The story of “Sir Gawain and The Green Knight” involves many games and challenges between two antagonistic competitors. Gawain is perceived as the hero who is loyal, honest, and brave. While our villain the Green Knight is a mysterious foreboding figure with cruel intentions. When analyzing these two main characters we see that first impressions are not always factual and how the challenges these competitors faced though out the story has truly affected them. Resulting in them not only to change but reveal their true self. In the beginning of this epic tale, we are introduced to one of our main characters Gawain. In the castle ruled by King Anther he is not only a part of the royal family by blood but a knight. By Gawain upholding such …show more content…
a noble title we the readers can already identify two characteristics he must have. A knight is a noble subject of his kingdom who not only protects the public but the King himself. Therefore we can presume a man with this status contains the attributes of Chivalry and Courage. As we continue reading this story we see from the first major scene in “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” weather our previous assumption are factual. As the scene begins there is a party presently going on at the castle, King Author is sitting at a table with the rest of his court talking and eating. When the Green Knight appears unexpectedly presenting the King with a challenge. The Green Knight requests that Arthur fights him by “exchanging blows”.(Weiss) Arthur and the Green knight began to dispute back and forth but before the king accepts a knight stands to state that he will take on the challenge. This scene shows not only Gawain’s loyalty to the king by risking his own life to save him but how he truly feels about himself. When Gawain steps forwards accepting the challenge against the Green Knight he states “...the weakest, well I know, and wit feeblest; and the loss of my life will be the least of any.”(208) According to the article “Gawain’s First Failure,” this statement “demonstrates an excessive adherence to valor and a lack of concern for life.” (Weiss) Presenting us with a new perspective of who Gawain is outside of his title. Sir Gawain obviously doesn’t think very vastly of himself and feels that his is not valuable as a knight to the king. Bestowing us with a new characteristic, low self-esteem. After Gawain’s battle at the castle with the Green Knight, he keeps his promise to the uninvited guest by leaving his home to search for him before the year is over. During his preparation for his journey, another two qualities are exposed truth and bravery. In anticipation for his battle, Gawain dresses in his finest armor. This armor alone is symbolic to the story and a representation of who Gawain is, a knight. A specific piece of armor he was wearing that the author himself point out in this story is his shield. It had the five-pointed star of Solomon on the face and a picture of St. Mary on the back. The five-pointed star of Solomon on the face symbolizes truth. This shield was given to him indicating that Gawain is worthy of it. Therefore referring that Gawain himself is truthful and honest otherwise, he would not have possession of it. Before leaving on his journey, a large amount of the kingdom come to see him, including all the knights of king Authors court. Gawain addresses the audience stating, “Why should I tarry? And smiled/with tranquil eye/ ‘In destinies sad or merry/True men can but try” (214). From this simple but bold statement we see Gawain bravery. He shows no signs of fear. Instead, he stands tall while the people woe thereby, stating that he is intrepid of facing his destiny. Gawain leaves his home on horseback around the beginning of November.
At this time the leaves are falling and winter is right around the corner. Thus, our noble knight would have to endure the worse weather while traveling in search for the Green Chapel. This, itself, shows his perseverance. Gawain is also dedicated. He encountered a challenged that he plans to face head on even when he has the choice not too. The Green Knight requested that Gawain leaves his home to find him before the year ends. Meaning that it was his choice. “You must solemnly swear that you’ll seek me yourself; that you’ll search me out to the ends of the earth” (394-396). He did not threaten Gawain in any, instead, he uses temptation against him. Gawain is known to be a loyal man that will keep his word. If he were to break the promise he made with the green knight he then would put his own reputation at risk. Ensuing him to keep his promise by leaving Arthur’s court and never turn …show more content…
back. The beginning of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” gives us a clear insight of who Gawain is at the beginning of the story. All the attributes a knight is expected to uphold he has and more. What we can also conclude from Gawain actions from these first few scenes is that his personal integrity and reputation are imperative to him. According to the source “Signifying the Self,” the author John Plummer says that “Gawain reasserts the signs of the other side of Camelot’s reputation: courtesy, rules-bound behavior, restraint.” (Plummer) Signifying the reputation that his home kingdom represents and he as a knight is also expected too. Though accepting the Green Knights challenge he “has made himself known as singular, the integer of integrity.” (Plummer) He now not only is representing the king and the whole kingdom but himself. Gawain doesn’t wish to bring humility upon himself or Camelot so he accepted the challenge and committed to it even if the value of his life meant very little to him demonstrating that his personal integrity and reputation are important factors of who he is. During Gawain journey to the Green Chapel, he comes across a castle. He is sincerely invited into the castle by the porter who then introduced him to the courtiers and lord. Gawain is then invited by the lord to stay as a guest in the castle during his journey. At this part of the story we are in the middle, this is when Gawain’s true identity begins to show. Gawain is perceived to be very courteous and well manned. This is demonstrated during his visit at the castle by his actions first at the dinner table. While eating he is introduced to two women, the host’s wife and old women. Gawain courtesy bows when introducing himself to the old women but takes the host’s wife in his arms and gives her a kiss. This small scene makes the readers question Gawain’s character because of the two different actions. To readers, this trait may seem false because embracing women and kissing her is not the proper way to introduce yourself to anyone, especially royalty. However, this is just the beginning Gawain’s character continues to be tested throughout his stay at the castle.
The host proposes a game that not only questions how courteous and well-mannered he is but his honesty and restraint to temptation. The challenge is a game of sorts: while the lord goes hunting with his men Gawain will stay at the castle and spend time with the two ladies. At the end of each day, the two men will exchange what they received during the day. Gawain decides to accept the challenge for an interchange of the lord giving him directions to the Green Chapel. This game last three days are broken into three separate scenes of the host’s wife trying to seduce Gawain. On the first day, Gawain receives one kiss, on the second day he receives two kisses. At the end of each day, he gives the lord what he received throughout the day. This proves to us the readers how honest Gawain truly is by him keeping his promise to the lord. While this scene also contradicts our previous assumption about his courtesy by him being able to resist temptation even when the host’s wife began questioning Gawain’s
reputation. Moreover, the third day is when our outlook of Gawain’s Character truly changes. During his last encounter with the host’s wife she gives him three kisses and offers him two gifts: a ring and green girdle. He rejects the ring and the girdle ⸺at first. “For the man that possed this piece of silk/If bore it on his body,belt4ed about./There is no hand under heaven that could hew him down,/For he could not be killed by any craft on earth. Then the man began to muse, and mainly he thought/O teas a pearl for his plight, the peril to come/When he gains the Green Chapel to get his reward:/Could he escape unscathed, the scheme were noble!”(240) this statement is what convinced Gawain to accept the girdle and in the end fail the game. When the lord returned home Gawain gave him the three kisses he received but not the belt. According to Victoria L. Weiss, “It is in Gawain second failure that, ironically, a concern for human life takes precedence over other considerations. Confronted with the temptation to save his own life and still retain his reputation as a knight, Gawain commits his greatest sin by accepting the green girdle and failing to give it to the lord.” (Weiss) Meaning that Gawain failed the game by letting the stress of seemingly inevitable loss of his life become too great for him to bear. Thus, resulting in him accepting the green girdle and then keeping it with the intention to use in during his encounter with the Green Knight. Overall showing his pride, impetuosity, and duplicity. While as making him a more realistic character. Life is valuable and any normal person, no matter what qualities they have, would do what he has done for fear of his life. Making Gawain look like a normal person (human) other than some heroic character in a comic book. In the middle of this story, we gain more of an insight of who Gawain is based on behavior in a different environment as a guest. Without his fellow court member and his uncle (the king) Gawain begins to show his true feelings about the situation he is in. He still attempts to stay strong and uphold the reputation that Camelot has but, seems to be losing sight of who is and
In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain shows qualities of a chivalrous knight. He demonstrates that by showing generosity, courtesy, and loyalty during his travels. 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.He demonstrates goodness at the hand of the Green Knight. He shows courage by accepting what is to come upon him during his voyage. His journey to find the Green Knight is filled with temptations.In the conversation with him and the “Lady”, Sir Gawain showed a Chivalrous code by keeping his loyalty to the king by not kissing his wife. The lady states “if I should exchange at my cho...
Of all the themes in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the one which stood out the most to me was that of deception. With the Green Knight, the “evil” and Sir Gawain, the “good”, we see both forces partake in deceptive practices to achieve the desired outcome they sought. Throughout the poem, Sir Gawain’s moral compass was constantly being tested with deception being used to gage his level of loyalty, morality, and chivalry. The “game” that the Green Knight was hell bent on playing was not an honest one. He utilized a host of deceptions to gain the results that he sought after—there was little to no room for error with him. First, he presented a challenge in which he alone knew that he would not perish. When he asked for a volunteer to strike him with the ax, the Green Knight
The game in this story serves as a challenge to Sir Gawain to show his heroic development. The path that the Gawain takes ultimately determines his heroic maturity. It shows that the game hold the fate of the hero and what type of hero that he becomes. How the hero deals with the game is the factor of how he matures as a hero and what type of hero he is. The three games in this story prove Gawain ability to keep his word, his ability to be truthful in seduction, and the last test of character. The game brings out the true decisions of a hero in which he must decide what kind of hero he
When Gawain spurns the lady 's advances, she questions the validity of his reputation: "So good a night as Gawain is rightly reputed / In whom courtesy is so completely embodied / Could not easily have spent so much time with a lady / Without begging a kiss, to comply with politeness / By some hint or suggestion at the end of a remark. " Here we see the first example of Gawain 's values being thrown into opposition: he cannot hope to hold his honor, fellowship, and chastity without calling his chivalry and courtesy into question. Gawain faces a fork in the road in the first bedroom scene, yet it quickly becomes clear that neither road ends with perfection.
To continue on testing a knight that does not seem worthy certainly will not result in much of a story, or in establishing a theme. Through the use of symbols, the author of Sir Gawain is able to show that Gawain possesses the necessary attributes to make him worthy of being tested. He also uses symbols throughout the tests of each individual attribute, and in revealing where Gawain’s fault lies. The effective use of these symbols enables the author to integrate the test of each individual attribute into a central theme, or rather one overall test, the test of chivalry. To establish the knight as worthy, the author first shows Gawain’s loyalty to his king.
When Arthur's court was challenged by the Green Knight, Gawain alone offered to take the cup from Arthur's hands. He showed pride and courage greater than all - by coming forward. The poem is filled with opportunities in which Gawain inevitably was forced to face difficult decisions. During his travels he had every opportunity to turn around, especially when the rain and cold and desolation became fierce. Gawain, however, continued on his way. Three times did the lady tempt him and twice he managed to neither offend her with discourteousness nor accept her amorous advances and defile his chastity.
When Gawain shows up at the Green Knight’s chapel, his mere presence provides comfort to his host, who greets him: “Sir so sweet, you honour the trysts you owe.” Perhaps the green gallant had been expecting Gawain, as representative of the crumbling House of Arthur, to be derelict in his duties. Gawain lives up to his good name. Similarly, he resisted the unbearable temptations of Lady Bertilak on numerous occasions, providing a mere kiss, in accordance with the code of chivalry.
Through jest of a game the Green knight enlightens Gawain the short sights of chivalry. He comes to realize within himself that the system which bore him values appearance over truth. Ultimately he understands that chivalry provides a valuable set of ideals toward which to strive, but a person must retain consciousness of his or her own mortality and weakness in order to live deeply. While it is chivalrous notions, which kept him, alive throughout the test of the Green Knight, only through acute awareness of the physical world surrounding him was he able to develop himself and understand the Knights message. From the onset of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight the author relies intensely upon descriptive language to create ambiance and tonality, but it is only later in the work, upon Sir Gawain’s development, that like Gawain, the reader is able to derive meaning from the descriptive physicality and understand the symbiotic relationship of nature and society.
Many games are involved in the plot of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The Green Knight, Bercilak de Hautdesert, plays a "Christmas game" with Arthur's court at Camelot (line 283); Gawain's host's wife plays games with Gawain throughout the third section of the poem; Gawain's sees his arrangement of mutual trade with his host as a game (line 1380); and all of the events of the story are revealed as a game of Arthur's sister, Morgan Le Fay (lines 2456-2466). Throughout the telling of the story, the author plays a mental game with the reader or listener, as well.
In Sir Gawain and The Green Knight, our main character is faced with a challenge. A
New York: Garland Publishing, 1988. Stephen Manning, “A Psychological Interpretation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” in Critical Studies of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, eds.
Thesis Statement: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight shows the struggle between a good Christian man against the temptations of this world.
Web. 30 Sept. 2009. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume A. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt.
Chivalry was a set of codes and values that the knights would follow to show loyalty to their king, respect to their lady, and humbleness to the poor. Next, courtly love was more of a tradition that was beheld usually by a knight and a lady such as Lady Bertilak, they would engage in a relationship and it would be kept a secret. The two have conflicts with each other because while Sir Gawain was courting Lady Bertilak’s he was to do as commanded but also was to not betray the loyalty of King Bertilak who was his host. Furthermore, while Sir Gawain was receiving kisses he also had a deal with his Host, anything he received in his castle would be given to King Bertilak and in exchange, he would receive what the king killed during his hunt. Throughout the first and second time that the king left and came back from hunting Sir Gawain gave him the kisses he received but on the third he failed to give him what he received since Lady Bertilak had given him a green griddle and told him to take it as well as to not to tell her husband about it. Sir Gawain was not to say a word about the gift but in receiving this gift and doing what she commands he breaks the deal between his host and he fails to be
The author creates a dramatic setting throughout the story by keeping up with an exciting plot. Both drama and mockery are at work in the character of Sir Gawain. He seems to be an over exaggerated character who in some cases is used to poke fun at king Arthurs knights. The author also seems to be making fun of stories of “True love,” this is shown most when the lady of the house gives Gawain a longwinded dramatic speech about true love as she tries to seduce him. Although, the author may be trying to show the qualities of a knight it comes off pretentious and self-glorifying on Gawain’s part. The work also uses a similar writing style as some of the other Arthurian tales written previous to Sir Gawain’s publication. In addition to using characters from previous Arthurian