Sir Gawain: A Short Story

Many years ago, knights were expected to form a certain type of relationship with their king, this relationship was otherwise known as fealty. Fealty is a knight’s sworn loyalty to their king (in other words a loyal relationship should be formed between the two). The use of this relationship is shown in the poem called “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” ( the author is unknown). This poem has a classic quest type of formula, with a knight receiving a challenge and then going out on a journey to pursue that challenge, leading to a return home to report the results of his quest. This story begins at Christmas time when a knight (who is completely green) rides into King Arthur 's hall. The Green Knight proposes a game to those who are around him which is that “Any knight brave enough to strike off the Green Knight 's head may do so, but that man must accept a return stroke in approximately one year’s time”. Gawain accepts the challenge because he will not allow King Arthur to accept this. Gawain manages to then cut off the Green Knight 's head. The knight then picks up his severed head and leaves, telling Gawain to look for the Green Chapel when it is time for Gawain to fulfill the other half of the challenge that he has accepted. Near the end of the chosen year, Gawain sets out in search of the Green Chapel because he must complete the given challenge. On his journey in search of the Green knight, he finds a castle in the wilderness. The

While King Arthur’s court is feasting and partying in celebration of New Years, a strange figure, referred to only as the Green Knight, makes a surprise visit. He requests that the group’s leader or any other brave member of the court challenge him in a beheading game. He will allow whomever accepts the challenge to strike him with his own axe, but on one condition. The challenger must find the Green Knight in exactly one year to receive a blow in return.

But observing his Knight Commander carefully, Perceval saw the corner of the man’s mouth turn up just a fraction. Lionel probably understood that the men needed to have a little fun now and again. Still, Perceval was happy to listen and laugh occasionally, but sharing the details of his experiences with women didn’t seem

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was written in the late fourteenth century. Its author was unknown, but he or she was a contemporary of Chaucer. The poem consists of two plots: one is the challenge between Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in a beheading game, and the other is the temptation of Sir Gawain by a lady from a beautiful castle. The outcome of the challenge as well as the life of Gawain is made to depend--though Gawain does not know it--on his behavior at the castle. The temptation is a test of chastity and honorable conduct towards a lord. The introduction of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight gives us a picture of King Arthur's kingdom. It describes the knights and the joy of all Arthur's

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.

Do you know why Sir Gawain becomes a hero? Sir Gawain was a weak, none educated nobody. He was not like all the other knights in King Arthur’s kingdom. Sir Gawain had no wealth or nothing to live for. When the Green Knight comes to King Arthur’s kingdom with a challenge, other knight’s passed over it. Gawain became aware of this challenge and accepted it. Sir Gawain begins a noble journey to being a man, once he declined courtship with the lady, in addition, Sir Gawain stays true to the challenge.

The author of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight shows us that one must follow through with agreements made even if there is danger, and even if one procrastinates on a task they still must do it no matter how long they wait.

While the Lord is off hunting, his wife, “attempts his [Gawain’s] chastity” (Stone 11). However, the wife can do no more than kiss Gawain, for he would not allow it. The wife of the Lord tries one more time to seduce the noble knight in his bed. This time she is dressed much more provocatively. Gawain, amazed at her appearance, says: “God love you gracious lady” (Norton 234). Further, he is happy that a very beautiful woman like the Lord’s wife spends time talking with him: “it is a pleasure surpassing… it comforts my hurt”

In Lanval, Marie de France introduces a knight who at the time, despite his chivalrous disposition and dedication to King Arthur’s court, is experiencing the hardship of poverty. One day he travels out into the countryside and is then pleasantly entranced by two maidens who lead him in a otherworldly manner to their Lady, a powerful fairy, who insists

Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight, a poem of pitting chivalrous courage against a game of deceitful trickery, relies heavily on the symbolic messages its protagonists send through their apparel. The anonymous poet dedicates numerous lines to describing the artifacts of armor, clothing, and jewelry both characters display. Dress, designed to convey a multitude of concepts is crucial to the story's plot; the elements of garb also work in tandem to reaffirm specific personality traits. The dominant role and emphasis of apparel as portrayed by the poet is in part a logical extension of the medieval culture climate in which the poem was penned. Middle era society placed high value on cloth and textile in general, an attitude that is reflected in

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a turning point for female characters in literature; written at the end of the 14th century it begins to empower women by holding authority throughout the story. The authority perhaps doesn’t occur in an obvious way where women would become rulers yet they still managed to persuade the men into acting how they desired. Despite the protagonist of the story being male, it is the women who shape the plot of the story and meanwhile defy the conventional gender roles from that time. As Geraldine Heng said, it is the women who change the course of the story; an action is started by one, performed by another and finalized by a third. Each of them have a specific function and it is as if they work together without

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is Middle English romantic poem that is fairly well known as Arthurian stories and also in literature. The Green Knight is explained as illustration of the Green Man of myth and also others as indication to Christ. This poem is important in especially romance genre due to involving a hero who goes out on an adventure and test his power. The poem starts off by Sir Gawain accepting a proposal form a mysterious Green Knight by showing up so suddenly in Arthur’s court. The Green Knight protests Sir Gawain to strike him with his axe if he will take a return in a year and a day.

Throughout the history of fictional writing, cultural values of certain time periods have been expressed and implemented through the depiction of the heroes’ experiences on their journeys and the knowledge they gain by the quest’s end. For example, in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a chivalric romance written in the Late Middle Ages, Gawain epitomizes a knight with the characteristics that knights from the Late Middle Ages were expected to possess according to the requirements outlined in the rules of chivalry, such as honor and valor. Likewise, Beowulf, the hero of the folk epic Beowulf, embodies the qualities of an exemplary hero as well as king. Therefore, in both stories, the reader encounters a heroic character that is presented with traits that Anglo-Saxons and the Middle English valued in their culture through their stories’ monomyths, a concept of similar and structural sequences that can be applied to many stories, created by Joseph Campbell. Some of these values are carried from the Early to Late Middle Ages and can be seen through the works of both Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Beowulf.

Perceval, Gawain, and Lionel were stationed well into the Wild Wood, so there was no chance Perceval would catch so much as glimpse of Joan, which saddened him. He missed the sight of her easy walk and the sound of her gentle laugh. That bright smile, blue eyes… this was more difficult than he ever thought possible. He felt as if someone had torn out a part of his heart. Forget that, it seemed as if the whole damn thing had gone missing.

Perceval remains a very impressionable young boy and his mother teaches him loyalty. For that, Perceval loves him mother dearly. Perceval may not have been the most sophisticated man around, however, when he did know how to do something he did it exceedingly well. He could not forget his love for his God though. God was a huge factor for knights and their beliefs. “Perceval, the story relates, had lost his memory so totally that he no longer remembered God.” (Story of the Grail, 457) Once Perceval found his way back to God, he was seen as the better knight because of his love for Him. Ultimately, Perceval is the one who is graced with being able to see the grail because he was such a simple, hardworking fellow. He did not abuse his strengths or downplay his weaknesses.