Honor In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a Medieval Romance written in the 14th century by Pearl Poet that follows the quest of Sir Gawain, a knight from King Arthur’s court in Camelot. He gets challenged by a mysterious, supernatural stranger—who is actually the Green Knight—in front of all of the knights at the Round Table and then has to prove himself and go through with his promise, completely risking his life in the process. Although Sir Gawain shows immense concern about his life various times throughout the course of the poem, his priority remains his honor.
Not only does Sir Gawain’s hold his honor higher than his existence, he holds it higher than everything; his honor is one of the many things that defines him as a person. One night at

Once a year and a day goes by, Sir Gawain fulfills his promise by going on an arduous quest to find the Green Knight to receive the same blow in which he gave. He knows that he is going to die, but since he holds his honor higher than his life, he goes dignified. On the way to face the Green Knight, Sir Gawain comes across the Green Chapel, and the lord of the chapel promises him refuge for three days and a ride to the Green Knight afterward, but in order for the King to keep his word, he makes a deal with Sir Gawain. The deal is that at the end of each of the three days, everything the King obtains, he will give to Sir Gawain as long as Sir Gawain reciprocates. Sir Gawain respects this deal and upholds his side of it except for the third day. The third day there, he receives a mystical, green silk girdle from the lady of the chapel. The girdle supposedly protects the life of whoever wears it, and since Sir Gawain does care about his life, he keeps the girdle to himself instead of giving it to the lord. While this probably seems like he is breaking his honor, Sir Gawain does not take this girdle and race home; he seeks out the Green Knight the next day anyhow. Although there is still a chance of him dying when morning comes, and although his guide urges

Sir Gawain, in due course, makes it to the Green Knight, and you can tell that he is afraid of dying and that he does value his life when “his shoulders shrank” (from Sir Gawain… ln. 361). This happens as soon as the Green Knight went to strike him with the axe. Sir Gawain is not self-destructive; life is undoubtedly meaningful to him. Regardless, he would not be there in the first place if he was not willing to give his life up for his honor. Him being there is figuratively shows that no matter how much he cherishes his life, his honor will always come