty” (Hardman 251). The pentangle symbolizes the five virtues of knights consisting of, generosity, friendship, courtesy, chastity, and piety. All of which Gawain is striving to adhere to due to his knightly obligation to the code of chivalry. Gawain alleges that all virtues are seamlessly interconnected in the man as in the geometric figure on the shield. Together with the amour, the shield seems to complete the visi... ... middle of paper ... ... ritual of forgiveness whereby the blot of sin is effaced by penitence and satisfaction” (Sharma 180). Sharma acknowledges that there are Christian influences in Sir Gawain and The Green Knight, but argues that Gawain does not always choose to follow those ideals. The narrative artistry of Sir Gawain and The Green Knight can be attributed to the fundamental elements of chivalric life and the exploration of classic mythological elements that allows the narrative to bridge the gap between Christianity and Paganism, and allow its readers to find their own spiritual interpretation with in the text. Works Cited Sharma, Manish. "Hiding the Harm: Revisionism and Marvel in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." EBSCO host Academic Search Premier. Phillipa, Hardman. "Gawain's Practice of Piety in Sir Gawain and The Green Knight." EBSCO host Academic Search Premier.
Sir Gawain is presented as a noble knight who is the epitome of chivalry; he is loyal, honest and above all, courteous. He is the perfect knight; he is so recognised by the various characters in the story and, for all his modesty, implicitly in his view of himself. To the others his greatest qualities are his knightly courtesy and his success in battle. To Gawain these are important, but he seems to set an even higher value on his courage and integrity, the two central pillars of his manhood.
One key embodiment of the differences between Romantic and pagan doctrines is the contradictions between Arthur’s Court and the Green Knight’s castle. The poem opens with a lengthy illustration of the lavishness of King Arthur’s castle, emphasizing its grandeur and extravagance. The poet points to the “velvet/Carpets, embroidered rugs, studded/ With jewels as rich as an emperor's ransom” (lines 77-79). The poet spends so much time describing the decorations in order to meet the Christian and Romantic principle that a castle must be awe-inspiring as possible as a tribute to God. Conversely, the Green knights castle is very humble. Located on a grassy knoll in the deep woods, his castle lacks the extravagance of Arthur’s court. Rather, his castle is a simple cave. The simplicity of his hom...
“Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” Element of Literature, Sixth Course. Austin: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston, 1997. 161-172. Print.
The greatest part of these studies have involved the middle-English text Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Extensive work has been done on this alliterative four-part poem written by an anonymous contemporary of Chaucer: feminists have attacked his diatribe against women at the end, or analyzed the interaction between Gawain and the women of Bercilak’s court; those of the D. W. Robertson school seek the inevitable biblical allusions and allegory concealed within the medieval text; Formalists and philologists find endless enjoyment in discovering the exact meaning of certain ambiguous and archaic words within the story. Another approach that yields interesting, if somewhat dated, results, is a Psychological or Archetypal analysis of the poem. By casting the Green Knight in the role of the Jungian Shadow, Sir Gawain’s adventure to the Green Chapel becomes a journey of self-discovery and a quest - a not entirely successful one - for personal individuation.
Web. 30 Sept. 2009. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume A. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt.
In Gordon M. Shedd’s “Knight in Tarnished Armour: The Meaning of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”, he argues that Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is truly about the strength and weaknesses of human nature. One particularly interesting part of his argument asserts that Gawain’s humanity broke medieval romance tradition.
In the anonymous poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the character of Sir Gawain is portrayed as the imperfect hero. His flaws create interest and intrigue. Such qualities of imperfection cannot be found in the symbol of the pentangle, which he displays on his shield. This contrast between character and symbol is exposed a number of times throughout the poem allowing human qualities to emerge from Gawain’s knightly portrayal. The expectations the pentangle presents proves too much for Gawain as he falls victim to black magic, strays from God, is seduced by an adulterous woman, and ultimately breaks the chivalric code by lying to the Green Knight.
The first symbol in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight that I will discuss is Sir Gawain’s knightly shield. On Gawain’s shield is a pentangle, the five points on this pentangle represent the five virtues of the perfect knight; piety, friendship, generosity, chastity and courtesy. Each of the five virtues is tested on Gawain throughout the poem creating an emphasised importance on the shield’s representation and meaning. “Now alle þese fyue syþez, for soþe, were fetled on þis knyȝt, And vchone halched in oþer, þat non ende hade, And fyched vpon fyue poyntez, þat fayld neuer” (SGGK, 656-8). This quote tells of the pentangle’s design, how each line of the pentangles composition is endlessly linked to one another, suggesting that each virtue depends on th...
The Pearl Poet’s Sir Gawain and the Green Knight exhibits the relationships of the magic weapon, the boon, and the unhealable wound and their significance in the story by their usage. These three archetypes further develop the character of Sir Gawain and reveal the faults in himself.
The poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, set apart by its “secular subject and romance form” (Prior 92), portrays many ideas and customs related to the understandings of chivalry, law, and religion. However, much more is to be understood when reading this Arthurian “tale of enchantment” (Sir Gawayne and the Grene Knight), like the color green. This color can stand for many different things, but in this specific poem it symbolizes nature, supernatural, and monstrosity to support the Green Knight’s reasoning for challenging Arthur’s knights.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is an epic poem that illustrates the chivalric ideals that a knight of the Round Table must uphold. The characters in this poem recognize a strict code of ethics and chivalry. Sir Gawain and his fellow knights hold beliefs such as courtesy, nobility, and religious ideals to a high regard. In this society people are classified in congruence with their faithfulness to a code of behavior called chivalric code. Knightly chivalric code was obtained from the Christian perception of morality. It is a crucial component of Sir Gawain’s beliefs as a knight in Arthur’s court.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a poem written by The Gawain Poet about medieval times. During medieval times poems often idealized and glorified knights, which people expected to obey a code of chivalry. In the poem the protagonist, Sir Gawain receives a challenge from the Green Knight. Sir Gawain cuts off the Green Knight’s head, they meet at the Green Chapel for the exchange of winning, and finally part their own ways. In a passage from the poem, the poet’s use of literary devices, such as imagery and diction, make Sir Gawain seem very honorable and modest, as well as to display an overall theme of chivalry.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is an adroitly expressed fourteenth century Arthurian poem in Middle English. The nature of the adventure is guided by explicit codes of conduct. Primarily, the code chivalry plays a significant role in the actions and behavior of Sir Gawain and supplementary characters throughout the poem. Chivalry is defined as the medieval knightly system with its religious social code. Values of English chivalry develop from the Christian concept: morality. This biblical theme promotes ethical beliefs of human interaction. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight has abstract ideas as it contains a story of a journey of romance. Although it may not seem like a Christian text by modern standards, morality plays a big role at the heart
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight takes its protagonist, the noble Gawain, through
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a poem which tells the tale of a knight who undergoes trials-testing the attributes of knighthood-in order to prove the strength and courage of himself, while representing the Knights of the Round Table. One of King Arthurs most noblest and bravest of knights, Sir Gawain, is taken on an adventure when he steps up to behead a mysterious green visitor on Christmas Day-with the green mans’ permission of course. Many would state that this tale of valor would be within the romance genre. To the modern person this would be a strange category to place the poem in due to the question of ‘where is the actual romance, where is the love and woe?’ However, unlike most romances nowadays, within medieval literature there are many defining features and characteristics of a romance-them rarely ever really involving love itself. Within medieval literature the elements of a romance are usually enshrouded in magic, the fantastic and an adventure. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight follows Sir Gawain over the course of one year, from one New Years to the next, as was the deal he and Bertilak, the green knight, struck.