Sir Gawain And The Green Knight Moral Courage

​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

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.

Tricked by the Green Knight and Morgan le Faye, Gawain, driven by his sense of duty and honor, must sacrifice his own life for those ideals. I believe that though Gawain is a bit foolish in his quest to lose his head, he did make the correct decision in protecting Arthur. Like King Beowulf, the loss of Arthur would have been very detrimental to the society at the time. Gawain sacrifices himself in order to preserve Order.

Moral ambiguity—and the idea of morally ambiguous people—results from dilemmas whose ethical choice is unclear. One may be considered evil for making a decision that contradicts the principles or systems of ethicality that some may have, while on the other hand they may be treated as perfectly good because of a conflicting perspective or ethical system which believes otherwise. Sir Gawain, from the Pearl Poet’s Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, is a suitable example of a morally ambiguous character whose decisions may be considered pure by some and wicked by others. Gawain’s first choice to chop off Bertilak’s head—instead of being honourable by only giving him a nick and trusting that he would in favour return the same—can be thought of as an act which runs contrary to chivalry. His later decision to accept and keep the girdle is another example of his unchivalrous behaviour by not trusting in God to save him and by keeping the girdle (essentially stealing it) from his host, Bertilak. On the contrary, Gawain can be thought of as a force of good for accepting Bertilak’s challenge in the place of Arthur and agreeing to the terms which he fulfills later in the book. His decision to decapitate the Green Knight can be seen as an attempt to rid society of a form of evil which threatens it and can, therefore, be considered a commendable act. The Pearl Poet uses the morally ambiguous character, Gawain, to show that people who may seem good in one way may be seen as evil in another.

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

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.

An archetypal analysis of Gawain’s quest reveals some significant changes that occur in the hero’s character. We will analyze the progress of the hero, Gawain, as he ventures out to complete his quest. By analyzing the works of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight along with The Hero With A Thousand Faces, and how it completes the Hero’s Journey.

There are not any records for the poet of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, but this literary work exemplifies the characteristics of Medieval Literature. Sir Gawain, a true and honorable knight of Camelot’s round table, does his duty and defends his king against the Green Knight’s plea of game. Sir Gawain’s chivalry comes into question once on this journey to defent his king.

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

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is an Arthurian poem; an enchanting story of chivalry, romance and heroism. With its intricately woven details, parallels and symbols, the reader will often easily overlook these facets in a story of this caliber. Undoubtedly, the author would not have spent time on details that do not add to the meaning of the overall telling of the story. The three hunting scenes in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and in parallel, the three temptations, monopolize a considerable portion of the story. In a comparison of the three hunts and their corresponding temptations, we will see how the poet parallels these circumstances to emphasize the meaning of its symbolism.

 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.

Humans are not perfect! Sir Gawain the great knight had flaws and showed many human qualities. Even King Arthur had his flaws and made bad decisions. Guinevere is also not perfect as she gets tempted by Lancelot. Humans also love, hate, and can be evil or good.

In the groundbreaking work of comparative mythology, Hero With A Thousand Faces, Campbell defines archetypes as “representation[s] of the irrepresentable…smaller images of the greater (Campbell lvii). These “smaller images of the greater” throughout medieval romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight contribute to demonstrating the overall theme of human tendency toward reducing past events to superficial ones to the reader. Misfortune strikes in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight when knight Sir Gawain engages in a celebration with his fellow knights and uncle King Arthur at Camelot. An unexpected visitor known as the Green Knight interrupts the festivity and challenges the King Arthur’s knights to a suicide quest. After Sir Gawain accepts, follows through with, but ultimately fails the proposed challenge, the people of Camelot positively receive him. Most interestingly, the belt that symbolises Sir Gawain’s failure to Sir Gawain himself becomes a symbol of triumph for the people of Camelot upon his return. Through his journey, Sir Gawain becomes aware of the weakness of flesh while the people of Camelot remain willfully ignorant. The dual nature of how the hero and the community view the boon reflects the illumination gained by the hero but lacking in the common person.

A number of characters in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight play key archetypal roles in the perfecting of the hero’s moral development such as the Green Knight and the Hostess. These two characters reveal their importance and the theme of the entire poem through the trials that they force the main character, Sir Gawain, to endure while on the quest to maintain Camelot’s honor.

Gawain wanted to prove himself as the ultimate knight. “His courage is demonstrated, in the first place by his willingness to accept the monstrous challenge of the green knight” (Markman 577) and puts himself forward instead of his uncle Arthur or any of the other knights in the court. In an effort to live up to the standards of the chivalric code and prove his loyalty and courage to the Green Knight, King Arthur and the people of Camelot. Furthermore human courage is shown in this scene as Gawain feels the pressure from society he has to prove to the people around him. For most of society courage only exists if people see it and so only rewards the individual it if it’s visible. Therefore one can see how the theme of courage is treated with great importance in the play as courage is tested and proved by Gawain demonstrating chivalric courage whilst showing human courage by relating to society to gain the audience interests at the very beginning of the