Beowulf: Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

Improved Essays
In the poem Beowulf, we meet Beowulf and we follow his journey to the swamplands to defeat Grendel and his mother. His successes cause great joy throughout Geatland and his fame spreads like wildfire. The king and queen, Hygelac and Hygd welcome and praise him for his accomplishments. When the king dies Beowulf becomes king and rules successfully for 50 years. His reign has no complications until a thief enrages a dragon. The dragon then causes massive destruction in Geatland and Beowulf is forced to fight him. Beowulf also defeats this dragon but at a deadly cost. The dragon bites Beowulf in the neck and Beowulf dies moments after the battle. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sir Gawain accepts the green knight’s challenge and axes off the green knight’s head. …show more content…
On Christmas Day a few days before the one year is completed Sir Gawain finds a castle on his journey to find the green chapel where the green knight lives. The lord’s wife sneaks into Sir Gawain’s room and gives him three kisses and a green silk girdle which she claims possesses an ability to keep anyone who wears it safe. In exchange for his hospitality Sir Gawain is suppose to return anything he has received to the lord, however, he doesn’t return the girdle. When the green knight strikes his axe through Sir Gawain’s neck nothing happens to him and the green knight knows he has the girdle. The green knight turns out to be the lord of the castle. Sir Gawain is relieved to be alive but embarrassed he wore the girdle. Throught both Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight we see two types of women one who is confined with minimal power and another who upholds more

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain stumbles upon a castle run by a Lord Bertilak. When he arrives at this castle he is greeted by the lords men and invited in to feast, for it were Christmas Day. Gawain was asked by the lord for his word to swear to serve him. Gawain replied, " You may trust my tongue, for within these walls I am servant to your will." The lord went on explaining how Gawain had come to the castle, tired, weary, and hungry yet he joins the lord in his partying.…

    • 1440 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Monty Python and the Holy Grail likes to mock just about everything that went on in medieval times, such as the black death and chivalry and the black night. Some of the violence is funny because the black knight just acts like its nothing “tis but a scratch” then once all his limbs are gone he continues to bite at king Arthur. I would say they are just a bunch of role players none of them have any idea of whats going on half the time. The black death is made fun of when they walk through a village where there is just poop and dead bodies and people crawling everywhere. In Beowulf and Sir Gawain the heroes are actually heroes in Monty Python everything is a joke they're is no chivalry or heroism…

    • 135 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight both feature antagonists that could be considered monsters. These two characters are the primary entities that challenge their heroes in their following stories. A monster by normal standards is an ugly and ferocious creature that strike fear into others, but the definition of monster can be loosely taken and adapted into anything. Specifically a source that summons a great amount of anxiety for other people. Grendel and the Green Knight are our horrendous beings that fit the term monster but one creature in mind truly depicts the word monster, Grendel.…

    • 882 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    According to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, being a good knight is made difficult by the strong pull of earthly and bodily desire coupled with pride. Sir Gawain is not just tempted because of the loveliness of Sir Bertilak's wife; he is tempted by his own desire to live above all else. Although Gawain constantly refers to duty and to the need to render his fate to God, he does not put his trust completely in his faith because he takes the girdle out of fear that he will not actually be protected by God. Gawain remarks "if only we could love our ladies without believing their lies" (2420-21), but he lies to Sir Bertilak. His sin is love of his own life above duty and loyalty.…

    • 332 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    For fifty years Beowulf rules Geatlands, he was deeply loved and adored by the people after he becomes king. However, another monster has threatened the kingdom and terrorized the people. A dragon was guarding its treasure on the tower when a slave stole its treasure goods. The dragon was enraged to the point that he burned and ravaged the town, leaving a stream of current fire behind. Beowulf, now old and weary, still seeks fame in fighting the dragon.…

    • 212 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Greed And Envy In Beowulf

    • 505 Words
    • 3 Pages

    When Beowulf returns home he is announced to be king of the Geats. Fifty years later Beowulf is forced into another heroic battle. This time Beowulf must defeat an awakened dragon. With the help of another warrior Beowulf kills the dragon but dies at the end of the battle. Although Beowulf is depicted as an almost divine individual throughout the story, he is merely…

    • 505 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain ultimately finds his identity within the green girdle. Sometimes a person’s reputation can conflict with the morals and beliefs they have for themselves. In the medieval period, knights were symbols of chivalry and seen as the most well-rounded…

    • 978 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Evolution Of Beowulf Essay

    • 1084 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The dragon soon perishes and so does Beowulf. At the beginning of the poem we met a young arrogant Beowulf who, at the end of the poem, became a great king who perished for his people. Throughout the story of Beowulf we see Beowulf’s character progress within each battle from foolish to more wise. Beowulf goes from fighting Grendel with no armor or weapons to fighting Grendel’s mother with armor and various weapons and finally to the dragon whom he battles with armor, weapons, a shield and even some help from Wiglaf.…

    • 1084 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the Pearl Poet’s romantic poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sir Gawain is a knight who abides by a set of knightly virtues in the land of Camelot. Sir Gawain follows these knightly virtues with great efficiency. Sir Gawain always upholds his knightly virtues because of the people he meets, like the lady and the hosts, and because of his actions, like attending Christmas Mass. Sir Gawain is the ideal knight because he lives according to his knightly virtues, especially piety, chastity, and friendliness.…

    • 1078 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Beowulf Analytical paper In the epic poem beowulf by seamus Heaney, there is a problem in the geatland territory. A monster known as the name “Grendel” is coming into king Hrothgar’s heorot and killing innocent people for 12 years. A nobleman known to name of beowulf hears about the madness that grendel is doing and goes to denmark to solve the problem for the geats. Beowulf challenges grendel, and fights him with no weapons.…

    • 268 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout time, and especially during the middle ages, a woman’s role and position in the household as well as society was very much imposed upon being described as more at home and without a creditable opinion on important matters. But as time went on women became more educated and liberated developing strong opinions, being less confined, thus leaving the impression of women in traditional societies as being more “dangerous” or even “evil” as conveyed in Beowulf, Lanval, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and the Wife of Baths. During the mid-evil time period, the bible was seen as a huge source on how people and men especially saw gender roles and what was right from wrong. Since the beginning, they have used the bible in reference to women’s nature and have compared them to Eve and the apple and evidently saw women as prone to temptation, evil, untrustworthy, seductive, weak, acting purely on their own intentions and…

    • 1152 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    These points emphasize that pride is not everything. Using the magic weapon, Hrunting, Beowulf slays Grendel’s mother and departs back to his homeland. He gifts the sword to Hrothgar who, in return, showers Beowulf with gold, armor, and horses. Beowulf thanks God for his opportunity and ability to complete his heroic feats as “his courage was proven, his glory was secure” (I.1646.112). Following the Code of Conduct, Gawain keeps his promise to the Green Knight and presents himself, ready for death.…

    • 1310 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Sir Gawain and the Green Knight along with The Wife of Bath’s Tale represent the acts of courtly love and chivalry through the actions of the female characters which can be compared throughout the text. In both stories the main male character fate is determined by the female characters which shows that both stories heavily rely on the power of the woman. This is showed in The Wife of Bath’s Tale when the knight commits the crime of rape and is being trailed in front of King Arthur’s Court and the queen and her ladies are allowed to interfere and judge the knight. Allowing him to live on the condition that he comes back in one year with the answer to the question “what do all women want most in the world”?…

    • 563 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    When Beowulf returns back to his land he becomes king. After ruling for 50 years, he finds out he has one last trial, he must slay a dragon. During this battle Beowulf is the only man proving noble enough to try and fight off this dragon. He knows he might die, but goes off to kill it anyway. The odds are not in Beowulf’s favor, but before Beowulf is killed Wiglaf, a young kinsman, comes to his aid. Beowulf’s sword cannot pierce the skin of the dragon and while trying to do so he is bit.…

    • 1127 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    What kind of weakness can lead to a bad ending, and what can lead to good? Weakness is a common archetype across text types--everyone has weaknesses, it’s unavoidable. A character must have weaknesses to be able to be more human. Weaknesses, or flaws in character, can lead to positive events but at the same time, it could also lead to negative events. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a story written in the late 1400s, Sir Gawain is a great knight who followed the chivalry code, but he has one weakness, a weakness that everyone has, the fear of death.…

    • 1572 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays