Sir Gawain in Transition

1392 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Chaucer's representation of women in Canterbury tales

Sir Gawain in Transition Sir Gawain has played a significant role in Arthurian legends since the Middle Ages. His first major appearance in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight depicts Gawain as a warrior rather than a womanizing knight like others from King Arthur's court. Even in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain focuses on his battle with the green knight rather than the advances of Bercilak's wife. During Gawain's visit to Bercilak's castle, his wife makes three specific advances to entice Gawain into an adulteress relationship. Although Gawain faces certain death with the Green Knight, he declines any sexual involvement with Bercilak's wife. Gawain's character remains faithful to his warrior image by rushing into battle with the green knight rather than prolonging his stay at Bercilak's castle. Although he exhibits this obsession with battle in many stories, Gawain's role changes drastically between his appearance in The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell and his later appearance in Howard Pyle's "The Story of King Arthur and His Knights." Although these stories employ similar plots, Gawain's character undergoes's a dramatic transformation. In The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell Gawain reveals his loyalty to King Arthur by agreeing the marry the "Loathly" lady after she saves the king's life. This not the first appearance of the "loathly" lady in Medieval literature. In Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, the "Knight's Tale" reiterates the "familiar folklore motif [that] concerns the transformation of the ugly hag into a beautiful woman after a man has placed himself under her 'sovereynte'" and incorporates "the theme of A Riddle Asked and Answered" (Wilhelm 467). ... ... middle of paper ... ...en he learns to love the women he marries, Gawain argues with his new wife and then mutters "so be it" when confronted with her choice. Gawain refuses to learn from his mistakes in Pyle's story. In both Pyle's story and The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell, Gawain does not battle as he does with the green knight; instead, he marries and enters the marital war zone rather than those fought on the battlefield. Bibliography Lupack, Alan, ed. Modern Arthurian Literature. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1992. Vasta, Edward. "Chaucer, Gower, and the Unknown Minstrel: The Literary Liberation of the Loathly Lady." Exemplaria. 395-419. Wilhelm, James J., ed. The Romance of Arthur. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1994. Web Text version of The Marriage of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell is at http://rodent.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/ragnell.htm

Show More
Related

  • Code Of Chivalry In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

    972 Words  | 2 Pages

    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 choice and choose me a husband for the noble I know….would I elect before you”.

    Read More

  • Troy's Battle with Anger in August Wilson's Fences

    1269 Words  | 3 Pages

    Troy?s relationship with his father was one, which produced much tension, and had a strong influence on Troy?s relationships with his loved ones as an adult. He had very little respect for his father because his father did not, in Troy?s mind, make his family a priority. At an early age, Troy?s father beat him ?like there was no tomorrow? because he caught Troy getting ?cozy? with a girl (549; I,4). Troy said that ?right there is where [he became] a man? (549; I,4). It was at that moment that Troy made the decision to free himself from his father?s power. Despite the fact that he did eventually escape his father?s wrath, the struggle with his father?s aggressive behavior and lack of love resulted in a coldness that resided in Troy?s heart toward life and love. His father did not care about his children; children were there to work for the food that he ate first. Troy describes his feelings toward his father by saying, ?Sometimes I wish I hadn?t known my daddy. He ain?t cared nothing about no kids. A kid to him wasn?t nothing. All he wanted was for you to learn how to walk so he could start you to working? (548; I,4). Although Troy had very little respect for his father and vowed to be nothing like him, many of his father?s harsh personality traits show up in his own personality. Despite Troy?s continuous attempts to push himself away from anything he had ever known about his father, the inheritance of such irrational behavior was inevitable because it was all he had ever known. The inheritance of this angry behavior was, in turn, the cause of his damaging relationships with his own family. Just as Troy endured his father?s cruel ways, Troy?s family is left with no choice but to try to learn to live with his similar ways.

    Read More

  • A Comparison Of Sir Gawain And The Green Knight And Lanval

    1192 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sir Gawain and the Green Knight takes its protagonist, the noble Gawain, through

    Read More

  • Gawain in Wace, Lazamon, and Alliterative Morte Arturo: A Cultural Comparison

    5471 Words  | 11 Pages

    The figure of Gawain throughout Arthurian literature is an interesting one; he appears in more texts as a secondary character than any other knight named, and often gains glory even at the expense of the main hero (Busby 1980, 5). The first characteristic which separates him from the other knights is his relationship to Arthur: it is usually stated that he is Arthur's sister's son, a kinship that is found from William of Malmesbury's Gesta Regum Anglorum (c. 1125) and Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae (c. 1136) onward (Busby 1980, 31). However, it is notable that Gawain often seems more like a type than an individual; in Old French literature he is never the subject of a biographical romance, as are most of the other knights, he never has one particular lady's name associated with him, and he is frequently used as a constant against which other knights are judged, the perfect embodiment of good qualities, more a symbol of perfection than an actual person (Busby 1980, 7).

    Read More

  • Sir Gawain and Green Knight Essays: Triumph or Failure?

    510 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Deceitful Fence

    1210 Words  | 3 Pages

    Troy is a very self-centered individual. He is only concerned with issues regarding him. For instance, he wants to be able to drive the trash trucks at his job like the white men do. In Act One, scene one, Troy tells Bono that he talked to his boss, Mr. Rand, about driving the trucks. “How come you got all the whites driving and the colored lifting?” (1332). If things in Troy’s life aren’t going the way he wants them to, he makes himself into the victim and searches for sympathy from others. In addition, if he ever does something erroneous, he never accepts responsibility, never admits his wrongdoing and no matter how much anguish he causes someone, he never apologizes for it.

    Read More

  • Fences, by August Wilson

    1101 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...eless, he essentially lived his life in a constant low point. Troy’s anger is undoubtedly misguided, but entirely permissible considering his hardships. The story of Troy Maxon begs the question: is it ever justifiable to pass judgment on someone without understanding his or her life story? After analyzing Troy’s struggle and resulting attitude, it seems that passing judgment is exceptionally risky. Without recognizing the early hardships of Troy’s life, it is easy to dismiss him and his cynical outlook. What can be learned from his story is evident. Never judge someone for his or her seemingly unwarranted attitude because there is a good chance it is completely defensible.

    Read More

  • The Role of Women in Sir Gawain and The Green Knight

    1606 Words  | 4 Pages

    Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Sixth Edition, Volume One. General Ed. M.H. Abrams. New York: Norton, 1993.

    Read More

  • Beowulf: The Selfless Hero

    730 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume A. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 2006. 162-213.

    Read More

  • Character Analysis Of Sir Gawain

    1423 Words  | 3 Pages

    The character, Sir Gawain is an interesting character. He has many different qualities both good and bad. Though he has bad qualities, his intentions behind them are completely innocent. His good qualities far outweigh his bad ones. He makes many decisions though not always the best ones. These decisions have lasting effects on other characters from the story. The ethics of sir Gawain are a main theme throughout the story. Sir Gawain has some interesting motives to his actions that are a focus in the beginning of the story. Throughout the entire story, Sir Gawain is growing as a character. Gawain has many appealing qualities, interesting ethics and motives, and some of his decisions are questionable, but all the while he is growing

    Read More

  • Examples Of Courtly Love In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

    949 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Essay On Polar Bears

    1695 Words  | 4 Pages

    Polar bears are one of the Earth’s largest and most powerful carnivores. These bears are dependent on sea ice as their primary habitat and are thus found on the Arctic coasts of North America. The scientific term used to describe polar bears, Ursus maritimus translates to sea bear because polar bears spend most of their lives on the Arctic ice. A common misconception the public holds is that polar bears are white; their fur is actually consists of two transparent layers: hollow guard hairs and an undercoat. While the two layers appear white because the air spaces in each hair scatter light, they are actually transparent and the black skin underneath the fur is penetrated by sunlight, warming the bears body. Polar bears are the largest of

    Read More

  • Evolution Of Polar Bears

    760 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Arctic climate is covered with snow and ice. The temperatures are very cold. The Polar Bear’s coat has two layers of fur and a layer of blubber (thick fat) underneath. Polar Bears use their big front paws to paddle through the water and their oil coated fur helps keep them dry when they get out of the water. A Polar Bear spends months wandering across the frozen surface of the Arctic, looking for food. They eat walruses, birds, fish and seals. Sometimes a Polar Bear has to spend a lot of time in the water searching for food or swimming from place to place to find something to eat.

    Read More

  • Stem Cell Research Pros And Cons

    403 Words  | 1 Pages

    Stem cell research is a topic that is discussed widely throughout our nation and can have many positive and negative outcomes. There are two different types of stem cells, embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells. Embryonic stem cells are able to differentiate and turn into other cells which are taken from an embryo at a few days old. An adult stem cell is a stem cell that resides in an individual, which can be used for repairing the tissue in which they reside. However, it has been proposed that embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells can either change or may be responsible for abnormal growth which could progress into cancer.

    Read More

  • Panacea

    1515 Words  | 4 Pages

    Too many people form an opinion on stem cell research without understanding what it is. In the 1960’s, Canadian scientists Ernest McCulloh and James Till discovered the idea of stem cells. A human embryo starts out as a blastocyst, which a formation of a hollow ball of cells [Firpo par.3]. The cells then develop into specialized cells. Each group of specialized cells has specific jobs in the human body. The groups of cells continue to divide and grow into similar cells. Embryonic stem cells are special because as embryo, they have not yet become specialized. This means they have the ability to divide into any type of specialized cell. In other words, embryonic stem cells are heart cells, brain cells, skin cells, or any other type of cell. In 1998, when Wisconsin biologist James Thomson successfully isolated and grew embryonic stem cells, it became a realistic possibility that these stem cells could be used for possible cures to vast numbers of diseases [Haymer 3]. It was then thought that the potentials of stem cell research were unlimited.

    Read More

More about Sir Gawain in Transition

Open Document