Chivalry In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

Sir Gawain is known for his knightly integrity, but by failing to uphold his agreement with Lord Bertilak, he is demonstrating that human perfection is impossible to maintain. By failing to give the girdle to Lord Bertilak-when he returns from his hunting trip, Sir Gawain is not abiding by

​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

Essay with Outline  Loyalty, courage, honor, purity, and courtesy are all attributes of a knight that displays chivalry. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is truly a story of the test of these attributes. In order to have a true test of these attributes, there must first be a knight worthy of being tested, meaning that the knight must possess chivalric attributes to begin with. Sir Gawain is self admittedly not the best knight around. He says "I am the weakest, well I know, and of wit feeblest; / and the loss of my life [will] be least of any" (Sir Gawain, l. 354-355). To continue on testing a knight that does not seem worthy certainly will not result in much of a story, or in

Throughout the Arthurian legends, Sir Gawain seems to be the epitome of a noble knight. He is always putting his king before himself, repeatedly sacrificing his own life in some way for King Arthur. He is an honorable knight that lives up to his word. This is evident in both Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and "The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell." In these stories, Gawain lives up to the expectations of a knight belonging to the legendary Round Table.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a classic example of the behaviors of a medieval knight and how the code of chivalry works within the courts and towards women. When Sir Gawain visits Bertiak’s castle, he respectfully treats the elderly woman and Bertiak’s beautiful young wife with the same level of dignity. “To the elder in homage he humbly bows; the lovelier he salutes with a light embrace. They welcome him warmly, and straightaway he asks to be received as their servant, if they so desire” (lines 973-976). The treatment of women is an essential part of the code of chivalry. If Sir Gawain had only given attention to the pretty young woman, then he would not have been abiding by the knight’s code of honor. He also keeps the code of chivalry intact when he says “Lover have I none, nor will have, yet awhile” (line 1790). Sir Gawain says this to Bertiak’s attractive wife, when she tries seducing him in the bedroom, which proved Sir Gawain’s loyalty to Bertiak, upholding his chivalric code. Honorable Sir Gawain demonstrates the knightly code of chivalry throughout the poem.

    Gawain’s loyalty to King Arthur is unquestionable. To begin this story, there is a Green knight who proposes a game to a room full of Arthur’s knights. When no man volunteers to play with the Green Knight, Gawain steps in to save his king’s life and reputation. Before accepting the Green Knight's challenge, Gawain asks Arthur to “...command me to step from the dias and stand with you there, / That I might without bad manners make down from my place…” (From Sir Gawain…, ln. 121-122). By doing so, not only does Gawain step up to the green knight for his king, but he also goes about it in a very chivalrous, respectful way to his king above all of us. By respecting his king and being the only man to step up to the challenge and risk his life for his king, Gawain shows loyalty, which in turn follows chivalry, putting his honor above his life.

Sir Gawain shows a lot of honor by staying true to his word and following through with his deal with the Green Knight. He mentally prepares himself for the year leading up to his journey to seek out the Green Knight, braves through the forest, is met with the temptations of the lady of the castle, and holds true to his deal with the

The first chivalric expression of Sir Gawain in Arthur’s court is his loyalty. It was Christmas at Camelot-King Arthur’s court, where all the Round Table knights had gathered. An uninvited guest appeared-entirely emerald green, called Green Knight. For a knight, the most important is to remain loyal to God, King, and Lady Guinevere. When Green Knight challenge the court, Arthur initially was going to accept his challenge, but Sir Gawain stepped forth and said:

In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, by an unknown author referred to as the “Pearl Poet,” we are introduced to Sir Gawain. Gawain is a knight of the Round Table and he is also the nephew of King Arthur. As a knight, Gawain is expected to possess and abide by many chivalrous facets. Throughout the poem he portrays many of the qualities a knight should possess, such as bravery, courtesy, and honor among others. Because of his ability to possess these virtues even when tempted to stray away from them, Sir Gawain is a true knight.

As the Green Knight barges in the court of the round table, no one stands up to his challenge. Initially, King Arthur is the only person brave enough to take on this challenge, until Gawain raises himself up. Gawain, who "[was] the weakest ... [and] ... in wit feeblest," urged to protect his king, Arthur (Tolkien 36). Gawain demonstrates the love and respect that he has for Arthur when he asks permission to take on the challenge. "Would you, my worthy lord...bid me abandon this bench and stand by you there, so that I without discourtesy might be excused from the table...?” (Tolkien 36). Sir Gawain also admits that Arthur is a near relative, "Only because you are my uncle is honour given me..."(36). At this moment in the story Gawain is willing to protect his King's life. Gawain is tested of his knightly vow as it says, “Knightly conduct was that of a commander … loyal even to death” (Stroud 327). Gawain was ready to risk his life for his king.

As one can observe in Part One of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sir Gawain demonstrates traits of the Code of Chivalry. In a moment of confusion, Sir Gawain rises up to show he is a loyal, pious, and self deprecating Knight of the Round Table. To began, the reader is introduced to Sir Gawain and recognizes his loyalty when he says, “Would you grant me the grace… to begone from this bench and stand by you there” (Borroff l. 118). Furthermore, Sir Gawain takes King Arthur’s life out of harm’s way by replacing him in the deadly dare that is presented in front of Camelot because he values King Arthur’s life over his own. Furthermore, not only is Sir Gawain loyal to King Arthur, but he is also loyal to God. In the same fashion, Sir Gawain reveals he is pious before he pursues the dare. Immediately

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.

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.

Upon first Reading Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, I noticed that it comes off as a romantic normative poem about chivalric ideals and traditions of the ruling class with covertly Christian Images. The protagonist character Sir Gawain stands out as the role model of the chivalric ideals of the 14th century while displaying Christian images on his armor. The combination of Gawain’s armor and actions throughout the poem exemplify his characteristics of Christian perfection and chivalric ideals. The very first scene with Bertilak of Hautdesert known as the Green Knight begins to mold your perception of how chivalrous Sir Gawain is by portraying him as valiant, humble, and virtuous knight to Arthur. I felt that the interruption of Arthur

At the beginning of the tale, Sir Gawain struggles with loyalty. The Green Knight came to test the honesty of one person, so he announces a game. No one volunteers because they are stunned by the weirdness of his request. The Green Knight calls out King Arthur himself to take the challenge. So, Arthur takes the challenge but Sir Gawain steps forward to accept his challenge when he was confronted by the Green Knight. Gawain accepts the challenge to chop off the Green Knight’s head, Before he knew that the Green Knight has supernatural abilities. So, after he chops the Green Knights head off, he stills survive. Instead of dying, the Green Knight walked over to his own head, picks it up, turns it to face Gawain, and tells him to meet him at the Green Chapel in a year and a day. Sir Gawain leaves to find the Green Chapel and fulfil his pledge as the end of the year approaches. After riding through many dangers he comes upon a castle. He was welcome by the lord of the castle and the lord decides to invite him in to