Sir Gawain's Code Of Chivalry

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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is an epic poem about a knight in King Arthur’s court. The knights of King Arthur were know to follow a strict code of chivalry. In the beginning of the story, the Green Knight came to King Arthur’s court to play a game. This particular game is called the beheading game. In this game, one person strikes the other in the neck and the other receives the blow, and after a set amount of time, the blow is returned. Sir Gawain decides to take the challenge and play with the Green Knight, and the date is set for a year and one day. Sir Gawain must come and find the Green Knight on this day and receive his blow. In his journey to find the Green Knight, he faces many temptations that call the code of chivalry into question. Sir Gawain ultimately …show more content…

All of the knights must also remain loyal to God, their country, and the code of chivalry. In the story, Sir Gawain was known to possess the five fifths. “First he was deemed flawless in his five senses/ and secondly his five fingers were never at fault;/ and thirdly his faith was founded in the five wounds Christ received on the cross” (640-643). The fourth of the five fifths was “the five joys which Mary has conceived her son” (646-647). Lastly, he is known for his practice of the five social graces which include: free giving, brotherly love, chastity, pure manners, and piety. Throughout the story, the code of chivalry contradicts itself and Gawain is forced to choose what is most important. The contradiction begins when Sir Gawain accepts the challenge from the Green Knight. He says “‘I am the weakest of your warriors and feeblest of wits;/ the loss of my life would be least lemented’” (354-355). The code says that knights are supposed to have honor and courage while Sir Gawain just admitted that he was the weakest and had the least amount of courage. In this case, Sir Gawain believes that honesty is a more important

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