Of The Knight's Response To The God In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight?

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The novel/poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, is the story that begins the Arthurian Courts. During the Christmas festivities, a strange Green Knight enters wanting to play a game with the men personified as the most chivalrous men. Sir Gawain volunteers in the place of King Arthur in this treacherous game. In the game, Gawain beheads the Green Knight but surprisingly the Knight fails to die but instead lives with his head cut off. The Knight places a quest on Gawain that before the New Year he must travel to the Green Chapel to complete the quest. In the novel/poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the Green Knight represents God.
The Green Knight compares to the God presented in Exodus. The poem/novel begins in Camelot with King Arthur’s
The Arthurian Court members surprised with his visit begin to examine him and notice he is entirely covered in green. They examine that, “His look was lightning bright/ said those who glimpsed its glow/ It seemed no man there might survive his violent blow” (199-202). In the story Exodus, God tells Moses to gather the people and prepare them to walk to Mount Sinai to meet their God. But God warns Moses of the punishment for the Israelites climbing the mountain: death. God, in Exodus, is feared because of his bright appearance on the mountain as the Green Knight appears “lightning bright” to the Arthurian Court. The brightness shows the power both have as killers: God, in Exodus, shows his power
As Gawain leaves the host’s castle in order to complete his quest, he is accompanied by a guide that helps him reach the Green Chapel before the New Year. Before entering the Green Chapel, Gawain’s guide warns him of the reputation the Green Knight has as a history of no survivors leaving the Chapel and urges him to desert his mission. But Gawain bravely dismisses the guides warning and enters the Green Knights lair. Upon arrival of the Chapel, Gawain hears the sharpening of blade and demands to know where the Knight is. Gawain remarks,
“Green Church?/ More like the devil’s lair/ where, at the nub of night, he makes his morning prayer./…this is a soulless spot,/ a ghostly cathedral overgrown with grass,/ the kind of kirk where that camouflaged man/ might deal in devotions on the devil’s behalf/…This is a haunted house – may it go to hell./ I never came across a church so cursed.”

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