Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

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.

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

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale present dynamic views of the “art of love” in medieval times. In Sir Gawain, the “love” between Sir Gawain and Lady Bertilak at first appears to be genuine; however, we learn that both characters were using each other guided by ulterior motives. Lady Bertilak jabs at Gawain’s masculinity in order to achieve her goal. The Wife of Bath’s Prologue questions the meaning of love while the narrator discusses her own experience to portray the relationship between husband and wife. She also displays different views of the “art of love” that contrast with each other; the Tale as well poses the question of whether love or marriage between two people can ever be equal.

 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is one of the most intriguing Middle English chivalric romances known today. The poem is a delicately written balancing act between two cultures, clashing in a time of unease between the religion of tradition, (paganism) and the new religion, (Christianity). The poem is also one of the best known Arthurian tales, with its plot combining two types of folklore patterns, the beheading game and the exchange of winnings. The Green Knight is interpreted by many as a representation of the Green Man of folklore and by others as an allusion to Christ. The story is told in stanzas of alliterative verse, ending in a bob and wheel. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is an important poem in the Middle English romance genre, because it involves all the typical plot progression of a hero who goes on a quest to prove himself. Yet what sets Sir Gawain apart from heroes of lore is his inability to finish his quest. The aspect which makes Sir Gawain and the Green Knight different is Sir Gawain’s failure. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a perfect example of the struggle between enduring Paganism and newfound Christianity.

“Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” is the classic tale of a knight of the round table who takes up the challenge of the mysterious Green Knight. The poem begins with the Green Knight’s sudden arrival and his declaration of his proposition: a knight may strike him, and then a year and one day from then he will return the blow. This tale is most well-known for dealing with the themes of a knight’s code of chivalry, loyalty, resisting temptation, and keeping one’s word. While the whole poem is full of great lines that beautifully deliver the message, one of the best passages come at the end of the poem after Sir Gawain has managed to survive his second encounter with the Green Knight. This passage perfectly encompasses the various themes of the poem, as it deals with all of the trials Gawain has faced up until that point and also explains how he deals with the shame he feels for surviving the game in the way he did.

“The Middle Ages designates the time span roughly from the collapse of the Roman Empire to the Renaissance and Reformation” (“The Middle Ages”). Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was written in the thirteenth and fourteenth century, along with Morte D’Arthur. Both medieval epics exemplify bravery and courage as their themes. “The only universal European institution during the Medieval Era was the Catholic Church which had all the local power within the local bishops” (Sagona). The church saw itself as the only spiritual place of Christian believers, thus it had a large amount of influence on Medieval people, including knights. Christian roles and the act of chivalry played a part in becoming a knight in the Medieval Era that can be seen in

The tale of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” focuses primarily on beliefs of honor, bravery, and chivalry. The main character, Sir Gawain, embodies these qualities. His character is meant to be a model of chivalry. He emanates honor when he offers to fight the Green Knight for King Arthur. Medieval people would admire this courageous act. In his struggles to keep his promise Gawain demonstrates chivalry and loyalty until his honor is assessed, in the end, by the Green Knight’s schemes. This tale also includes a larger-than-life character who commands respect, the Green Knight. This superhuman being defies all laws of nature when his head is chopped off, yet he still remains alive and alert. These characters and their extraordinary actions provide perspective for the values and interests of medieval people.

As an avid recreational reader I enjoy reading books of all types, however, one of my favorite genres is fantasy. This love began in my reading of George MacDonald's Phantastes, and continued throughout the past year as I have been working my way through C.S. Lewis’ The Space Trilogy. What is so interesting, and simply enjoyable, for me about reading Sir Gawain is that it is a more original and classic take on the typical structure and plot of a fantasy/fairytale. In the beginning you already get a general idea of how the story is going to go, yet the story has its own quirks that keep it interesting.

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.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight along with The Canterbury Tales features impressive knights that all boast a chivalric code. As Sir Gawain and the Green Knight unfolds, we readers are led to look beneath the attractive surface of chivalry and question exactly what chivalry is through examples such as: Sir Arthur , Sir Gawain, the Green Knight, Palamon, and Arcite.

“Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” is an excellent work to reference when examining different relationships within Arthurian legends. The author of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” is unknown, but he is sometimes referred to as the “Gawain Poet” or “Pearl Poet” because of his additional works: “Pearl,” “Purity,” and “Patience.” All four poems were part of the Alliterative Revival of the Middle Ages of Northern England, containing mostly religious content. This may be the origin of Gawain’s exaggeratedly religious portrayal in “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” is organized in a stanza arrangement. Each stanza ends with one short line and four longer lines, called the bob and wheel, which “knits” the story together. It may important to note that the work was most likely written in the fourteenth century. The work is set in sixth-seventh centuries, but includes modern advances in armory, dress, and décor from the time the poem was written. “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” exhibits many different types of love and relationships in which they are demonstrated. Familial love, spiritual love, erotic love, and courtly love are demonstrated within families, friendships, marriages, and Godly relationships.

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

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a late 14th-century Middle English chivalric romance. It is one of the best known Arthurian stories, and is of a type known as the "beheading game". The Green Knight is interpreted by some as a representation of the Green Man of folklore and by others as an allusion to Christ. Written in stanzas of alliterative verse, each of which ends in a rhyming bob and wheel, it draws on Welsh, Irish and English stories, as well as the French chivalric tradition. It is an important poem in the romance genre, which typically involves a hero who goes on a quest which tests his prowess, and it remains popular to this day in modern English renderings from J. R. R. Tolkien, Simon Armitage and others, as well as through film and stage adaptations.

According to Christopher Reeve, “a hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.” In today’s culture, the hero is frequently depicted as a knight in shining armor, an image that originates from age-old literature such as the fourteenth-century Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. In such literary works, the heroic knight has several virtuosic character traits: friendship, chastity, generosity, courtesy, and piety; however, he must also endure a quest in which his virtues are tested. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, three obstacles challenge the hero Gawain’s morals, including the Green Knight, the seductress, and the threat of death, leading to a further maturity of