...Sir Gawain and the Green Knight contains many themes. Some of these themes are more obvious than others. Love, lust, loyalty, deceit, trust, courage, virtue, and righteousness are most of the themes within the poem. There are some more that are hidden within the concepts of the ideas that the poem presents. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, translated by John Gardner, many different themes are addressed throughout the story. The translation by John Gardner portrays these themes by using specific characters, medieval symbolism, and various settings within the story. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a great work of medieval literature. The story is considered to be verse romance. There are not many solid facts on the story. The story was composed in the second half of the fourteenth century. It is likely that Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was written around 1375. The author of the piece remains unknown, but we do know of the northwestern dialect of Middle English with which he wrote the poem. The unknown author also consciously wrote in an old-fashioned style. The author is usually referred to as the Gawain poet or the Pearl poet. Three poems were included with Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. "Pearl", "Patience", and "Purity" were all with Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in the same manuscript. This is the reason the author is named as the Pearl poet, in addition to the Gawain poet. All four poems were uniquely named Cotton Nero A.X. This is due to the manuscript's...
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...Ernesto Aleman English Dr. Curran Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a romance poem from the middle Ages (14th Century) and was written by an anonymous poet. Sir Gawain, the protagonist of the poem, has to overcome two different challenges throughout the poem: to behead the Green Knight and to let the green knight behead him a year later; and resist the temptation to commit adultery with the wife of Lord Bercilak, who we later learn is the Green Knight. This story is symbolic of life, because it illustrates the life challenges humans must overcome, and how the consequences of failure or success affect the individual. In this poem, the character of Sir Gawain is highly symbolic for innocence. He was not afraid to accept the Green Knight’s challenge because it meant saving the whole kingdom by saving the king. Sir Gawain’s acceptance of the challenge represents an unquestionable characteristic of a knight, fearlessness. Even though Sir Gawain assumed a brave attitude towards the challenge, his innocence led him to...
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...were viewed and treated. However, toward the end of the middle ages, times were changing and women began to play major roles in literature which showed that they could have an impact. This changing view on women in literature represents how they are gaining power in society. In both Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Christine de Pizan’s The Book of the City of the Ladies women play a critical role in literature. However...
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...King Arthur's court. Then a green knight enters asking all of the knights in the court if they would like to play a game. The game is he will allow which ever knight that chooses to challenge him one swing with a battle ax to try and chop off his head, but in order to play the game, the accepting knight must meet the green knight one year later at the green chapel. The brave knight Sir Gawain accepts to the challenge of the green knight. Sir Gawain takes one swing and chops off the head of the green knight. Right after the green knight's head is chopped off he gets up immediately, picks up his head and leaves. Once a year passes, Gawain sets off on a journey to find the Green Chapel. He arrives at a castle in which a lord welcomes him to stay for several days (Gawain only needs to stay there for three). The next morning the lord makes an agreement to share everything he gets during these three days with Gawain, but Gawain must agree to do the same. During days one and two the lord's wife tries hitting on Gawain, but he only allows her to give him a few kisses. At these days Gawain shares what he got to the lord for what he has hunted those days. On the third day, Gawain finally accepts to take a magic girdle from the lord's wife, but he didn't share it with the lord. This magic girdle helped Gawain survive the three fatal swing's of the green giant's ax, only leaving him with a little nick. After Gawain survives these 3 swings at his neck, the green knight then reveals his identity...
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...The poem, Sir Gawain and The Green Knight, shows how one of Camelot’s most revered knights, Sir Gawain, will fight for his life, honor, and dignity. Camelot, King Arthur, and The Knights of The Round Table are all names synonymous with all that is good. During the fourteenth century, the knights are expected to have honor and respect for all citizens and Sir Gawain is the epitome of honor. Gawain does not think highly of himself but sustains a high status with knights being a blood relative of King Arthur. By story’s end, Gawain will question if he maintains his honor, respect, and dignity in a fight for his life. The poem opens with Arthur, the knights, and some members of the community celebrating the new year when an unknown knight arrives in the kingdom. The narrator describes him as, “giant” in stature: he, his horse, and his ax are all green, but with a green armor outlined in gold. He calls out his challenge, “give me a well-aimed stroke, and agree / To accept another in repayment when my turn / Arrives” (1. 294-296). Eager to prove his bravery to his uncle, the king, Gawain accepts the challenge. He understands that he will face the same fate one year later and takes the Green Knight’s ax, swings with all his might, and beheads him. At the moment, the hubris of Gawain is at the highest level. Gawain thinks it may be the end of his challenge, but the Green Knight retrieves his head from the floor and tells Gawain to meet him a year to the date at the Green Chapel. The...
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