Analysis Of Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

​In the beginning of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain is introduced as a courtly knight with a sense of perfection. The author does this to compare it to his failures, which are later displayed through Gawain’s acts at Morgan le Fay’s castle. Gawain is portrayed to be a chivalrous knight with honor and courage. Gawain is presented with a challenge: accept the game to cut off the Green Knight’s head, and in a test of courage and honor, set out to allow the Green Knight to return the favor to him in a year and a day. This initially shows the knightly characteristics of Gawain which presents him as noble and honorable, which allows the author to shock the audience when Gawain falls under pressure to actions that contradict the chivalrous code. The first of these actions taken by Gawain in opposition to his morals is the temptation

    Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a tale that takes place in the medieval period. During this time period, knights were considered very common and were expected to follow one main code of law, chivalry. This code mainly stated that a knight must be loyal to his king, honest, modest, and brave. Chivalry is practiced in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in the form of tests that are given to Gawain to reveal his true character, and what is valued most to him. Throughout these tests, Sir Gawain proves that he values his honor over his life and will not fall to temptations displayed to him.

Gawain’s first portrayal of being a true knight comes when the Green Knight makes his appearance in Camelot. The Green Knight first speaks to King Arthur and proposes that they play a “game.” Arthur will strike the Green Knight with his axe, and in return the Green Knight will return the strike in a year and a day. King Arthur agrees to this game and its terms, but as he steps up to accept the challenge, Gawain comes forward and offers to participate in the “game” in place of King Arthur. Sir Gawain says to King Arthur, “I implore with prayer plain that this match should now be mine” (341-342). Gawain goes on to strike the Green Knight, cutting off his head. However, the strike does not kill the Green Knight; he picks up his head from the ground and repeats to Sir Gawain that he will return the blow in a year and a day. In this moment, Gawain’s bravery is clearly showcased. First, he takes a challenge in place of his king, which he did not have to do.

The poem consistently depicts Gawain as the perfect knight. The description of Gawain’s shield, given as he dresses to embark on his search to find the Green Chapel, advertises Gawain’s glorious virtues. The shield, with a five pointed endless knot on the front, represents the five most important parts of knighthood. Gawain follows the points to perfection, as “For, ever faithful in five things, each in fivefold manner, / Gawain was reputed good and, like gold well refined, / He was devoid of all villainy, every virtue displaying” (Stone 27.14-16). Gawain does not simply strive to be chivalrous and knightly; he is the epitome of righteousness. When the Green Knight goads King Arthur into accepting his swing-for-swing bet, Gawain, recognizing the dangerous nature of this bet, swiftly steps forward and convinces Arthur to allow him to strike the Green Knight. Gawain willingly puts the safety of the kingdom and King Arthur over his

In the story, it is evident that Gawain thinks he is the least of King Arthur’s knights although he his is nephew along with one of Camelot’s most famous knights. This character trait of Gawain being modest is most revealed when the Green Knight shows up for the first time wanting King Arthur to behead him, and Gawain states, “I am the weakest of your warriors and the feeblest of wit; loss of my life would be at least lamented” (354-355). When Gawain finishes this speech in these lines, all of the rest of the knights agree that Gawain should do it in case something goes awry.

Sir Gawain is reluctant to accept the Green Knight’s challenge. He fears for his life. In the end he only accepts the challenge to protect King Arthur’s life and honor. He knows it is his duty to protect King Arthur, but only volunteers to do so at the last second. Sir Gawain also breaks his oath to the Lord of the castle he is staying in. He broke their vow to trade whatever they had earned during the day when he keeps a sash the Lady of the castle gives him because he believes it will protect him during his battle with the Green Knight.

Even though Gawain describes himself as the weakest knight in terms of physical and mental ability. In my opinion, he is one of the humble and ambitious knight in the Round table. He knowns reputation is something extremely hard to build. In order to, protect the honor and image of the Arthurian court, he accepts the challenge without knowing the supernatural abilities of the green knight. Even after knowing the fact, he keeps his and the court's honor by setting off for the search of the green chapel.

Gawain, a knight of the famed King Arthur, is depicted as the most noble of knights in the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Nonetheless, he is not without fault or punishment, and is certainly susceptible to conflict. Gawain, bound to chivalry, is torn between his knightly edicts, his courtly obligations, and his mortal thoughts of self-preservation. This conflict is most evident in his failure of the tests presented to him. With devious tests of temptation and courage, Morgan le Fay is able to create a mockery of Gawain’s courtly and knightly ideals. Through the knight Gawain, the poem is able to reveal that even knights are human too with less than romantic traits.

Without knowing Sir Gawain, the troubles, he was going to face on the Green chapel he demonstrates how to understand the challenge before diving in first. Before heading to the site, Sir Gawain decides how his ending of his death was going to be because he knows that he failed his lord and this creature he could not face him. Though comparing his size and his description how the Green Knight Look it could have been obvious why King Arthur did not want to face him. According to the passage of” Sir Gawain and The Green Knight it states,” “The Great Green Knight was garbed as before;/ face, legs, hair, beard, all as before but for this;/that now he walked the world on his own two legs;/ the ax handle striking the stone like a walking stave.” (Lines

Initially, Sir Gawain is tested by the Green Knight in his “Christmas Game”. This game consists of trading axe blows to the bare neck a week apart. This troubles Sir Gawain when the Green Knight survives the first blow, “The fair head hit the floor of the hall…. But he never faltered or fell for that… and leaped to his steed and snatched up the reins of the bridle….” (232). This terrifying sight was the first test for Sir Gawain. How could Sir Gawain pursue the Green Knight after watching him live decapitated? This first “game” constructed by the Green Knight forced Sir Gawain to prove his loyalty to his word and his courage at the face of death. He conquered this adversity; however, when he traveled to find the Green Knight to take his turn under the blade. Sir Gawain shows a

The Green Knight’s bloody head laid on the ground, but to Sir Gawain’s shock, the Green Knight picked up his head and placed it back on his body. He reminded Sir Gawain that he had accepted the challenge so, Sir Gawain himself had to come find the Green Knight in one year at his chapel, so the he can then behead Sir Gawain. By accepting this challenge, Sir Gawain shows courage and maturity and what he has learned is not to trust but regardless, he has gained confidence.

Being one of the youngest Knights of the Round Table, Gawain still needs to fully immerse himself into the culture of Knighthood. Throughout the course of the story, one element hinders Gawain from achieving this goal: the Green Knight. The Green Knight, when he first walks into King Arthur’s court, portrays immense strength, admirable good looks, and sheer power. In a sense, this is the individual that Gawain aspires to be. On the other hand, however, the Green Knight’s smug nature directly contrasts with a true knight’s vow to be noble.

At the beginning of the tale, when the Green Knight arrives demanding a challenge, Gawain volunteers to take the challenge. Stating he will be missed the least, Gawain swings his sword and manages to severe the massive man’s neck, who then tells Gawain to seek him out so he can do the same. This particular scene shows that Gawain can very be courageous when he wants to be. But he feels that he isn’t really worth much compared to the other knights. So after, he goes on a journey to find the Green Knight’s home. When he comes across a castle owned by a king, ho made a pact with Gawain similar to the one the pact the Green Knight made. So Gawain participates in the pact, which results in Gawain obtaining a girdle from the King’s wife. When the

In the epic poem of “ Sir Gawain and the Green Knight “, The character Sir Gawain change his personality through temptation. Sir Gawain goes on an epic adventure, he is a knight of his uncles King Arthur's Round Table. A stranger called the Green Knight comes into town challenging people as he goes. Gawain. The Green Knight is a supernatural character who is green from head to to toe. This enormous Green Knight wants to play the beheading game with anyone who will accept the same fate within a year time. With no hesitations , Sir Gawain stands up to accept the game. Gawain cuts the knights head off with one try. Not knowing that the knight is supernatural in all abilities the knight gets up and put his head back on. The Green Knight reminds Gawain of the deal and the meeting place at the Green Chapel. Gawain adventure begins and while doing so he comes across Lord Bertilak's Castle where he stays as a guest with the Lord and his wife. While staying at the castle he accepts yet another challenge with Lord Bertilak. Lord Bertilak challenge conflicted of he would give Gawin whatever he caught during his hunts and whatever Gawain got or received during that day. While the Lord Bertilak is hunting , so does his wife or in other words seduces Sir Gawain. There are three different hunts that took place during his stay. These hunts also represent the three different levels of temptations aimed at Gawain by the Lady Bertilak. Within each hunt their is a short of similarity

A hero is always needs to be tested, no matter how great or insignificant he or she may be. Sir Gawain was a lesser known knight of the Round Table and nephew of the great King Arthur. In the tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sir Gawain simply desires to prove himself as a knight and take a challenge in place of his king. Sir Gawain represents the hero archetype as he demonstrates his courage in the face of death and desires to prove himself through courageous deeds. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is the tale of testing the honor and courage of Sir Gawain as he tries to prove himself a great knight.