Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a fascinating poem full of bravery, fellowship, and humor. Set in medieval England after the attack on Troy the story opens to a scene of merrymaking and feasting. It was New Year’s Eve in Camelot, and Sir Gawain sat among the knights, and there is no denying he is one of the bravest there. His bravery is continually proved throughout his adventures. One of the major themes of this story is the passage to maturity of the hero, Sir Gawain. The first test arrives in the form of the Green Knight, barging in, partway through the festivities. The Green Knight has come far to see the Knights of King Arthur’s court. He had heard of their superiority, and came not to fight, but to offer a challenge. Denying Arthur’s …show more content…
After traveling alone for days, it was Christmas Eve. Sir Gawain prayed that he might find a place to attend mass on Christmas, no sooner than he finished his prayer, he came across a castle. Thanking Jesus for this miracle, he proceeded to the castle. He was welcomed by the master of the house, Bertilak, and his wife, Lady Bertilak. A hard-working man, Bertilak gladly promised all he had or gained during his stay would be just as much Gawain’s as his own, and Gawain promised the same. The lady visited Sir Gawain in his bedchamber each day to give him kisses, and each day he gave those kisses in turn to his host. Close to the end of his stay she made an attempt to seduce him. This was an issue as it is chivalric code to always please the lady of the house you are staying in. Sir Gawain refused, he also declined her wedding ring, telling her he wanted nothing from her. His resolution was lost, however, when she offered her belt. She said it would save him when he met the Green Knight. He failed in three ways that day. Firstly, when his love of life won over his bravery, then when his faith in objects won over his faith in God, and thirdly, his lack of honesty to his host when he failed mention this last “gift” from Lady
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.
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.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a fourteenth-century tale written by an anonymous poet, chronicles how Sir Gawain of King Arthur’s Round Table finds his virtue compromised. A noble and truthful knight, Gawain accepts the Green Knight’s challenge at Arthur’s New Years feast. On his way to the Green Chapel, Gawain takes shelter from the cold winter at Lord Bercilak’s castle. The lord makes an agreement with Gawain to exchange what they have one at the end of the day. During the three days that the lord is out hunting, his wife attempts to seduce Gawain. At the end of the story, it is revealed that Morgan le Faye has orchestrated the entire situation to disgrace the Knights of the Round Table by revealing that one of their best, Sir Gawain, is not perfect.
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.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight takes its protagonist, the noble Gawain, through
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.
We see that Bertilak perceives Gawain’s fault, his love of life, and irrespective of it, loves Gawain. Despite having sinned, Bertilak sees in Gawain a first-rate knight, far superior to his peers in Camelot, who, faced with the spectre of death, grew silent with cowardice, as the honor of the King lay unguarded.
At the onset of Sir Gawain and the Green Night the unknown author goes to great length physically describing the opulence of Christmastime in Arthur's court. For Camelot even Christmastide, a deeply religious holiday, is given significance based on its futile aesthetic veneer rather than inherent religious value. The dais is “well –decked” (Sir Gawain and the Green Night, 75), and “costly silk curtains” (76) canopy over Queen Guinevere. The Knights are described as “brave by din by day, dancing by night” (47 ), this is to say they are the paradigm of bravery and gentility. Both bravery and gentility are not indicative of the knights’ humanity, his feelings and thoughts, rather how appears and acts.
The lord planned to go hunting and invited Sir Gawain to eschange what he recieved in the castle for what the Lord recieved in the woods. For the first two days, the Lord gave Sir gawain venision, bear and a goose. And for every day, Sir Gawain recieved kisses from the Lady, so in return he must kiss the Lord. But on the third day, Sir Gawainj recieved three kisses and a green silk gridle. This gridle was magical according to the Lady. She said ""My knight, you must face many foes. This is a magic girdle; it has the power to protect whoever wears it against any weapon." Sir Gawains desire to live was overpowering so he accepted the gift. He failed to give the Lord this gift, but instead he gave him three kisses. Days passed and eventually Sir Gawain had to face the Green Knight. As scared as Sir Gawain was, he was determined to commit to his word so he allowed the Green Knight to swing his axe with the intent to decapitate him. Oddly enough, the Knight swung his axe three times and only cut Sir Gawains neck slightly.
Although he manages to resist her advances, she is able to sneak a kiss before she makes her exit. As part of the promise they made to each other to share anything they acquired with each other, Sir Gawain has no choice but to share the kiss he received with Bertilak. He fails to mention where exactly he got the kiss, however, and it is forgotten. In return, he is presented with the venison that the Red Lord managed to obtain.
In the opening scene Sir Gawain faces his first trial when the Green Knight proposes his “Christmas game.” The room falls silent for “If he astonished them at first, stiller were then/ All that household in hall, the high and low;” (lines 301-302). The Green Knight begins to mock the court; and then boldly, King Arthur accepts h...
"We are made aware of the importance of the castle first when it just suddenly appears from nowhere and secondly when we notice it is set in a green field. The green field makes no sense to the reader because it is the middle of winter, but it does signify the fact that the appearance of the castle is not accidental. It is the combination of Sir Gawain's prayer, the appearance of a beautiful summer landscape and the castle in the middle of it that strikes the reader and asks the question: What does it mean? The castle is great with a "palisade of palings" planted about for about two miles. It is shining in the sun, and Sir Gawain is standing in awe looking at it. He is thankful to "Jesus and Saint Julian" that they h...
Sir Gawain's inner values and character are tested to the fullest and are clearly defined in the text of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The unknown author describes Gawain and the other knights as "Many good knights" (Norton 159), and he is referred to as one of the "most noble knights" (Norton 159) in King Arthur's land. This claim by the author is solidified by a challenge presented by the evil Green Knight, who enters the court of King Arthur and asks him to partake in a Christmas game. Sir Gawain, after hearing this challenge, asks the king if he may take his place. This represents that Gawain is very loyal to his king. Sir Gawain is also an honest knight in the text because in a year's time he ventures out in search of the Green Knight to endure a blow with the ax as the rules of the game were stated. He very easily could have not have carried out his end of the bargain by not traveling to the Green Chapel to meet the evil being, but Gawain is an honest knight who is true to his word.
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 fit in with the concept of a romance; it has all the elements that would make one consider the text as so. The tale holds adventure, magic, a quest and an unexpected reality check that even those who are considered “perfect” are also just humans. The author used this story as a way of revealing faults in some of the aspects of knighthood through the use of intertwining chivalric duty with natural human acts; thus showing to be perfectly chivalrous would be inhuman.