Similarities Between Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

In the historical poem, ‘Sir Gawain and the green knight’ it is easy to pick the two protagonists Sir Gawain and the Green knight. They are both knights and their heroism is developed through high power and their Christian faith. However, the mode of characterization varies as both Sir Gawain and every other man in the poem argue about the advancement of a Christian hero. Every man including sir Gawain all have real individual characteristics such as self pity, fear, and dishonesty, and though they are characterized by flaws they all excel thus not falling under the classification of just not any common heroes but Christian heroes.

Sir Gawain, who is related to King Author, is introduced as a character that is loyal and brave. This is especially where he decides to take the challenge of the Green knight, sacrificing his life before the kings. The poem highlights this scene where it states, “Gawain goes to the guest with gisarme in his hand, / and he boldly bides there, abashed not a whit”. Every other man that is related with Sir Gawain in one way or another saw his actions to be unrealistic and knew that he was on a road to his own deathbed.

Sir Gawain seems like a hero through his actions of wanting to fight the green knight in place of the king. However, he does not act

whole-heartedly. He indicates to us his fear of death when he hides the green girdle without disclosure to his host. At his bidding, he chops of the green knights head, but he still has to accept an axe blow from the Green knight in exactly one year (Anonymous). This paper focuses on the traits of Sir Gawain, and the exhibition of human nature through his character as representation of the traits of the other men mentioned in the poem.
Because of thinking of us at foremost, it is through means of human nature, sir Gawain was not gazed at as a disloyal character. He uttered his regret for his actions and in return, the equal knights supported him. “Each brother of that band, a baldric should have, / A belt borne oblique, of bright green. Sir Gawain triumphs nonetheless because he still countenances his panic and keeps his word to the green knight. Somewhere along his valiant journey, Sir Gawain turns to God for aid. He relies on a higher authority to give him the control and the bravery to face his fear with all he has to offer as a knight.
Character Analysis (Major Characters And Minor Characters)

The Green Knight

The main opposition of Sir Gawain in the poem is Green Knight. He is the main reason for the adventures of Sir Gawain. He is a colossal and abundantly adorned knight who is of green skin and hair. In addition, he is invincible appears before King Author as monster. However, in the poem he is deemed to be working alone. He is also very noble. Bercilak de Haut desert, who gives direction to Sir Gawain as his guest during the Christmas holiday. There is also another person living with the green light known as Morgan a le Fay. She is presented as a witch and lives with the Green Knight, thus carries out a test of all the knights sent to him. In Arthurian legendary, Morgan a le Fay is the mother of Ywain, he is among the Arthur's most convicted knights, and cousin of Sir Gawain.
King Arthur:

He is one of the characters that are Semi-mythical and renowned English king of ancient times. However, his chronological existence is still a matter that is argued by a majority of scholars. King Arthur lived during the 6th century as a great ruler of the Britons, in southern Wales. He is the son of Ygraine and Uther Pendragon. His impartiality and martial victories towards assaulting Germanic tribes, which gave progression to a complex network of legends in his life. This grew over the centuries and spread to the rest parts of Western Europe. Sir Gawain is King Arthur's nephew among his chief knights, and many tales of Arthurian fable circles around Sir Gawain and his association with King Arthur.
Sir Gawain (the Good)

Sir Gawain is Arthur's nephew and the spotlight of this poem.

He is the son of Morgause and Lot of Orkney. It is according to myth that after his father dies he is appointed as the leader of the Orkney clan. In the French history of Arthurian legend, Sir Gawain is often is often adventurous, however his ventures are similar to the main hero and that is Launce lot but they do not outshine the venture of the main hero. According to the English tradition, Sir Gawain is usually the focus of the myth. Conversely, he is at times depicted as the replica of knightly gallantry and admiration. The extent to which the presentation is made concerning Green Knight and Sir Gawain is open to discussion

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Minor characters

Guinevere the Gay:
Arthur's wife and queen, Guinevere is famous for being the most stunning woman in the world. She supposedly is the spawn of Leodegrance of Cameliard in the late medieval romance. In the impressive plan of Arthurian tale, Guinevere is significant since she is having an affair with main star of the poem, Sir Lancelot. He is one of Arthur's trusted knights, thus leads to the downfall of Camelot. She is a symbol of sin and adultery.
Ywain:
Ywain is the cousin to sir Gawain and the son of Morgan a le Fay. He is the focus of numerous Arthurian legends in many languages. These takes place under diverse names such as Ewain Yvain, Iwein, and Owain. In one of the legend, he is motivated to venture with Sir Gawain, thus saving a lion from an assault by a serpent, which later becomes friends with the lion. Arthur evicts Ywain from his court in main house since the mother's effort to execute Arthur, thus Sir Gawain journeys with him and experiences many ventures.
Sir Lancelot:
Even though only comes into play when mentioning Sir Gawain and Green Knight. He is described, as the most supreme knights of King Arthur's .Lancelot are the centre of most significant events surrounding Arthurian tale. He is son of King Ban of Benwick, majority of the citizens of the king author kingdom referred to him as Lancelot of the Lake. This is because the Lady of the Lake raised him. Lancelot is the Galahad’s father, born from his marriage with Elaine. She is King Pelles daughter, deceived him into sleeping with her. The love of Lancelot for Guinevere, Arthur's wife, results in the ultimate ruin of Camelot.
Morgan a le Fay:
Morgana lives together with the Green Knight in his castle. She practices witchcraft, and told the Green Knight to travel to Camelot. Her intent was to test the reality of the fame of Sir Gawain plus the other Knights and additionally to startle Guinevere. The reason behind is that she has hate for the Arthurian tale and wished to end their affair between Guinevere. In Arthurian tale, Morgana is Arthur's half-sister. She is the daughter to Arthur's mother Igraine and the Duke of Cornwall. She comes out as an adversary of King Arthur, in the medieval literature. She conjugally unified to King Uriens. Additionally, she is the mother of Ywain, one of Arthur’s trusted knights.
Christian faith (theme)

Logic of selfishness is exhibited in the poem. Everyman places himself before anyone other person and wants everything to be to his advantage. Everyman questions everyone he could to aid “yeah, good fellowship, yea, /I are in great jeopardy” wherefore I pray you bear me company” Since again, a man expresses his fear of death. Everyman is with the belief that he could become victor in fighting against death through bribes and loyal friends. Sir Gawain was confident he would overcome death, due to his faith. He realized that he was the one person he could depend on. Additionally, was that the only thing that could draw him inexpressible happiness was the good deed he completed on his journey. On that particular aspect, there was a direct association with human personality as all humans scared of death thus want someone to chat with them, gripping their hand and reassuring themselves on the journey to death.
Through this fear, every man triumphed as a hero because just as sir Gawain, wished to set his reputation clean as the poem states, “confessed all his cares and discomfitures many” to God, Arthur and his court. Everyman also turned to God in time of despair realizing that God was willing to aid him overcomes his fears. The prayer described God as a glorious spring that all filth doth elucidate and washing all dirt that was an individual so that his or her sins are cleansed. Every individual requested God to cleanse him thus become free of sin. This indicates that every individual found faith in God and was ready for God’s strategy for him. Every man lost his companions along the way however, he found God. He was scared and unaccompanied but because of excellent deeds, he discovered true happiness. Sir Gawain and every other man prove themselves true heroes. This was through their individual natural flows. Sir Gawain and the other men in the poem excel as characters, since they identify that they had overcome their fears. It is through religion that trusting in their Christian faith a higher power. The two protagonists build up in real life as heroes not any ordinary heroes, but Christian heroes.
Symbolism

The most quality traits of medieval text are the affluence and diversity of the signs it utilizes. At some occasions, these signs are easy and quick to interpret and distinguish. Sir Gawain's pentangle symbol is a clear sign, and the poet actually steps forward to exemplify its meaning for the audience, drawing the tale to a squeal halt to be able to achieve its intent. Other symbols have implications that is familiar even to contemporary readers. It is not difficult to visualize especially how the fox may symbolize treachery and astuteness, however, in some occasions the implication is difficult to note. The extra symbol is Gawain's armor and the birds that revamp both knights' attire. Readers fail to identify the picky item which is symbolic at all.
A section of the difficulty in interpreting medieval literature arises from the point that modern readers are alien with the intellectual and cultural backgrounds that a medieval audience would have brought to their consideration of a sign. Some of this background has simply been lost to history, and scholars may have only scattered clues to help them understand a symbolic orientation. Furthermore, a particular symbol could effortlessly have several contradictory connotations. For example, A lion, may represent Christ, the devil, or St. Mark, depending on the circumstance in which it appears.
In conclusion, through Sir Gawain it is evident that the other men in the poem emulated him. When he presented himself to die fighting on behalf of the King author with the dreadful green knight, many of them thought his actions would lead him into dying but confidingly he chopped of his head and even after year he kept his word of going to fight with the green knight at his place. When he turns to God, the other men follow suit, as they believe God would protect them from their deaths especially during battle or fighting. Sir Gawain sets the pace for men’s actions throughout the poem.