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Theme of courage in sir gawain
Sir Gawain and the green Knight research paper
Sir Gawain and the green Knight research paper
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SIR GAWAIN and the GREEN KNIGHT
In the Middle Ages, a time of brave knights and fair maidens, chivalry was alive and well, and honor meant much more than just pride. A man could be expected to be as good as his word, and God was an integral part of his life. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the title character sets off on a month-long quest for the Green Chapel in fulfillment of a promise made a year earlier, knowing full well that it could mean certain death. After the knight's final days at the court of King Arthur are recounted, he sets off in "country wild" where he is "far off from all his friends" (lines 713-14). This lonely road on which he rides reflects the nature of his quest--Gawain's conflict is within himself, and is something which he must deal with on his own.
On the long, arduous journey, the brave knight battles countless foes to the point where "to tell but the tenth part would tax [the author's] wits" (719). All manner of fearsome foes are described, from serpents and wolves to wild men and giants. However, he has "borne himself bravely, and been on God's side" (724), and therefore makes it through all these trials intact.
The description of the locations where Sir Gawain is forced to sleep on some nights calls to mind the dwelling of Grendel's mother from Beowulf--cold, gloomy, rocky, and generally unpleasant. Gawain bears it all with stoic patience and fortitude, though he is "near slain" by the inclement weather. Finally, on Christmas Eve, Gawain "prays with all his might/That Mary may be his guide/Till a dwelling comes in sight" (737-39). This prayer underlines the parallel between Gawain's plight on this Christmas Eve and Mary's own search for lodging on the night of the first Christmas.
On Christmas morning, he arrives in a foreboding forested area, "a man all alone" in a "marsh and mire" where "birds unblithe upon bare twigs/Peeped most piteously for pain of the cold." (The cold loneliness stands in contrast to the warmth and companionship he is to find in Bercilak's castle later on in the story.) Here he again prays mournfully--this time that he may be able to attend the Christmas mass. His first thoughts are not for his own safety, nor for his reputation should he not find the Green Chapel in time.
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...
He observes the progress of one’s journey and listens to people’s prayers. Similarly, the Green Knight secretly watches Sir Gawain through a disguise – Lord Bertilak. By disguising himself, the Green Knight could continue to test Sir Gawain’s faith by initiating another agreement. Unaware of the Green Knight’s presence, Sir Gawain is continually examined to discover the truth to his fidelity. Initially, Sir Gawain faces stressful and challenging experiences along his trek to the Green Chapel. Alone and enveloped by harsh winter’s cold, he “prays for God’s grace to save him” (Champion 418). Luckily, Sir Gawain’s prayers are heard when he uncovered Lord Bertilak’s castle amongst the woods. By humbly inviting Sir Gawain into the castle, pleas for safety and shelter from harsh conditions are answered, a depiction of God’s (the Green Knight’s) grace. Nonetheless, Sir Gawain’s hardships do not cease, but in fact, they continue to fall and weigh upon his shoulders. Once again, Sir Gawain partakes in another agreement, involving the exchanging of winnings. Human faith is yet again being tested, and once more fails to succeed. The affection of Lady Bertilak is arranged by the Green Knight himself as another test; however, Sir Gawain “fell short a little . . . and lacked fidelity” (Winny 4.2366). Fear of death encourages Sir Gawain to submit to greed. In order to continue living, he wears the Green Knight’s
Julian Assange’s website, WikiLeaks made global headlines in the last few years. Assange started out by leaking documents he had acquired over the internet about banks in various European countries. Chelsea Manning, Army Private at the time stationed in Iraq joined up with Assange and delivered to him thousands of classified documents that Manning, a military intelligence analyst had access to. Manning was in contact with a former hacker named Adrian Lamo who he asked advice of, advice whether or not he should leak the documents. Manning going against Lamo’s advice of not leaking the documents caused Manning to be arrested after Lamo turned him in for the leak. This was a major blow for Wikileaks who had just lost their major source of confidential documents from the United States government. Since 9/11, the United States Government has realized that information needs to be shared among intelligence agencies in order to thwart terrorist attacks. A side effect however is that information is no longer on a need-to-know basis which made it possible for Manning to leak it all out. After receiving this confidential information, Assange began to make this information available to media outlets. Assange’s actions were morally and ethically incorrect. He should not have leaked so many classified documents especially without redacting the names of informants whose lives could have been in danger. These documents leaked by Manning to Assange were meant strictly for the eyes and ears of those who were privileged to the information, not for the front page of the New York Times. WikiLeaks and Julian Assange threatened global security as they willingly and knowingly put lives of thousands at risk by allowing the bad guys an opportunity to a...
The Green Knight begins to mock the court; and then boldly, King Arthur accepts his challenge. Sir Gawain realizes that this should not be the king’s responsibility for there are others present worthy of the challenge including him. Symbolically, this scene can be seen as a Christian standing up for what he believes in. Gawain says, “I am the weakest, well I know, and of wit feeblest;/ And the loss of my life would be least of any; (354-355). Here, Gawain humbles himself before his lord, just as a Christian should in prayer to God.
“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.
Keck, Zachary. "Yes, Edward Snowden Is a Traitor." The Diplomat. N.p., 21 Dec. 2013. Web. 21 Feb. 2014
Sir Gawain was heroic in seeking out the Green Knight to finish the challenge that was brought to King Arthur’s men. “Said Gawain, ‘Strike once more; /I shall neither flinch nor flee; /But if my head falls to the floor /There is no mending me!’” (lns. 2280-2283) There was no physical power that forced Sir Gawain to keep true to his word. Gawain sought out the Green Knight, just as he had promised, and was now about to receive the blow that would send him to his death. This quote shows that Sir Gawain was ready to be dealt his fate, and that he knew there was no way for him to survive as the Green Knight had done earlier in the poem. This shows a very human side to Sir Gawain as he appears somewhat afraid of death, but ready to face it nonetheless. It is this willingness and readiness to accept death at the hand of the Green Knight that makes Sir Gawain a...
The short-term and long-term benefits of a smaller class size are many as you have read. The benefits attributed to class size are improving the students learning abilities, improving on teacher/student relationship, and student to student relationships, communication in and out of the classroom, the positive effect on discipline, and increases test scores. Smaller class sizes are one of the most important things in schooling and are not taken fully advantage of, but should be used more often than it is. There are obviously more affects from class size that remain unseen to the human eye.
WikiLeaks is more than just a website. It is one of the fastest growing, nonprofit news organizations in the twenty first century. With millions of documents posted, WikiLeaks has recently released over 250,000 documents related to US Embassy message traffic; a majority of which are either Secret NOFORN (No Foreign Nationals) or Classified. The disclosure of these documents has seriously impeded diplomatic relations between various countries, with the US being the primary target. In these various “cables”, as they’re commonly referred to, the internal thoughts and opinions of several high ranking United States officials is laid bare for anyone with internet access to observe. Many would claim that this is an extreme exercise in Freedom of Speech; simply keeping open the lines of communication between our government and its people. This is a righteous façade of the truth. The reality is this: WikiLeaks is damaging. It is damaging to our country’s ability to present a coherent and clear diplomatic embrace to our friends and allies alike.
Class sizes in America have been on a constant rise for years now, with little help from a budget, and almost no recovery from a slumping economy, which brings to light the age-old discussion; does class size really matter? With class sizes rising at a constant rate there is also no relief for students. There are many students who tend to struggle in certain subjects, and a smaller class could mean more individual time with a teacher and that could help improve their knowledge and comprehension of the subject. Our students are in classes day in and day out that are simply too big for even the finest teachers to handle, which impairs each individual’s learning. Therefore if teachers had fewer students this would enable them to give more individual teaching time to each student. Class size is important, and it has a large impact on our student’s education and that is why class size should be cut, specifically in Pre-K to third grade classes or classes which serve the most “at-risk” students.
The correlation between the amount of students in a class and the overall achievement of students has been a highly controversial topic for some time now. Many people have been wondering if smaller class sizes really do help students perform better in school or not. I personally do better when I am in smaller classes and have better focus on the topic at hand. According to Jacqui Murray, teacher of 15 years and writer for Teachers Hub, things like class size, along with other things like per-pupil expenditure and percentage of teachers with advanced degrees, does not matter as much as we think it does. What does matter, according to a study talked about in her article "Bigger Can Be Better: Reasons Class Size
WikiLeaks is a non-profit mass media organization that was founded by an Australian activist, Julian Assange in 2006. Their motivation is to expose secret, private or classified information, documents and media from governments and corporations. Christopher Hood (2011) announces that, WikiLeaks “releases include nearly 80,000 documents about Afghan war, some 400,000 Iraq war documents, and diplomatic cables from 274 U.S. embassies around the world” (Hood, 2011). The gathered information is from anonymous news sources, news leaks, hackers, and whistleblowers. The organization feels the need to impro...
7: GALVANIC: Because different elements in alloy or metal has different chemical activities, therefore they have different electrochemical properties. When dissimilar metals join in such a way there electrical circuit gets completed due to unfamiliar environment and thus results in corrosion of metal.
In a 2008 survey, 76% of teachers said that reducing class size would be "a very effective" way of improving teacher quality, and 21% responding that it would be an “effective” method, far outstripping every other reform cited. (“Fact Sheets On Class Size”)