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Is preserving chivalry important
Is preserving chivalry important
Is preserving chivalry important
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Chivalry in the Green Knight and Arthur
The Knight’s Codes
An Honorable knight should have many characteristics. From being loyal to doing what’s right for the common good; a knight must meet these standards. These knight’s go by a code, known as the knight’s code; Chivalry. Every knight in these two stories of the Green Knight and Malory and Arthur thrives to be the best knight possible. You may make a mistake here and there, but what is important is not making that mistake twice. These knight have great courage and respect for their king to do whatever he pleases. To be the greatest knight you have to continuously keep proving yourself. In the Green Knight and Malory and Arthur, the theme of chivalry courage, honor, and strength plays a big
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part within each and every knight in the two stories. First, In the Green Knight, the green knight tricks his nephew to show how honorable and loyal he is as a knight.
The green knight puts Gawain to a challenge to cut his throat. Gawain cuts the knights head off, but the knight grabs his head and walks away. Gawain has to come back in a year to meet up with him due to the challenge. Gawain doesn’t want to be known as a man that isn’t true to his word. “True men pay what they owe; No danger then in sight. You failed at the third throw, so take my tap, sir knight.” (Lines 444-447 Green Knight). Gawain did what he did to keep his status as an honorable and respectful …show more content…
knight. Then, In Malory and Arthur, Bedivere had to build up the courage to do what the king wants him to do before he dies. Bedivere was one of the greatest knights King Arthur had, as well as his brother Sir Lucan. Lucan dies fighting for Arthur towards the end. King Arthur was wanting one thing from Bedivere before he dies after the fight with his son Mordred. King Arthur wanted Bedivere to throw the sword into water. Bedivere lied to the king and hid Excalibur under a tree. King Arthur says, “Now hast thou betrayed me twice. Who would have weened that thou that has been to me so loved and dear, and thou art named a noble knight, and would betray me for the riches of this sword.” (Malory and Arthur). King Arthur couldn’t believe Bedivere would do such a thing after being on of Arthur’s greatest knights. Bedivere had to build up the courage to throw Excalibur into the waters for the king. When Bedivere through the sword a hand came up and grabbed Excalibur and disappeared. It took great courage from Bedivere to throw such a powerful sword into the water for the King. Lastly, strength plays a big role in chivalry in The Green Knight and Malory and Arthur.
A great knight needs strength to get to the top. A knight needs to be able to protect his king. Like Sir Lucan dying for King Arthur. In The Green Knight, Gawain showed the green person that he had great strength by showing back up the next year. He knew he was walking into his death by doing this. “Then the grim man in green gathers his strength, Heaves high the heavy ax to hit him with the blow.” (Lines 353-354 Green Knight). To take such a blow from an axe to stay to his word shows great strength in a knight. Gawain is a knight that shows chivalry as a great loyal knight.
The Green Knight and Malory and Arthur are two legend stories that show great chivalry. Chivalry plays a major part in these traditional type of writing’s. Courage, honor, and strength all makes up the code of chivalry. A knight must follow these codes if they want to be one of the greats like Sir Lucan and Sir Bedivere. These two knights had the courage and strength to fight for Arthur. By doing this they received the honor and respect they got from the
king.
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...
Life during the Middle Ages was full of social change, division, and classism. This feudal society of Britain was divided into three estates. (social classes) Within the second estate was the the knight who was a soldier for the king who fought in many battles. Even though the knight is expected to have the strength and the skills to fight in battle, all knights during the Medieval period additionally had a chivalrous aspect to them. Chivalry was the honor code of a knight which included bravery, courtesy, honor, and gallantry toward women. Within the stories of the “Wife of Bath’s Tale” and “Le Morte d’Arthur”, the code of chivalry was broken by knights which show the corruption of England’s feudal society.
He is not brave, selfless, chivalrous, or noble; with an immoral thought he only performs great acts in front of an audience. Knights are supposed to be fearless warriors, Gawain contradicts that stereotype. Once Gawain ventures towards the green chapel, he is overcome by fear. However, fear of death is not of the essence. When his escort offers to help him avoid the fight, Gawain had already obtained the green sash; he fights knowing he will not die. Gawain fears his kingdom will recognize his lack of pure motive and moral courage if he abandons the game, concerned that if he “forsook this place for fear, and fled,” Camelot will find out he is “a caitiff coward” who “could not be excused” for his lack of inner-chivalry (2130-2131). He does not go to the fight to prove he is chivalrous; his impure motive is to hide his immoral nature from
One of the most enduring myths in the Western world is that of Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Regardless of the origins of the tales, the fact is that by the time they had been filtered through a French sensibility and re-exported to England, they were representations of not one but several ideals. Courtly love and chivalry and the various components thereof, such as martial prowess, chastity, bravery, courtesy, and so on, were presented as the chief virtues to aspire to, and the knights as role models. Arthur's eventual fall is precisely because of having failed at some level to fulfill these ideals in his life.
According to the story, Gawain had to face many obstacles one in particular was the Green Knight’s challenges. This was a test for any brave man that could face off with the Green Knight. They would have to use an ax and hit the knight
The tales of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Lanval offer their readers insight into a common knightly quandary. Gawain and Lanval are both faced with challenges that threaten their ability to protect, uphold, and affirm their very knightliness. The two knights repeatedly see several knightly traits--- each invaluable to the essence of a knight--- brought into conflict. While the knights are glorified in their respective texts, they are faced with impossible dilemmas; in each story, both reader and knight are confronted with the reality that knightly perfection is unattainable: concessions must be made--- bits and pieces of their honor must be sacrificed.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight – A Test of Chivalry Essay with Outline: Loyalty, courage, honor, purity, and courtesy are all attributes of a knight that displays chivalry. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is truly a story of the test of these attributes. In order to have a true test of these attributes, there must first be a knight worthy of being tested, meaning that the knight must possess chivalric attributes to begin with. Sir Gawain is admittedly not the best knight around. He says "I am the weakest, well I know, and of wit feeblest; / and the loss of my life [will] be the least of any" (Sir Gawain, l. 354-355).
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.
Sir Gawain was heroic in seeking out the Green Knight to finish the challenge that was brought to King Arthur’s men. “Said Gawain, ‘Strike once more; /I shall neither flinch nor flee; /But if my head falls to the floor /There is no mending me!’” (lns. 2280-2283) There was no physical power that forced Sir Gawain to keep true to his word. Gawain sought out the Green Knight, just as he had promised, and was now about to receive the blow that would send him to his death. This quote shows that Sir Gawain was ready to be dealt his fate, and that he knew there was no way for him to survive as the Green Knight had done earlier in the poem. This shows a very human side to Sir Gawain as he appears somewhat afraid of death, but ready to face it nonetheless. It is this willingness and readiness to accept death at the hand of the Green Knight that makes Sir Gawain a...
Knights must go out into the regular world, or the dark forest, to embark on their quest. There they will be tested in their morals and virtues. The noble knights of King Arthur’s court are constantly tested by the Dark Forest and all of its temptations, creating many different conflicts within the knight’s moral codes. Facing those conflicts and coming out on top with new found knowledge is what separates great people from average
In the Medieval Period, knights dedicated their lives to following the code of chivalry. In Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, a number of characters performed chivalrous acts to achieve the status of an ideal knight. Their characteristics of respect for women and courtesy for all, helpfulness to the weak, honor, and skill in battle made the characters King Arthur, King Pellinore, and Sir Gryfflette examples of a what knights strove to be like in Medieval society. Because of the examples ofchivalry, Le Morte d’Arthur showed what a knight desired to be, so he could improve theworld in which he lived.
The promise Sir Gawain made with the Green Knight is overlapped with another promise made to a lord who shelters Gawain, which ultimately shows Gawain’s appeal to his own mortality. Though Gawain failing to return the magic green girdle in order to protect himself shows his lack of ideal perfection, Sir Gawain’s integrity stays true to his credibility as a honorable and worthy man as he choses to continue to pursue the Green Knight’s castle. When confronting the Green Knight and flinching at the first swing, Gawain once again reveals the flawed characteristic that a chivalrous knight should not possess. Nevertheless, following being confronted with his failure, Sir Gawain swears to fix his flaw as he states, “Deliver me my destiny, and do it out of hand,/ For I shall stand to the stroke and stir not an inch/ Till your ax has hit home–on my honor I swear it!” (378-380). Gawain shows that he will fix himself with honorable credibility in redemption in order to forgive his diversion from an idealized knight. Though his mortality threatens his judgment, Gawain’s shows his value and strong character by trying to right his wrongs.
Although Arthur’s knights are initially reluctant to come forward and accept the Green Knight’s challenge, Gawain eventually comes forward; “Said Gawain to the king, ‘If you would, noble lord, bid me rise from my seat and stand at your side (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 145, ll. 343-344).” Gawain again shows chivalrous characteristics by being both courteous and honorable. He courteously comes forward to accept Arthur’s place, seeing as how he is the king. Also he steps forward to defend the honor of all the knights present. As the Green Knight was tarnishing it during his entrance speech. He then expresses the utmost humility while coming forward: “ I am the weakest of them, I know, and the dullest-minded, So my death would be least loss, if truth should be told; (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 146, ll. 354-355).” Even though he was the only one to step forward and take up the Green Knights challenge, he still refuses to give himself any sort of special credit, even though he may deserve it for being so
Closely associated to the romance tradition are two idealized standards of behavior, especially for knights: courage and chivalry. The protagonist within many medieval romances proved their worth by going on quests, as many a knights went in those times, thus returning with great tales of their travels and deeds. Many modern people think of chivalry as referring to a man's gallant treatment of women, and although that sense is derived from the medieval chivalric ideal, chivalry could be seen as more than that. Knights were expected to be brave, loyal, and honorable-sent to protect the weak, be noble to...
In Part I of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sir Gawain is characterized as a remarkable knight. The poet portrays him as loyal, self-deprecating, and brave. First, he proves his loyalty by supporting King Arthur when the Green Knight presents his challenge. When King Arthur calls him to his side, Sir Gawain instantly approaches him and bows. His immediate obedience shows Gawain’s loyalty to King Arthur. Secondly, Sir Gawain shows his self-deprecating side when offering to accept the Green Knight’s challenge. He says that he is the weakest, both mentally and physically, of all the Knights of the Round Table, and that his life has less value than the others. For example, he explains to King Arthur, “I am weakest, well I know, and of wit feeblest...The