Between the 13th and 14th century, an anonymous author wrote a poem called, “Sir Gawain and The Green Knight” that takes place in the northwest midlands in England. During New Years, King Arthur and his knights gathered to celebrate, but before anything began, King Arthur wished to be entertained. Suddenly they were interrupted by a Green Knight, who wanted to challenge the knights to a game. One person needed to cut his head with his blade within a year and a day, and he would do the same thing to his challenger. Everyone thought he was bluffing, and no one volunteered. The Green Knight then insulted King Arthur’s knights because they’re not who they claimed to be. King Arthur wasn’t going to tolerate someone insult his men, so he volunteered himself. He had …show more content…
to step down, because it wasn’t a wise choice. So, Sir Gawain volunteered in King Arthur’s place, and beheads the Green Knight. It’s now in Sir Gawain’s hands to finish up the challenge. By analyzing characters, resolution, and symbolism, the author demonstrates the importance of faith and values. The characters in “Sir Gawain and The Green Knight” are influenced by a well-known story of “Adam and Eve”. Both Sir Gawain and Adam are tested on their faith and struggle to stay true to their values. Before the game began, the Green Knight asked Sir Gawain, “Before we compete, repeat what we’ve promised. And start by saying your name to me, sir, and tell me the truth, so I can take it on trust” (Sir Gawain 379-380). We see a similar comparison when God gave Adam a commandment and said to him, “You can eat as much as you want from the trees in the garden, but you will not eat from the Tree of the Science of Good and Evil. The day you eat of it, rest assured that you will die” (La Biblia, Gen.2, 16-17). For Sir Gawain, as a knight, he is to follow the code of the Church and of the court. Which means he needs to be faithful, loyal, and much more. He proved his loyalty when he takes King Arthur’s place and is promises to be faithful to the Green Knight. Adam was created in God’s image, free of sin, with the ability to make his own choices. God allowed Adam to live in the Garden of Eden as long as he obeyed the one commandment He gave him and is trusting him. But unfortunately, there were obstacles that made them break their promise. During his stay at the castle, Sir Gawain faced temptation from Lady Bertilak’s three visits. Each visit she helped reveal who Sir Gawain is. On the first visit she questions his code when she says, “...the embodiment of courtliness to the bones of his being, could never have lingered so long with a lady without craving a kiss, as politeness requires…” (Sir Gawain 1298-1300). She is making him believe that he’s breaking the code of courtesy, and ends up receiving a kiss. But, he also broke the code of being involved with another man’s wife. In contrast to “Adam and Eve”, they broke the only rule that they had, because the serpent tricked Eve into thinking that they wouldn’t die if they ate from the forbidden tree, but be like gods. It was so tempting to Eve, that she gave in and gave it to Adam as well. The lord and Sir Gawain exchanged their winnings, the deer and a kiss. The deer is Sir Gawain’s purity and innocence of a knight that are being lost. The second visit he was making an effort not to sin no more, but Lady Bertilak was messing around with his head and ended up receiving two kisses. In exchange for the two kisses Sir Gawain received a wild boar. As the lord hunted the wild boar, it was very difficult to catch and kill, just like Sir Gawain resisting temptation. The last visit had him very worried about his scheduled visit with the Green Knight. The lady tried to console him, but he wasn’t interested and tried offering him gifts. He accepted the green girdle that allowed him to cheat death with the condition that she gave him on not telling the lord he got it from her. They exchanged one last time and is not risking his reputation, so he gives the lord three kisses, and he receives a fox. The fox is Sir Gawain who is sneaky and lying to the lord and to himself because he’s not being a true knight like he says he is. In the end, Sir Gawain was prepared to face the Green Knight with his secret weapon, the green girdle that was underneath his clothes. The Green Knight was ready to behead Sir Gawain, but he ended up flinching. He told him, “Call yourself Sir Gawain?... Never have I known such cowardice in a knight” (Sir Gawain 2270-2273). At that moment, he’s breaking his code of honor because he didn’t keep his word and is not showing who he claimed to be. Sir Gawain wanted him to do it again, but the Green Knight was having his seconds thoughts about him. He lowers his head and went off on the Green Knight that he needed to finish the job just like they agreed to do in the first place. The Green Knight then praises him for his bravery and tells him the whole truth, on how his knight codes were put to test and that the girdle wasn’t magical. Sir Gawain is left in shame and has tainted the knights name with failure. When he came home, he was welcomed in open arms by King Arthur, and the other knights. He told his story, and told them that he’s going to hold on to the girdle as a reminder of his failure. King Arthur and the rest of the knights wore the green belt to make Sir Gawain feel better. The response that we get from King Arthur and the knights demonstrate that they have a different perspective of what a knight is and that most of them have broken the codes, and aren’t affected by it. On the other hand, in “Adam and Eve” the ending was different. When both of them ate from the forbidden tree they were hiding from God and the consequences that were to come. Both were trying to justify to God why they ate it. Adam said, “The woman that you gave me gave it to me” and Eve replied, “The serpent tricked me.” (La Biblia, Gen.3, 12-13). God banished them both from the Garden of Eden and cursed them. Throughout “Sir Gawain and The Green Knight” there are objects such as the pentangle, a five-pointed star, in Sir Gawain’s shield.
The pentangle as described in the story represents the virtues he wishes to have. The first one is that he’s perfect in his five senses, his five fingers never fail him, he’s faithful to the wounds of Christ, and he draws his strength from the five joys Mary had with Jesus. The last one was codes that the knights followed such as friendship, brotherhood, purity, politeness, and pity. Another object that’s very important is the green girdle, that helps Sir Gawain cheat death. Sir Gawain describes it as “...the symbol of sin...a sign of my fault and offense and failure, of the cowardice and covetousness I came to commit” (Sir Gawain 2506-2508). The green girdle can be compared to “Adam and Eve’s” forbidden fruit. For Adam and Eve it was temptation and disobedience that got them banished from the Garden of Eden. The Garden of Eden can also be compared to the castle in which Sir Gawain stayed. Adam and Eve had everything with the condition of not eating from the forbidden tree. On the other hand, Sir Gawain was to give Lord Bertilak his winnings, but ended up lying to him that he
won. In conclusion, Sir Gawain was put to test on whether the codes he follows were something he would abide to if his life was at stake. His faith in God changed when he decides to keep the girdle when he’s about to meet the Green Knight. In the end, Sir Gawain owned up to his mistakes and was trying to set an example for the rest of his knight comrades and King Arthur. Unlike, in “Adam and Eve” they tried to hide and not tell the truth, but instead they tried to blame someone to take the fault. In modern day society, we are similar to them. Everyone is raised differently with values and morals. Each day is a test for us, and we choose to learn or look the other way.
A mysterious knight shows up at the king’s castle and calls himself the Green Knight. The Green Knight then challenges one to play a game which he challenges the king to strike him with his axe if he will take a return hit in a year and a day. Sir Gawain steps forward to accept the challenge for his uncle King Arthur when nobody else in the castle would. He took the King’s role in the game to protect him from the Green Knight. He must learn to accept his responsibility as a knight, in accepting his fate.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight edited and translated by James Winny is a poem about a knight, Sir Gawain, from King Arthur’s court. In the very beginning Sir Gawain volunteers to take King Arthur’s place upon the Green Knights arrival when he declares that one knight must agree to receive a blow by his axe after having the chance to give a blow to him. Sir Gawain ends up chopping off the Green Knights head and is then declared to meet the Green Knight in one year to accept a blow from the Green Knight and his axe. When the year comes Sir Gawain sets off to find the Green Knight at the green chapel, which where he will receive the blow. On Sir Gawain’s ventures
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a fourteenth-century tale written by an anonymous poet, chronicles how Sir Gawain of King Arthur’s Round Table finds his virtue compromised. A noble and truthful knight, Gawain accepts the Green Knight’s challenge at Arthur’s New Years feast. On his way to the Green Chapel, Gawain takes shelter from the cold winter at Lord Bercilak’s castle. The lord makes an agreement with Gawain to exchange what they have one at the end of the day. During the three days that the lord is out hunting, his wife attempts to seduce Gawain. At the end of the story, it is revealed that Morgan le Faye has orchestrated the entire situation to disgrace the Knights of the Round Table by revealing that one of their best, Sir Gawain, is not perfect.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Passage Explication (928-1207). Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was written in the fourteenth century by an anonymous contemporary of Geoffrey Chaucer. It is a tale of bravery, adventure, and coming of age. This is the ballad of Sir Gawain, one of King Arthur's knights, who is challenged to seek the green knight whose head he chopped off during the Arthur's Christmas dinner.
"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" is a poem written by a poet (name unknown) approximately 6000 years ago in the late 1300's in the medieval times. This story was originally written in medieval literature with a real unique rhyme scheme, but was translated later in time to regular English for high school students and researchers to study and read.
...Gawain’s time in the wilderness, living nature, and his acceptance of the lady’s offering of the green girdle teach him that though he may be the most chivalrous knight in the land, he is nevertheless human and capable of error.
“Sir Gawain and the Green knight” is a romantic Middle English poem written in the fourteenth century by an unknown author. This poem is a fairy-tale like story that gives its readers a glimpse into the social class system of Medieval England. This literary work opens with the famous King Arthur, a local bishop, and King Arthur’s knights enjoying a royal feast at Camelot during the Christmas season. This poem provides an accurate depiction of the feudal system of the middle ages. Within this tale are individuals representing the “pyramid of power” that symbolizes the social class system of Medieval England. This top of the pyramid group consists of royalty, clergy and noble knights.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is considered to be one of the finest Arthurian romances in English. Unfortunately, the 14th-century author of the epic remains unknown. The poem describes a common game at the time the "Beheading Game," which turns out to be a great physical as well as moral challenge to the main character, Sir Gawain.
No matter where we go in the world, we will always be surrounded and tempted by sin. These temptations test our character and morality, and they prove that our human nature inherently causes us to fall to the sins that encompass us. Even though the world is a dark and immoral place to live, we all value our lives and are prepared to do almost anything to protect ourselves from harm’s way. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the green girdle serves as symbol that highlights Gawain’s incessant love for life that tempts him to stray from his knightly code of chivalry.
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...
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.
The symbolism of the girdle in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight changes and grows as the poem progresses, adding Gawain's honor and sin to seemingly separate ideas of an untamed nature related to the otherworld and animal instincts. Piotr Sadowski, in his The Knight on His Quest: Symbolic Patterns of Transition in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, calls the girdle a symbol of “complex moral truth” that the other knights of the Round Table fail to learn from, as Gawain does. While I agree that the girdle's most important function is the message it conveys about morality as it pertains to courtly behavior, I argue that the moral ideal the girdle sets is not higher than the knights achieve, but rather is balanced between humanity and the godliness Gawain strives for – that is, the moral standard by which these knights should abide does not call for absolute purity, like their chivalric codes do, but allows for the minor sins that humans fall into by their very nature. By combining knightly honor, Gawain's sins, and the Green Knight's Otherworldliness in one symbol, a moral truth contrary to Sadowski's strict, traditional chivalry emerges that embraces humanity and nature, rather than rejecting them entirely in favor of godly ideals. When Bertilak's wife first presents the girdle to Gawain, it is described simply as being of green silk and gold trim, which should instantly remind the reader of the description of the Green Knight when he enters Arthur's court.
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...
The poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, was written by an anonymous poet, otherwise known as, the “Gawain Poet” or the “Pearl Poet”. Nothing conclusive is known of the author’s identity or biography. However, the poem was likely written in the mid to late fourteenth century or the 1300s, in northwestern England. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is easily identified as a Medieval romance, do to the poem’s plethora of characteristics of a typical Medieval romance. Although Sir Gawain and the Green Knight has plenty characteristics of a medieval romance, three of these characteristics really stuck out to me, such as; a story of a single knight on a single quest, also the story exists within the constraints similar to a fairy-tale, and lastly the story contains elements of courtly love.