Sir Gawain And The Green Girdle Analysis

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The writer of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight uses the green girdle to relate to the story’s wider theme. It is used to signify different things at key moments of the text. Sir Gawain was written in the 14th century when chivalry was highly valued and praised. Due to the constant changing of its symbolic meaning, the reader is able to see how the story challenges the true value of chivalry and its role in a knight’s priorities and instincts. It does this by putting Sir Gawain and even the Knights in situations where they are forced to abide or break the code of chivalry testing the role it played in their lives and values. The code states that honor and respect come first before any personal emotion. Sir Gawain does not acquire the girdle honestly, so from the start the girdle questions this code as an actual lifestyle of the knights, more than a stereotypical image. Originally, the girdle represented safety and protection; it later symbolized shame and sin, and then became an object-representing honor.             The first instance that the girdle appears in …show more content…

Hoping that Lady Bertilak was right, he is dishonest to the Lord. The girdle will protect him from dying when his turn to get his head truncated came. He chooses to keep the girdle and possibly his life over being truthful with the Lord Bertilak. This seems ironic to an extent because Sir Gawain did not hold back giving the kisses to him, even though they were obtained from his wife. His dishonesty and deceit on the third day of the game breaks a general knight code of conduct: to be honest and live by the values of chivalry, respect and honor. The girdle challenged Gawain to show his value of honor and he proves that he puts himself higher of a priority than the code of chivalry, something a knight was not supposed to do. This is when the girdle begins to signify something

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