Sir Gawain And The Green Knight Analysis

In Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight there are two heroes that help the present day reader gain insight into what the hero of the Middle Ages would have held as ideals and necessary triumphs. Beowulf and Sir Gawain each fill a different role within their unique societies. Beowulf is a leader and a savior in times of need, willing to go to any length to help another group of people as well as his own kingdom. Sir Gawain is also willing to rise during moments of trouble within his court but lacks the altruism that is inherent in Beowulf's leadership. Although there are many pursuable comparisons within the two tales, the most apparent between the two heroes are that of faith, the men who encouraged them, bravery and the

In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, after Gawain ventures “into a forest fastness, fearsome and wild” (Norton, 311), he prays that he will be able to find “harborage” on Christmas Eve (Norton, 312). It is the middle of winter, and Gawain has been traveling in search of the Green Knight whose head he has cut off. After he prays and signs himself three times, Gawain finds a magical castle in the midst of a winter forest. He rides to the castle and is granted permission to enter by the lord. Gawain is attended to in a fashion befitting kings, and he meets the lord who tells his identity to all in the court. There are many significant implications and foreshadowings which occur during Gawain’s

According to Tom Hanks, a hero is “somebody who voluntarily walks into the unknown.” A hero is someone who puts another’s needs before themselves, is strong, and courageous. Sir Gawain and Beowulf are epic heroes who embody these ideals. Sir Gawain is part of King Arthur’s court, and he is the sole knight who bravely accepts the Green Knight’s challenge in order to protect his king. On the contrary, Beowulf is a warrior and a king. He is constantly battling monsters for the glory and fame. Sir Gawain is more honorable, because he has superior beliefs, motivations, and is more courageous.

Beowulf and Wiglaf both have courage in battle, but Wiglaf is not as confident as Beowulf, nor is he the same age. Beowulf was surer of himself at that age than Wiglaf. Wiglaf’s confidence comes from the man he follows, whereas Beowulf is confident in himself. Wiglaf saw the danger in pride, and high self-esteem. “Often when one man follows his own will many are hurt. This happened to us. Nothing we advised could ever convince the prince we loved, our land’s guardian, not to vex the custodian of gold” (Beowulf 3077-3081). . Beowulf was selfish in seeking more glory and fame, and he eventually died for it.

First off, Beowulf and the Green Knight are very arrogant towards their competitors. Beowulf refused to wear armor even as an old out of shape man. Beowulf states, “I’d use no sword, no weapon, If this beat could be killed without it, crushed to death (42). He tells his people he will fight this fight alone with no armor. Beowulf’s arrogance never fell short of the green Knight’s arrogance.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a very interesting story. Gawain is the popular knight of the town and is known to be “perfect”. But the Green Knight comes in to see if Gawain is really as perfect is everyone says he is. So the Green Knight challenges Gawain to a match. Basically saying that Gawain can try to cut his head off but if he does then he will come back in a year and get to try to cut Gawain’s head off. So Gawain of course living up to his name cuts the Green Knights head off. Thinking that the Green Knight is dead Gawain starts to get cocky but he turns around and the Green Knight is holding his cut off head and basically says “see you in a year”. As the Green Knight rides into the forest Gawain starts to get nervous wondering what he will do in a year.

Although one fights by themselves and the other fights with many, they are unknowing of the outcome. Beowulf is fighting heads up, whereas the soldiers don’t have one specific target. Does this make one better than the other? Certainly not, but then again I’m not sure I wouldn’t be a little more comfortable knowing that I had the strength of thirty men in my hand such as Beowulf.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the narrative Beowulf are stories of great bravery and loyalty. Sir Gawain, one of the finest Arthurian romances, is an accurate representation of the code of chivalry, bravery. Beowulf, an epic poem that has been told for centuries, is about a hero with superhuman qualities demonstrating loyalty. Granted these characters are not alike in their actions, they do both display bravery and loyalty in one way or another.

Beowulf and Sir Gawain both step forward to solve each king’s plight in order to protect the king’s honor and to show loyalty dignifying traits of a proper warrior of both eras. The Anglo-Saxon warrior fights for Hrothgar out of loyalty and Sir Gawain takes the danger of fighting for King Arthur to protect the King’s honor. Sir Gawain takes the “proactive” step in accepting the challenge presented by the Green Knight because of the extreme

During a celebration in King Arthur’s court, an unexpected visitor, the Green Knight, proposes a game in which the green knight will exchange a blow for a returned stroke in one year. When the Green Knight mocks King Arthur, the king accepts his challenge but he is quickly followed by his nephew, Sir Gawain. In accordance to the game, Sir Gawain cuts the Green Knight’s head off. When the time has come, Gawain leaves Camelot in search of the Green Knight in northwest Britain. During his travels he encounters many tribulations and finds his way to a castle where he stays until the he must meet the Green Knight again. The lord of the castle makes a deal with Gawain to exchange his winnings hunting with anything Gawain acquires within the castle.

In Beowulf the classic epic, Beowulf, the hero of the epic, and other major characters reflect heroic ideals and beliefs of courage, generosity, unquestioning loyalty and devotion. Courage is most evident throughout Beowulf Beowulf does not back down from any challenge that stands in his way whether it be Grendel, Grendel’s mother, or the dragon. His bravery is most evident in his preparation for his fight with Grendel, Beowulf, “took off his shirt of armour, the helmet from his head, handed his embellished sword, best of irons to an attendant,…” He chose to bravely fight his foe, man to beast without weaponery for he knew it would be “cowardly” to defeat Grendel with a sword and armor when Grendel himself had none. Even in his

A close reading of the Sir Gawain and the Green Knight reveals a very antifeminist view. The poem, told in four parts, tells of common medieval folklore. The stories seem to be of different plotlines, but start to intersect in interesting ways – that is, the character of Morgan Le Fay begins to frame the stories together. The half-sister of King Arthur, she holds intense hatred for her half-brother and his court. It is her thirst for the downfall of Camelot that makes this character infamous, and, surprisingly, her success and the strength of her ability that give a bad name to women. Through the examination of Morgan Le Fay’s character, it is clear that a successful woman is always an illusion.

By becoming the King of the Geats later on in life, he is now responsible for guiding the kingdom. While being the King for fifty years, his kingdom was attacked by a dragon. Beowulf and his servants try to attack the dragon but they did not accomplish. By showing his traits of a hero, Wiglaf and Beowulf,does not retreat to the kingdom for safety. Instead, they face the dragon once again on their own. Beowulf manages to kill the dragon, but he is wounded when the dragon bites him on the neck and kills him. This is showing his characteristic of bravery.

Society expects ultimate perfection of all people. Due to this people are pressured to act a certain way that they would otherwise not act. The journey of obtaining perfection and maintaining it leads to success and failure. But what is considered failing while trying to become a different person? This topic is addressed in the poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, written by Pearl Poet. The main character Sir Gawain finds himself on a journey that will test his knightly integrity and the true nature of his personality. Sir Gawain fails his quest when he responds to the challenge in an aggressive way; by doing so he shows his lack of concern for human life, he fails to uphold his agreement with Lord Bertilak, and succumbs to fear when the

Beowulf’s responsibility differs from a warrior to a king. As a young fighter he has responsibility to his Geatish king as well as to Hrothgar. His king, Hyglac, relies on Beowulf to represent him and