The Importance Of Honor In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

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;

The text states, “She glanced at him, laughed and gave her good-bye, then stood, and stunned him with astounding words: ‘May the Lord repay you for your prize performance. But I know that Gawain could never be your name.” (1290-1293) The word glanced here stands out as being very seductive and almost sneaky. She follows this with a laugh that only adds to the feminine charm that she is working on Sir Gawain. Through her words and her body language, she is attempting to bait the knight into getting what she wants. Next she calls out his honor by saying he could not possibly be who he says he is. By mentioning the Lord’s name, she is bringing Gawain’s religion into play as well. She is sneakily trying to play on Sir Gawain’s pride, religion, as well as his human

The text continues, “’Very well,’ said Gawain, ‘Let it be as you wish. I shall kiss at your command, as becomes a knight, and further, should it please you, so press me no more.’” (1302-1304) He gives into the kiss in order to preserve his pride as a knight. He would not want to stray from the code of honor that befits a knight. The last part of this quote can be read multiple ways. For example, is the knight saying that he will go further than the kiss in order to please her, or asking her not to press him anymore if she finds she likes his kiss. Perhaps he is meaning that since he is giving into her advances of a kiss, she should not ask for anything more. Since Sir Gawain did ward off the other advances that the lady made, the first interpretation of this is most likely incorrect in that he was not allowing room to be coerced any