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“Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” Literary Analysis
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: Symbolism and Moral Seriousness
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: Symbolism and Moral Seriousness
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Considered as one of the greatest English medieval romances, “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”, is an Arthurian romance from approximately the fourteenth century. (Zott) Although the author of the piece is unknown, he is referred to as the Pearl author, because of his multiple pieces including Patience, Purity, Pearl, and “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” (Blanch) “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” is considered a masterpiece from it’s time because of its elements drawn from folklore and legend, as well as Christian and Celtic symbolism. (Zott) “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” was heavily influenced by it’s time period in regards to the role of women, chivalry in society, and religion.
In the fourteenth century Britain experienced a social
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revolution. During this period of time there became an obsession with writing stories about King Arthur, who had supposedly lived in the sixth century. One explanation for this obsession in Arthur’s Kingdom and its fall was the new feeling in late medieval England that they needed to be different. (Prior) This led the English people to a strong feeling that their land and culture should be separated from the rest of Europe. (Prior) Due to this new idea of the English people, English romances and histories came about. This shift in wanting a defined identity sprung from the political history of England. Dating back to 1066, England had borrowed much of their culture and traditions from the French. (Prior) During this time English writers began writing more abstractly and wrote an immense amount of Literature about King Arthur. Soon enough, Gawain claimed a roll in the downfall of Arthur’s kingdom and became a tradition in many English stories. (Prior) In these stories about Gawain, his blameworthiness is lightened and is a well liked character. English writers also wrote many stories and romances praising Gawain. (Prior) Gawain’s frequent appearance in these tales gave him quite a reputation and was a popular character in stories. Another effect of the literary transition during this time was the setting suggested in the tales in which a minstrel would tell a story to an audience of many different types of people, in comparison to the prior focus on elites. (Prior) In conclusion, “if late medieval England's history, language, literature, philosophy, and art had been more British and less Western European, then English writers of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries would not have gone to so much trouble to claim Arthur for their own.” (Prior) This revolution in England’s society and literature extremely influenced authors of this time period including the Pearl poet and many more. In “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” chivalry was of key importance because of the society that it was written in.
In “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” King Arthur is hosting a feast to celebrate Christmas and New Years. While they are waiting to eat, the Green Knight came in and challenged King Arthur and all of his knights to a challenge. Everyone hesitated because of fear but Sir Gawain fearlessly accepted the challenge. During the Middle Ages, the knights followed a moral and social code of chivalry. The code was documented around the 1100’s in the Song of Roland, which is also a documentation of battles fought by Emperor Charlemagne. (“Knights Code of Chivalry”) The code of chivalry consists of faith, charity, justice, sagacity, prudence, temperance, resolution, temperance, truth, liberality, diligence, hope, valor, humility, honor, and honesty. Men of importance during the Middle Ages were expected to behave chivalrously in all situations, and this mindset of society affected Sir Gawain. Sir Gawain was motivated by ideals of chivalry to protect King Arthur when the Green Knight challenged him, because of his bravery and valor. Sir Gawain’s acceptance of the challenge also kept King Arthur from having to accept the challenge or denying it and being labeled a coward. Later on Sir Gawain travels to the Green castle to fulfill his challenge from the Green Knight and he stumbles into Bertilak’s castle. Bertilak welcomes him with open arms and lets him stay at the castle under one condition: Bertilak will hunt during the day and give Sir Gawain whatever he kills, in return he has to give Bertilak anything he receives while he is staying at the castle. While there, Bertilak’s wife tries to seduce Sir Gawain, but he constantly denies her. The bedroom scenes show Gawain’s restraint and persistence to his chivalry. Throughout the three day stay, Bertilak’s wife tries harder and harder to seduce him until he gave in and accepted the girdle. During this escapade,
Gawain struggles between honoring his chivalry or his courtesy. ("Women Courtly Love and the Creation Myth in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”) In the story, Bertilak’s wife represents courtly love and straying from his chivalry. “This conflict between courtly love and spiritual love demonstrates the drastically weakened religious values behind chivalry.” ("Women Courtly Love and the Creation Myth in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”) During this time period many people struggled with balancing religion and chivalry. This is illustrated when Gawain gives up his chivalrous ways and the pentangle for the girdle. This diminishes his honor, because he cannot tell Bertilak of the girdle, and in doing so he breaks their agreement. Later on in the story Gawain visits the Green Monster and the Green Monster reveals that he is Bertilak from the castle and that he was forced to trick Gawain by the old lady at the Castle who is actually his half sister. When Gawain returns from his journey he is full of grief and shame because of his failure to stay true to his chivalrous ways. Despite his shame, King Arthur and the other knights greeted him with acceptance and were really just grateful for him to be back. Gawain wears the green girdle as a sign of his shame, and the other knights decide to wear them as well. But instead of wearing it to support him they show as a sign of honor, even though it’s a symbol of his failure. This corrupt mindset that the knights has shows the dangers of societies obsession with chivalry and courtly love, which eventually caused Camelot to fall. (Blanch) In “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” chivalry was of key importance because of the society that it was written in, this is evident in Gawain’s acceptance of the challenge, his behavior on the journey, and his grief when he returns home from his journey. “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” was heavily influenced by it’s time period in regards to the role of women. However, the role of women in “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” is somewhat unusual for a courtly romance from that time period, since Gawain is not in love with any lady. (Prior) In the story, there are very few women, but the ones that are in the story are very important. When Gawian entered Bertilak’s castle he is is stunned by Lady Bertilak. Gawain then “politely approached… the lovelier he salutes with a light embrace. He claim[ed] a comely kiss, and courteously he sp[oke]; they welcome[d] him warmly, and straightway he ask[ed] to be received as their servant, if they so desire[d].” (Weston) Beside Lady Bertilak is an older, uglier woman who ultimately is used as a comparison to the Lady. Lady Bertilak was “fresh” and the older woman was “faded” (Weston). This comparison between the two women show societies association of women to sex, and the high expectations for beauty. The society in this story did not value women for their true value, but for their physical traits and what they could do in the bedroom. Lady Bertilak served as a source of temptation for Sir Gawain, in the story, and the old lady seemed to have served a purpose of comparison, but she is actually the one who had the plan to trick Sir Gawain. The story is different than other stories because Lady Bertilak is “playing court to him, rather than the reverse.” (Prior) Because of the gender roles in this society, this chase by Lady Bertilak is very interesting and has recently become the subject of feminist criticism. (Prior) In addition, the fact that Lady Bertilak is never named in the story is a representation of how people perceived women then. She played a vital role in the downfall of Gawain’s chivalry, but she was just a women, so she didn’t receive a name, just Lady Bertilak. Morgan le Fay, however, was a very significant character, and received a name. Perhaps because of the magic she used, so she was seen above the average women. “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” was heavily influenced by it’s time period in regards to the role of women, this is evident in Sir Gawain’s actions around the women and also the way the characters were named. “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” was heavily influenced by it’s time period in regards to religion. During the time of this story, courtly love was becoming very popular, and knights and changed their devotion from God to their mistress. This led to The Church of England’s mistrust of women as a whole. This story has many similar aspects of stories found in The Bible. One parallel is the story of Adam and Eve. In both “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” and Adam and Eve there is a problem with temptation, then the women brings the ultimate downfall. In “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” he accepts the green girdle, which causes the downfall of Arthur’s court. Whereas in Adam and eve, he accepts the apple from eve and eats it, which causes man’s fall from grace. Symbolism from The Bible is also evident in the characteristics of Lady Bertilak. She, as well as Eve, were temptresses who brought happiness and also despair to men. (Spark Notes) During Sir Gawain’s journey he carried a shield that had the pentangle on it as well as a picture of The Virgin Mary, which brought him strength and courage. During his journey, Mary’s presence with him saved him from losing his chastity. (Spark Notes) The use of many Christian symbols in “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” was used by the author to show people the importance of religion, and how courtly love leads to downfall, whereas, Christian love is sustainable. The society that was present while this story was written contributed to this story by making it necessary to use Bible stories to teach people lessens, since they had strayed away from religion at the time. “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” was heavily influenced by it’s time period in regards to the role of women, chivalry in society, and religion “Some view the poem as the tale of a noble knight who resists sexual temptation and so keeps his vow of chastity. Others interpret it as the unveiling of a knight's improper behavior.” (“Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”) In “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” Sir Gawain faced many challenges, which show his chivalry, and also his downfall, but he returned to Camelot in the end. When he returned he warned the other knights of the dangers of courtly love and chivalry, but they laughed him off. After his journey, Sir Gawain truly realized that there needed to be a change in their society, and his trip was used to show the people living at the time the message.
In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a stranger rides into King Arthur's court with a challenge. This stranger, green in color from head to toe, proposes to play a game with a member of King Arthur's court. This game will be played by each participant taking a blow from a weapon at the hands of the opponent. The person that dies from the hit is obviously the loser. On top of this, the Green Knight offers to let his opponent take the first swing. This sets up the action in the passage beginning with line 366 and ending with line 443.
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...
. Based on the unit, we learned that when you begin to imagine how your characters will look and how they will act, there are two important approaches to remember. Please name and briefly define these approaches. Direct characterization and indirect characterization are two approaches to remember. Direct characterization-
A recurrent theme in almost all Old English writings involves the number three. Beowulf fought the dragon in three rounds. In Morte Darthur, King Arthur sent Sir Bedivere to throw Excalibur into the lake three times. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight the number three has a triple importance. In this story there were three different events that each happened in three stages: The three hunts of the Lord, the three seductions by the Lady, and the three swings of the ax that the Green Knight took; all three relate to each other.
Of all the themes in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the one which stood out the most to me was that of deception. With the Green Knight, the “evil” and Sir Gawain, the “good”, we see both forces partake in deceptive practices to achieve the desired outcome they sought. Throughout the poem, Sir Gawain’s moral compass was constantly being tested with deception being used to gage his level of loyalty, morality, and chivalry. The “game” that the Green Knight was hell bent on playing was not an honest one. He utilized a host of deceptions to gain the results that he sought after—there was little to no room for error with him. First, he presented a challenge in which he alone knew that he would not perish. When he asked for a volunteer to strike him with the ax, the Green Knight
Deception is one of mankind’s most versatile and powerful tools and is used nearly every day for both evil and good. Whether it be deceiving an army in battle or using exaggerations and myths to teach a child right from wrong, deceit allows one to advance his selfish or selfless intentions by providing them a source of influence on others. Such deception is evident throughout Sir Gawain and the Green Knight—the host’s wife’s dishonesty in particular—as it helps to spur the plot of the poem. Lady Bertilak’s purposeful deception of Gawain has questionable motives that highlight the theme of human imperfection and susceptibility to temptation.
...stops him from sleeping with Bertilak’s wife, only until his finds a way to avoid death does he goes against them. What Gawain learns from the green knight’s challenge is that instinctively he is just a human who is concerned with his own life over anything else. Chivalry does provide a valuable set of rules and ideals toward which one to strive for, but a person must remain aware of their own mortality and weaknesses. Sir Gawain’s flinching at the green knight’s swinging ax, his time in the woods using animal nature requiring him to seek shelter to survive and his finally accepting the wife’s gift of the girdle teaches him that though he may be the most chivalrous knight in the land, he is nevertheless human and capable of error.
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.
Christian Values in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Thesis Statement: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight shows the struggle between a good Christian man against the temptations of this world. I. Taking a Stand A. Worthiness B. Sir Gawain stands C. Trial overcome II.
“Culture does not make people. People make culture” said Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a Nigerian writer and educator, in a presentation on feminism in a TedTalk. The culture in which Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was written was misogynistic and it shows in the writing of the poem. Medieval cultural misogyny manifests itself in multiple ways in SGGK. This paper will examine the negative relationships between Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and gender by discussing: the representation of female characters, gendered violence, and Christianity in the Middle Ages.
An Arthurian romance that has elements of a bildungsroman is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The story is about the knight Gawain going on a quest in which he grows and becomes more aware of himself in relation to his character as well as others. In the beginning of the poem, Gawain is described as representing the best of the Round Table, signified by the pentangle on his shield. Each point symbolizes a different ideal that Gawain upholds as the best of the Knights of the Round Table; one point reminds him of his five senses, one point reminds him of his dexterous fingers, one point represents the five wounds of Christ, one point represents the five joys of Mary, and one point reminds him of the five virtues that he possesses including fellowship,
The story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight revolves around the knights and their chivalry as well as their romance through courtly love. The era in which this story takes place is male-dominated, where the men are supposed to be brave and honorable. On the other hand, the knight is also to court a lady and to follow her commands. Sir Gawain comes to conflict when he finds himself needing to balance the two by being honorable to chivalry as well as respectful to courtly love.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a poem which tells the tale of a knight who undergoes trials-testing the attributes of knighthood-in order to prove the strength and courage of himself, while representing the Knights of the Round Table. One of King Arthurs most noblest and bravest of knights, Sir Gawain, is taken on an adventure when he steps up to behead a mysterious green visitor on Christmas Day-with the green mans’ permission of course. Many would state that this tale of valor would be within the romance genre. To the modern person this would be a strange category to place the poem in due to the question of ‘where is the actual romance, where is the love and woe?’ However, unlike most romances nowadays, within medieval literature there are many defining features and characteristics of a romance-them rarely ever really involving love itself. Within medieval literature the elements of a romance are usually enshrouded in magic, the fantastic and an adventure. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight follows Sir Gawain over the course of one year, from one New Years to the next, as was the deal he and Bertilak, the green knight, struck.