Does Sir Gawain Have Integrity

Do you think all knights have integrity? As usual, all noble knights’ integrity comes from their morals. Their integrity towards others shows how important their chivalric code of honor is within them. There was only one person who tested Sir Gawain’s integrity in three major ways. When the Green Knight arrived and challenged everyone in the king’s court to his special Christmas game, he knew someone would accept his challenge but did not know who would succeed. After the Green Knight stood unharmed after King Arthur’s swing, Sir Gawain knew he had nothing to lose and requested to take on the Green Knight’s offer. Once Sir Gawain succeeds in the challenge, the Green Knight had a plan to test Sir Gawain’s noble honor. Whenever there is a noble

knight, trials and tribulations can test his honor such as proceeding to uphold his pact with a stranger, trying to keep his morals against a seductive woman, and keeping his word with a lord.
Ordinarily, Sir Gawain proceeded to uphold his end of the pact with the Green Knight by seeking for him on New Year’s Day for Gawain to requite and show his chivalric code of honor.

After the slashing of the Green Knight’s neck, the Green Knight requested Sir Gawain to come to the Green Chapel and pay for his promise. The promise was for Gawain to receive a stroke the same as the Green Knight had taken. When the year was ending, Gawain left to seek the Green Knight and actualize the pact between them. Even though he encountered many dangers from the wild, Gawain kept going until an invitation for him to stay with a lord and his lady came upon. Now any man would have left, turned back, and would have neglected the pact made with the Green Knight; however, while staying at the lord’s house, Sir Gawain’s integrity was being tested and envisioned to

fail.
Correspondingly, Sir Gawain also made sure he kept his morals in line while being tempted by the lord’s seductive and persuasive lady for three days.

The first two days while Sir Gawain lingered in the lord’s house, the lady insisted of seducing Gawain, but Gawain resisted every time and only took kisses from her. For example, what man do you know can simply resist a beautiful and consistent lady’s kiss? Well, Sir Gawain did and continued to resist her until on the third day she came with another gift to bear. For this reason, he bestowed on him a yellowest stone gold ring and depicted it as a rich king’s ransom. Gawain would not take the ring because he had nothing to give back. Consistently, she kept imploring him and he kept refusing simply because he did not have it in him. The lord’s lady then presented unto him a green silk sash embroidered with gold along the edges. Then, Gawain accepted the green sash because the lady justified that the sash can keep him from dying from the uncanny and anything on the earth. Finally, Gawain took the sash because he knew he was soon going to meet with the Green Knight and feared the

outcome.
Above all, Sir Gawain was tested to keep his word with the lord about exchanging what he received at the end of each day to show his honesty. When Sir Gawain arrived at the lord’s house, the lord asked Gawain to exchange with him at the end of each day of what they won. When the lord’s lady delivered kisses to Sir Gawain, at the end of the first two days, Gawain gave the lord kisses as well to exchange for what the lord gained from his hunt. Consequently, when it came to the lady giving Gawain the sash, Sir Gawain accepted the green sash because of its significance; however, at the end of the third day, Gawain only gives him a kiss and did not reveal to him the sash. On New Year’s Day, Gawain went to go meet the Green Knight at the Green Chapel; however, when it came to his end of the bargain, there were two attempts for Gawain’s beheading. On the first attempt, Sir Gawain flinched while the Green Knight was coming down to gash, but on the second attempt, blood spurted from his neck, but his neck did not fall off. The Green Knight saw the attempt was inefficacious, besides he knew why as well. The Green Knight explained to Gawain that he was the lord of the household and he was just testing Gawain to see where he stands with his honor. Sir Gawain apologized for his sins, the Green Knight forgave him, and offered the green sash back to Sir Gawain.