Masculine Identity in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Essay

Medieval scholars continually inspect the particularities of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (SGGK) within the context of the preexisting Gawain literary tradition, and the issue of Gawain’s sudden antifeminist diatribe repeatedly comes to the forefront of these textual investigations. Often, literary critics claim that Gawain’s antifeminist outburst is common for the fourteenth century and that his acceptance to wear the girdle as a sign of shame still epitomizes him as a model of knighthood. Other scholars hesitate to dismiss Gawain’s misogyny as commonplace, they note that this moment is inconsistent with his reputation as an ideal knight. Gawain’s hasty compulsion to blame women suggests ruptures within the essentiality of his chivalric identity and a closer examination of the text reveals that this moment is not isolated. Despite scholars repeated attempts to identify the essential knight within Gawain, there are several examples of Gawain’s unstable identity throughout the text. I will argue Sir Gawain’s knightly identity is performative rather than essential, and his diatribe is the culmination of his failure to perform his own expected social identity.

​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

Sir Gawain and The Green Knight is an example of medieval misogyny. Throughout Medieval literature, specifically Arthurian legends like Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the female characters, Guinevere, the Lady, and Morgan leFay are not portrayed as individuals but social constructs of what a woman should be. Guinevere plays a passive woman, a mere token of Arthur. The Lady is also a tool, but has an added role of temptress and adulteress. Morgan leFay is the ultimate conniving, manipulating, woman. While the three women in this legend have a much more active role than in earlier texts, this role is not a positive one; they are not individuals but are symbols of how men of this

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.

    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.

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.

The men throughout the Old English era played a very prevailing role in society. Men were the persons in society that were portrayed as the central leaders; being in charge of their homes and representing wisdom and strength. Because the men’s role in the Old English era was so dominant, there is a vast amount of literature about them, thus allowing women to be outshined. In fact, restrictions were placed on the majority of women during this period. However, as time evolved, the roles of women also evolved. In the Old English texts, The Wife’s Lament and Beowulf, the roles of women are seen as peace weavers, motivators, cupbearers and memory keepers, compared to the women in the Middle English text, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, who now play the roles of being protective, seductive and manipulative.

In brief, Sir Gawain’s fancy armor and position is another characteristic of a chivalric knight. The author of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” gives the characters good manners, religious hope, compassion, etc. Also, the author states his point of view of a chivalric knight when he describes Sir Gawain and the pentangle suspended from Sir Gawain’s neck:

In the fourteenth century, chivalry was in decline due to drastic social and economic changes. Although feudalism-along with chivalry-would eventually fall for other reasons, including a decrease in cheap human resources due to a drop in population caused by plague epidemics and the emergence of a mercantile middle class, the Gawain author perceived a loss of religious values as the cause of its decline. Gawain and the Green Knight presents both a support of the old feudal hierarchies and an implicit criticism of changes by recalling chivalry in its idealized state in the court of King Arthur. The women in the story are the poet's primary instruments in this critique and reinforcement of feudalism. The poet uses the contrast between the

To begin with, the Green Knight teaches Sir Gawain respect when he has to come forward and repay the Green Knight’s agreement. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight come to an agreement, one day the Green Knight gets his head cut off by Sir Gawain, and next year on the same day Sir Gawain must have his head cut off by the Green Knight. If he does not follow through with his word he will be considered a coward. Sir Gawain agrees to his game and sets off to his expedition a year later. Sir Gawain arrives and says, “Where is the hero / who swore he’d be here to meet me ?”(lines 223-224). Sir Gawain goes to the place of

The tale of Sir Gawain and The Green Knight is a well-known piece of literature spawning from the middle Ages. It’s believed to be dated around the year 1400 and it currently survives on a single manuscript in the British Library shared by three other poems. Pearl, is one of the middle-aged poems on the manuscript, the other two are named: “Patience” and “Cleanliness,” and are considered Bible Stories to Historians. These Other Poems however haven’t shown promise of survival in British Literature and Chivalry courses as much as Sir Gawain and The Green Knight has. Not having a known Author also makes this story all the more interesting considering the nature behind the story as well as the mysticism involved in the text. In this essay, a broad

Part of the essence of drama is conflict. A man cannot be considered a hero unless he has overcome some form of opposition. In many cases, this opposition comes in the form of another character. Typically, the conflict is simplified as a malignant character with wicked intentions committing acts which would be characterized as evil; the protagonist opposes this villain and usually overcomes that character, winning the day and the admiration of all. Sometimes, the main character becomes a hero by overcoming some force within his or her own self. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, this is ultimately what Gawain must do in order to be considered a hero.

The character of the Green Knight, Sir Bertilak, wholly opposes the Christian, honorable characterization of Gawain. When Gawain comes to meet the Green Knight, he exclaims: “‘Can this be the Chapel Green?/Alack!’ ...Here might/The devil himself be seen/Saying matins at black midnight” (2185-2188). The Green Knight is a fairy, who resides in a parody of a church. His pagan figure contrasts sharply with this characterization of Gawain, who is strongly connected with his Christian faith. Gawain is also a foil to the Green Knight in that Gawain epitomizes courtly manners, whereas the Green Knight lacks courtesy. He traipses into Camelot and acts as though he cannot tell Arthur is king (224-231), and later refers to the courtiers as “beardless children” (280), showing a great lack of manners. Later, as Sir Bertilak is hosting Gawain, it seems that the Green Knight does actually possess courtesy. However, boarding Gawain is revealed to be a part of a grand scheme to shame prideful knights of the Round Table (2456-2459). The illegitimacy of his courtesy toward Gawain shows that the Green Knight lacks the honesty attributed to truly courteous knights. The Green Knight, a pagan figure that shuns the manners of the court, is inverted by the character of Gawain, who epitomizes honorable knighthood in this

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