Hallmark virtues of the medieval period included hospitable community, loyalty, and piety. The black death and papal corruption are two crucial factors that undermined these virtues during the 14th and 15th centuries. In order to maintain order in a crippling time period, many scholarly writers and Christian theologians produced responses to what was happening in order to preserve unity, virtues and humanity. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight exemplifies the aforementioned virtues that were upheld in medieval culture. The hospitality shown in Sir Gawain is reflective of Greek xenia, a concept of mutual courtesy between a guest and a host. In the poem, the lord of the castle near the Green Chapel offers to give Sir Gawain a place to stay and food to eat as he waits to confront the Green Knight. “They let down the drawbridge and duly went forth / And kneeled down on their knees on the naked earth / To welcome this warrior as best they were able.” (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, lines 817-819). The residents …show more content…
“I [God] wanted to make you dependent on one another so that each of you would be my minister, dispensing the graces of your gifts you have received from me.” (The Dialogue, page 38). This idea reinforces an importance on community, and of the restoration of a unified European community. Loyalty towards each other, and looking out for others besides yourself, is not only an honorable trait that should be cherished in society but also reflects devotion to God. Loving thy neighbors is also loving God, and “those who do not love me cannot believe or trust me” (The Dialogue, page 38). Catherine of Siena’s response attempted to restore community as well as faith. A dialogue that was written in a time of uncertainty was made in hopes of persuading people to refrain from sin. Love, and caring for one another in a loyal and hospitable manner like that upheld in Sir
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.
It is easy to read _Sir Gawain and the Green Knight_ as a romantic celebration of chivalry, but Ruth Hamilton believes that "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight contains a more wide-ranging, more serious criticism of chivalry than has heretofore been noticed" (113). Specifically, she feels that the poet is showing Gawain's reliance on chivalry's outside form and substance at the expense of the original values of the Christian religion from which it sprang. As she shows, "the first order of knights were monastic ones, who took vows of poverty, obedience, and chastity. The first duties th...
In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sir Gawain humbly approaches the King and courageously says, “For I find it not fit… when such a boon is begged… though you be tempted… to take in on yourself while so bold men about upon benches sit” (122-125) “And for that this folly befits a king, and ‘tis I that have asked it, it ought to be mine” (132-133). He, the weakest Knight, sees the injustice of someone challenging the King and instead of acting passively he willingly sacrifices himself for the King’s sake, which shows his loyalty, courage and integrity. However, Sir Gawain becomes a hypocrite even though the Green Knight says, “Friend mine, it seems your word holds good” (333-334) because the Green Knight’s wife “made trial of a man most faultless by far” (452) and he did not remain loyal and honest. The opportunity of remaining secure and safe presents itself and selfishly he chooses this course of action; consequently, he “lacked… a little in loyalty there” (456). In the end, the Green Knight reprimands him for his dishonesty and lack of integrity and in return Sir Gawain, shamefully responds “I confess, knight, in this place, most dire is my misdeed; let me gain back your good grace…” (Line 474-476) so even though he was not noble and loyal throughout the entire course he remains sincere in his apology. His loyalty to the King in the
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.
Honor, or reputation, is something that humans have been worried about throughout history, albeit some people more than others. Although bringing dishonor on someone’s name or family seemed to have more repercussions back in the older day, it is still something that people try to avoid doing. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (the author is unknown but referred to as the Pearl Poet) honor was an important factor as well. The story tells of a knight named Sir Gawain who has been challenged to a beheading game by a mysterious green knight. In this day and age, most people would just blow of the green knight as crazy and not even care about their honor as long as they could keep their lives. However, the knight is honor bound and takes the challenge;
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.
In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, an epic written in fourteenth century by a contemporary of Geoffrey Chaucer, we learn about a knight and his quest. Sir Gawain, sworn to seek the Green Knight as part of a deal, first finds himself in an enchanted and beautiful forest and then ushered into a beautiful castle of Bercilak, its host. Bercilak's court seems so like Arthur's that it appears to offer Gawain a familiar refuge in alien territory. The orderliness and beauty of the forest and the castle recall the civilized world of Arthur's court. Gawain is welcomed as warmly as if he has arrived at Camelot. The abundant hospitality and congeniality of the host and servants are clear in this scene, and they put Gawain at ease. First, the porter at Bercilak's castle assures Gawain that "a noble knight such as he will not want for a welcome"(SGGK l. 814). Next, the host welcomes him whole-heartedly and lays all that he owns at Gawain's disposal. He also sends a servant to see to Gawain's needs, makes sure he slips into something more comfortable, rests and eats.
The knights in the society and the way they live has a major effect on the medieval text we have read in class. Knights are the protectors of this time period, and it is because of them that most of these stories have a plot line. As a knight, you swear to follow and abide by a code, the chivalric code. This code states that they are to be loyal to their king, protect the widows and orphans, seek justice, and ever back down. Sir Gawain is a great example of a knight who follows this.
In the article, “Carnival, Pagan, and Christian symbolism in ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’,” Laura I. Kenny begins her discussion by introducing the background of the poem. Laura then states the perceptible relations of humankind v. nature and the underlying manifesto of each but became meticulous when beginning her discussion on religion (more specifically Paganism and Christianity). She brings into light the religious symbolism of the holly, along with the color green. Intervening both, she states the association of the holly and the Holly King’s “entirely emerald green” stature. Laura then goes on to tell about the religious sentiment and the similarities and the stipulations that go along with the color.