...“Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” follows the classic tale of a knight accepting a challenge and the journey that the challenge takes him on. While on this challenge Sir Gawain is tested and finds about the price of pride and sin. Throughout the story there are repeated references to the color green and the girdle that he uses to hide from his fate. The color and the girdle are symbolic, with the green representing man’s connection to nature and his primal instincts, and the girdle representing man’s sin, as well as his desire to redeem himself of that sin. The color green is mentioned throughout the course of the story. When the mysterious knight interrupts Arthur’s feast on New Year’s Eve, “he was clad all in green…hose had he of the same green…and all his vesture was verily green” (“Sir Gawain”). When this is combined with the fact that he carries a holly branch in one hand and an axe in the other, this large green knight is closer to an element of nature than a regular man. Green also comes into the story in the later meeting place. The Green Knight tells Sir Gawain to meet him in the Green Chapel. The chapel is described as being in the wild, “all overgrown with grass,” clearly another connection to nature, and the fact that the grass is taking over can be seen as symbolic as Gawain’s survival instinct increasing (“Sir Gawain”). The more he is in this setting, the stronger his desire to escape becomes and he has to use all of his courage to stay and search out the Green...
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...Integrity is the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. In the alliterative poem “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight “the theme of the story is “Integrity”. Having integrity means doing the right thing in a reliable way. Also, integrity means having wholeness of character. Integrity means doing the right thing at all times and in all circumstances. Integrity means you are being true to yourself. The Green Knight dared everyone to pick up his sword. King Arthur decided to pick it up. However, Sir Gawain grabbed the sword before him. Sir Gawain picked the sword up and accepted the Green Knights challenge. Also, he chopped the Green Knights head off. This is showing integrity because Sir Gawain was brave enough to accept the...
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...of life followed by knights (Grendler 154). Deriving from the French word "chevaliar," which means knight, chivalry was the social structure of Medieval Europe (154). During medieval England, values of honor, valor, courtesy, purity, and loyalty to his lord was expected (154). In Sir Gawain and The Green Knight, the code of chivalry and influence is demonstrated through the Green Knights test of Gawain's honor and valor and Bertilak's test of Gawain's courtesy and purity. In Medieval England, knights were the foundation of the chivalric system (155). They were soldiers with respected training. armor, and weapons (155). Knights were also known for their main focus on virtue, honor, and courtesy (155). According to the Song of Roland, there are seventeen entries in the Knights Code of Chivalry, one of which being to live by honor and for glory (156). When the Green Knight barged into the court wanting to play a game, everyone was shocked and scared (Gawain 235). The Green Knight's reason for coming was to test King Author's reputation: courtesy, valor, and honor (Gawain 257-265). However, it is Sir Gawain that stands up to take on the game, showing a great sign of courteousness to King Author (Gawain 345). The chivalric system...
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...In the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, two knights encounter each other during Christmas day, in the medieval time period. Sir Gawain was a knight of King Arthur and did not stand out very much from the rest of the knights. The Green Knight was a supernatural man who wore all green apparel and also had green skin. When the Green Knight entered King Arthur's castle, he challenges anyone to take part in what was known as the "beheadith game". Sir Gawain reluctantly accepted his challenge and with that took a lot of courage. As a part of this game, test was given. Throughout the story, the Green Knight puts Sir Gawain through certain tests in order to see if he was a worthy knight, detecting if he can be trusted in the Lord's house and...
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...Sir Gawain faces three tests that show what type of person he is. Sir Gawain shows loyalty, nobility, and integrity within these test. For an example, when he accepts the challenge from the Green Knight when no one else would. Also when he didn’t let Lord Bertilak’s wife seduce him. He also shows these characteristics when he meets the Green Knight at the Green Chapel. Sir Gawain shows integrity within these three tests even though he didn’t pass all of them. The Green Knight arrives at the round table and challenges all of King Arthur’s knights. Everyone was too scared to accept the challenge so King Arthur accepted, but Gawain snatched the axe from him and proceeds to take the challenge. He accepts the challenge because he felt his death wouldn’t matter, and because he felt he was not as smart and strong as the other knights. Sir Gawain strikes the Green Knights neck and cuts his head off. He now had until a year and a day until he has to take his blow from the Green Knight. With Gawain accepting the challenge it shows he is a true knight; meaning, he was willing to sacrifice his life for his king....
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...when the green Knight came and challenge them but neither of them accepted. When the green knight mocked king author he accepted the challenge. But sir Gawain took the challenge instead. He told King Arthur that he shouldn’t take the challenge because he felt that he would be missed but with him he wouldn’t be missed because he’s nobody. After sir Gawain accepted the challenge he prepared to strike the green knight neck. After he did so the green knight head was kicked around as it landed by their feet. The green knight picked up his head and rode off on his horse. After sir Gawain left and went to the green chapel. Once Sir Gawain went to the green chapel where he stay for three night. He met the lord and his wife. On the first night while sir Gawain was sleeping in the chamber the lords wife snuck in and tried to seduce him but he pushed her off and she then stole a kiss. When the lord returned from hunting sir Gawain exchanged a kiss to the lord. On the second day the wife snuck in there again but this time she stole two kisses and sit Gawain exchanged those kisses to the king also. On the third and final day the wife...
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...all the challenges that Sir Gawain faced. Sir Gawain expressed integrity by being the only knight to come forward and take on the challenge the Green Knight requested at the Round Table. Gawain was willing to put his life on the line for King Arthur, although there were many obstacles along the way; However, Gawain did demonstrate traits of a knight. Trying to live up to others expectations, Gawain challenges started when the Green Knight arrived at the Round Table, when he came across the castle while heading to the Green Chapel, and when he finally arrived at the chapel. The Green Knight arrived at the Round Table where King Arthur and his knights were celebrating Christmas and New Year. Unfortunately, the Green Knight came unarmed because he was not there to fight anyone. King Arthur invited him to stay and feast with them, but the Green Knight declined his invitation and told him that he was there because he heard that Arthur’s castle was the best around with the most virtuous men of all men. Furthermore, the Green Knight challenged Arthur and his knights to strike him then, a year later receive a strike in return. Not one stepped forward to accept the challenge so the...
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...The poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, translated by John Gardner, is set in the Middle Ages. This was a time in history when people focused on the values and ideals of the Code of Chivalry, a code of honor intended to govern knightly behavior. As Arthur and his knights get together to feast and celebrate Christmas and the new year their festivities were interrupted by a man of green who wandered about searching for adventure so that he can disprove his chivalry. The two values that are most clearly stated in the poem are courage and honor. It will become clear by the actions of the characters that courage and honor is shown in several different areas of the poem. According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, courage is defined as “mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.” Courage can be shown in a variety of ways. In this particular instance the Green Knight challenged King Arthur or any of the knights of the roundtable to take his ax and hit his bare neck. He said to them, “And I will stand still for your stroke, steady on the floor, / provided you honor my right, when my inning comes, / to repay” (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 213). Clearly, the Green Knight shows a tremendous amount of courage, knowing the danger that it is going to befall him if one of the knights takes up the ax to his neck. Sir Gawain is another instance where courage was lost and then found. After a year, Gawain met the Green Knight to seal...
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...Poet is the anonymous author for the poem “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”. Thomas Malory is the famous author for “Le Morte d’Arthur”. “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” is about someone taking on the challenge to take a blow the Green Knight. “Le Morte d’Arthur” is mainly about Gawain fighting Lancelot because he killed Gawain’s two brothers. First, how Gawain shows that he is a courageous is when he agrees to battle the Green Knight, so King Arthur doesn’t have to. He thinks that if anything happened to him he would be the least missed, which is kind of sad that he thinks no one would miss him. Because he thinks he will be the least missed he agrees to take on the Green Knight “the Green Knight askes Gawain is to identify himself, and the two...
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...Despite the fact that sir gawain and the green knight is a story about knighthood, it does not celebrate nights in the same ways other stories do. Gawain may be a knight other the round table who embodies knightly virtue, but eh ultimately fais to be an ideal knight because of the conflicting messages of the chivalry code and christrian doctrine. The question then becomes, why did the Gawain poet choose to portray gawain as a failed knight, instead of an idea one? To understand the situation better, it is best to outline the chilvalric code: A knight must always serve the king in valor, live for honor and glory, remain faithful to god, refrain from offending people, obey those above him, speak the truth. These are the major components that...
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...I have to wonder was keeping the green girdle his fatal flaw, or maybe a means to get to the ultimate gift, I have read where some say he did it because his love for life Stevens and Harwood mention this, although Harwood takes it further by saying “so that Gawain’s duplicity can meet with forgiveness.” I also agree with that, to be forgiven and know what forgiveness truly is. Upon his final meeting with the Green knight all is revealed. Gawain confesses he held back and he has the green girdle on, Harwood explains and I tend to agree that the Green Knight is strong enough and has the power to behead Gawain, as he did his. Instead, he treats Gawain as if Gawain had succeeded, he receives forgiveness and above all he receives grace. The idea...
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...Testing the Actions of a Knight The story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was translated by Burton Raffel during the Middle Ages. Actions show what your true character really is. The actions of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight addresses the code of conduct for knights during that time period. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, translated by Burton Raffel, addresses the code of conduct for knights in the Middle Ages through the actions of Sir Gawain in order to reveal his true character. The Green Knight walks in and challenges the men’s knightly-hood by submitting to a blow from the ax if he can return the blow a year and a day in the future. Every knight just starts looking around roaming the room with their eyes. His challenge sparks...
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...Knights of the middle ages were held to a code of chivalry. Also, a knight held a prestigious position. A knight had to show bravery, loyalty, generosity, courtesy and devotion to the liege. Knights believed deeply in the code of chivalry. They had to show mercy to those they defeated. The knights in “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” showed good and bad qualities when considering the codes of chivalry. The knight in “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” showed loyalty to King Arthur. He showed his loyalty by taking the place of King Arthur’s challenge to the Green Knight: Gawain by Guenevere Toward the king doth now incline: “I beseech, before all here, That...
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...homosexuality was often masked with innuendos and *insert something clever here.* The texts Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Huntress are two prime examples of fantasy, both past and present, that use homosexuality as a way to further their plot line. It is appropriate to compare these two stories, because they follow a somewhat similar storyline that uses homosexuality/ homoeroticism to enhance the story itself, albeit they each do it in a vastly different manner. These differing presentations help to showcase how...
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...In both John Milton’s Paradise Lost and the anonymous work Sir Gawain and the Green Knight temptation is used as a vital tool, contributing conflict to the plot. The means, purpose, and consequences of temptation lead the protagonists to different conclusions. The stories follow a parallel, diverging only when one protagonists fails and the other succeeds. With the idea that God gave mortals freedom and therefore they have the ability to choose in mind, it is arguable that the tale of Adam and Eve could have resulted in the same storybook conclusion as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The many parallels between the two stories indicate that with this God-given ability of choice, both stories could end in tragedy, such as Paradise Lost, or in...
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