Sir Gawain Stroke Analysis

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

After the Green Knight humiliates King Arthur and his knights by challenging them, Gawain stepped up to the challenge in their place, asking the King “Uncle, let me stand in your stead and strike the blow” (Thompson, 11). Here, Sir Gawain is following vow two of the Knights Code of Chivalry “to serve the liege lord in valor and in faith" by committing to the challenge himself, he is protecting the king and serving him. Coincidentally, by accepting the challenge, he is also following vow ten of the Knights Code of Chivalry “to guard the honor of fellow knights.” As an effect of, Sir Gawain’s noble act, he stops the embarrassment caused by the Green Knight’s challenge, preserving his fellow knights’

​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

Even though the green knight turns out to be good at the end of the story, he still presents Gawain with a variety of difficult challenges throughout the poem that make him seem evil. The green knight is first perceived as evil when he barges into king Arthur’s castle and insults the knights of camelot for hesitating to cut off his head. The moment that Sir Gawain volunteers to cut off the green knights instead of allowing Arthur to do so he is crossing the threshold from the ordinary world into the world of adventure. When Gawain departs on his journey to have his head cut off he is putting the greater good of camelot before his preference of not being decapitated by giant green knights. This choice that Gawain makes marks his first step towards becoming a better knight. Even

Sir Gawain shows a lot of honor by staying true to his word and following through with his deal with the Green Knight. He mentally prepares himself for the year leading up to his journey to seek out the Green Knight, braves through the forest, is met with the temptations of the lady of the castle, and holds true to his deal with the

The ultimate boon is the girdle that was given to Gawain by the Host’s wife. On the third day that Gawain is staying with the Host he is given a green girdle by the Host’s wife that is said to protect the person wearing it; knowing that he will meet with the Green Knight the next day, he selfishly keeps the girdle without telling the Host. The next day Gawain meets with the Green Knight to complete the challenge that was presented to him in the beginning of the poem. However, since the Green Knight knows that Gawain broke the deal with the Host he cuts Gawain on the third swing of his sword. The three swings symbolize the three days Gawain stayed at the castle. The first two swings don't touch him because he kept his part of the deal. On the third swing he is cut, this symbolizes the third day when he keeps the girdle and breaks his part of the deal.

Sacrifice is a quality that many people choose to ignore. But Sir Gawain magnified this virtue to its extent, even to the brink of death. When the Green Knight challenged the knights of King Arthur for a game, and King Arthur volunteered, it was Sir Gawain who stepped in. Gawain takes on the Green Knight game and goes for the blow. Gawain chops off the Green Knight’s head, but in shocking disbelief, the Green Knight picks up his head and gives a speech. The Green Knight then instructs Gawain to get his way to the Green Chapel to receive his blow in return. Lines (347-350) states, “For I find it

With the power of the green girdle by his side and his mind set forth on his destiny, Gawain heads out with the guide to find the Green Knight. About half way through the ride the guide asks Gawain whether he would decide to slide out of his scenario with the Green Knight. As they reach the border of the forest, the guide promises not to tell anyone if Gawain decides to give up the quest. Gawain refuses, determined to

Gawain’s first portrayal of being a true knight comes when the Green Knight makes his appearance in Camelot. The Green Knight first speaks to King Arthur and proposes that they play a “game.” Arthur will strike the Green Knight with his axe, and in return the Green Knight will return the strike in a year and a day. King Arthur agrees to this game and its terms, but as he steps up to accept the challenge, Gawain comes forward and offers to participate in the “game” in place of King Arthur. Sir Gawain says to King Arthur, “I implore with prayer plain that this match should now be mine” (341-342). Gawain goes on to strike the Green Knight, cutting off his head. However, the strike does not kill the Green Knight; he picks up his head from the ground and repeats to Sir Gawain that he will return the blow in a year and a day. In this moment, Gawain’s bravery is clearly showcased. First, he takes a challenge in place of his king, which he did not have to do.

Sir Gawain is reluctant to accept the Green Knight’s challenge. He fears for his life. In the end he only accepts the challenge to protect King Arthur’s life and honor. He knows it is his duty to protect King Arthur, but only volunteers to do so at the last second. Sir Gawain also breaks his oath to the Lord of the castle he is staying in. He broke their vow to trade whatever they had earned during the day when he keeps a sash the Lady of the castle gives him because he believes it will protect him during his battle with the Green Knight.

Gawain however will not coward out and will remain loyal to the agreement and shrugs off the warning. He eventually runs into the Green Chapel and calls out for the Green Knight. The Green Knight takes three swings at Gawain purposefully missing the first two, and then nipping the neck of Gawain on the third blow. Gawain, not harmed, arose and requested to fight the Green Knight drawing his sword. The Green Knight says he didn’t want to fight only because Gawain has fulfilled the agreement already. He explains that he spared Gawain the first two times for receiving the kisses back from him but the third blow was for not returning the Green Girdle he received. Gawain was thankful and explained that women were the reason for men’s downfall giving examples. The Green Knight introduces himself as Lord Bertilak and explained the Old lady whose face was covered was his Aunt Morgan Le Fay, Merlin’s apprentice, and that he had a spell cast on him. He says the main reason he came to King Arthur’s court was Morgan Le Fay’s plan to scare Queen Guinevere to death. He asked Gawain to come and stay at his castle because he is loved there but he declines and rides back to Camelot with The Girdle under his left arm to show that he committed fault to enemies back along the way as well as the

In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sir Gawain courageously steps up to play the green knight’s game. The green knight clearly lays out the terms of the game to Sir Gawain: Sir Gawain can give the green knight any blow with any weapon and a year later the green knight will return the same blow. A year passes and Sir Gawain boldly puts on his armor and embarks on his journey to receive his return blow. After traveling for months, Sir Gawain stumbles upon a castle where he is graciously welcomed. The significant change in clothing of Sir Gawain from armor to soft clothing suggests a failure to the expectations placed upon him by his pentangle and allegiance to Camelot.

Sir Gawain finally moves on from the castle and goes to the Green chapel, which happens to be a mound. He gets there, and is admittedly scared, but ready to die. The Green knight goes to strike Sir Gawain with his axe, but does not. The Green knight notices Sir Gawain flinches and begins to mock him. Sir Gawain proceeds to tell the Green knight that he will not be able to pick up his head like the Green knight did. The Green Knight goes to strike Sir Gawain a second time and Sir Gawain does not flinch this time. Sir Gawain is ready to die now after the first flinch. The Green knight then went to strike Sir Gawain a third time and he began to get frustrated, the Green knight began to talk with Sir

The Green Knight agrees if Gawain will come to wherever he thinks the Green Knight will be. Of course, Gawain has no clue where he would find him, so the Green Knight says that he will tell him if Gawain can hit him square on the neck. Then Sir Gawain strikes him directly on his neck, and the Green Knights head rolls off. The Green Knight proceeds to pick up his head and leave, while bleeding terribly from the neck as if he were unharmed. Before he leaves, he tells Sir Gawain to come to the Green Chapel when they agreed. So then a year passes before Gawain comes across his second trial. It occurs while Gawain stays in the castle of a hospitable lord before he is to meet again with the Green Knight. During his stay, the lord and Sir Gawain agree to "exchange what each has won during the day" (Ponsor 128). For three days the lord brings back what he has hunted, and Gawain gives him the kisses he has received from the lady of the castle. However, he also received a magical green scarf from the lady on the third day, but fails to exchange it for it is a token of good luck. When Sir Gawain finally meets with the Green Knight, he prepares to be struck with a scythe, but the Green Knight ends up only giving him a minor scratch on the neck. This is because the knight was testing his honor, and he scratched him because he did not maintain his honor on that third day. He was supposed to hand over

Gawain gained his maturity in the most unique way, but it all began with him as a young, weak individual. On one particular day, as a big, monstrous man wearing all green approached the knights of the Round Table, intimidation was felt in every knights under the rule of King Arthur. Soon after arriving, the massive man taunted the Round Table knight’s in order to convince them compete against him in a challenge. In the challenge, any brave person could exchange the Green Knight a swing of an axe for the swing of an axe. No one wanted to stand up to the man in green, for he shot fear into anyone who dared to look at him. During the time of this visit, Gawain could have been considered weak. He was only in the beginning of his journey on becoming mature, and that would not be the only journey he would be taking. After some tension between the knights of the Round Table and the Green Knight, King Arthur accepted the challenge. Knowing of the danger King Arthur was in, Gawain pleaded to take the place of his uncle. He gave his claim, telling the others of his weak status and unimportance in the world. Once the claim was given, the immature Gawain took hold of the green and gold axe, and gave a swing that beheaded the Green Knight. The headless man, to the surprise of all, picked his head off the ground, gave a speech, and left on his horse. Although Gawain exhibited some strength in his actions, he did not become completely mature from the single situation.