Summary Of Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

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.

    Many games are involved in the plot of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The Green Knight, Bercilak de Hautdesert, plays a "Christmas game" with Arthur's court at Camelot (line 283); Gawain's host's wife plays games with Gawain throughout the third section of the poem; Gawain's sees his arrangement of mutual trade with his host as a game (line 1380); and all of the events of the story are revealed as a game of Arthur's sister, Morgan Le Fay (lines 2456-2466). Throughout the telling of the story, the author plays a mental game with the reader or listener, as well.

 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.

Throughout the poem, the Green Knight plays various roles as an archetypal figure, for example he serves as both a herald and a mentor to Gawain. The poem begins at the Round Table, with a challenge being presented to the knights by the Green Knight. No one budges to accept the challenge so Gawain steps up and accepts it, knowing Camelot’s honor will be at risk. Gawain is told by the Green Knight that they must meet at the Green Knight Chapel in one year so the Green Knight can return the blow that Gawain gave to him. At this point, the Green Knight serves as the “announcer of adventure” or the “herald” (campbell 48) since he approaches the knights at the Round Table. As Gawain begins his journey to the Green Knight's Chapel, he meets a Host of a castle, who makes a deal with Gawain to stay there for three days. Although it is unknown to Gawain, the Green Knight is the Host, just in disguise. As the Host, the Green Knight mentors Gawain with their deal as a means of training Gawain for his upcoming challenge. Their deal was “we will make a covenant. Whatsoever I win in the wood shall be yours, and whatever may fall to your share, that shall ye exchange for it. Let us swear, friend, to make this exchange, however our hap may be, for worse or for better.” (Weston 20) and it provided a way for Gawain to prove himself and his worth to the Host, which is exactly what he did. As stated before, the many roles of the Green Knight each aid in Gawain’s development as a character and prepare him for his awaiting challenge.

Sir Gawain is a knight at the court of king Arthur, and since Arthur himself had no children; Gawain is therefore his heir; that?s why he had the strongest claim to the throne. In this poem, Gawain portrays himself very humbly. He is at the court of king Arthur when suddenly on Christmas day, while sitting down to a big feast, and into the court bashes a magical entirely huge green man, dressed in extremely rich upper class clothing and holding a big axe in his hand. He offered a deal or a game referred to in this literature as the beheading game i.e. exchanging swinging of each other?s heads. It was a kind of challenge to King?s Arthur honor and courage. Should the king be brave enough to accept and take up the challenge whatever the trick is in the

Sir Gawain and The Green Knight is about Arthur and his knights having a New Years Eve party. Suddenly, a stranger walks in on his horse with his green skin and a challenge. He challenged king arthur to play a game but his nephew stepped in his place. Gawain was to hit the Green Knight as hard as he could with the axe and he would return the favor. He struck a blow, the knight’s head rolled to the floor, the Green Knight got off his horse and picked it up and rode off so fast they thought sparks had flew off the horses hooves. The challenge of the green knight challenged Gawain's honesty and bravery. Later on in the story, Gawain finds out that the Green Knight was really Lord Berkilac and he was testing him. The tests of Lord Berkilac will question both his and Sir Gawain’s character, nobility, and bravery.

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.

Ultimately, the Green Knight tempts Sir Gawain through two different games, the first being when he shields his supernatural powers from Gawain and gives him the opportunity to “decapitate” him on special terms, and in doing so, testing Gawain’s self control, and his ability to keep his word. On New Year’s Day, the Green Knight shows up in Camelot and proposes his game. He demands, “if a person here present, within these premises / is big or bold

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight begins with an extended idealized description of Arthur’s court; “The most noble knights known under Christ, / And the loveliest ladies that lived on earth ever, / And he the comeliest king, that that court holds. ” (Marie, 51-53) The court is in the middle of its Christmas celebration, the knights and ladies are young-and well favored enjoying the pleasures of court life. However, there is a negative side to the youthful King Arthur, and his kingly whim who that desired a tale of “some suppliant came seeking some single knight / to join with him in jousting, in jeopardy each / to lay life for life and leave it to fortune.” (Marie, 96-99) Thereby implication the court and the romantic ideals they represent: a potentially damaging carelessness, a lack of stability, and responsibility. Authur’s court is initially regaled as:

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, written by an anonymous fourteenth-century poet in Northern dialect, combines two plots: "the beheading contest, in which two parties agree to an exchange of the blows with a sword or ax, and the temptation, an attempted seduction of the hero by a lady" (Norton p.200). The Green Knight, depicted as a green giant with supernatural powers, disrespectfully rides into King Arthur's court and challenges the king to a Christmas game -- a beheading contest. Sir Gawain, a young, brave and loyal knight of the Round Table, acting according to the chivalric code, takes over the challenge his lord has accepted. The contest states that Sir Gawain

Try as we might, we will never be free from all flaws. In the poem “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” by an anonymous author, Sir Gawain, one of King Arthur’s best knights, struggles to accept that human nature will separate him from perfection. Gawain strives to live by five knightly virtues: friendship, generosity, chastity, courtesy, and piety. When the mysterious Green Knight arrives at Camelot to challenge King Arthur’s court to a game, Gawain uses the game to prove that he abides by his five knightly virtues and is a perfect knight. Yet, the Green Knight’s game does not go as Gawain expected it would and Gawain’s life is threatened as he begins his quest. While on his quest, Gawain proves his perfection once again by

Part One of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight opens on a night of a feast hosted by King Arthur and Guenevere in celebration of the New Year. The poet establishes a lively mood, and emphasizes the festive atmosphere of the hall: “Such gaiety and glee, glorious to hear, / Brave din by day, dancing at night. / High were their hearts in halls and chambers, / These lords and ladies, for life was sweet” (46-49). Gifts are given out, tournament games are held, and lavish dishes are enjoyed on each of the fifteen days of the feast. On this particular night, King Arthur, Guenevere, their loyal knights, and their guests have just sat down for the first dishes of the meal. The poet introduces King Arthur, establishing the first caricature of masculinity. The poet explains Arthur’s idiosyncratic need to witness something spectacular before he can eat: “So light was his lordly heart, and a little boyish; / His life he liked lively, the less he cared / To be lying for long, or long to sit, / So busy his young blood, his brain so wild” (86-89). The poet continues, writing, “For he nobly had willed,

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.

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