The Father-Daughter Relationship In Sir Gawain

Furthermore, the host is utilizing his patriarchal authority over his daughter to accomplish his goal. Upon introducing Gawain to his daughter, the host states, “I bring you my daughter, if it does not displease you, for I have no more splendid entertainment to charm and please you” (“The Knight” 112). Immediately, the host is presenting his daughter as an object of entertainment, and fulfilling his role as a host by basically giving his daughter to Gawain to do with what he will for the night. The sense of ownership the host feels towards his daughter is obvious in his wording. The host is casting the daughter as an entertainment he has to give away, rather than allow her to introduce herself as an individual. The host continues his introduction …show more content…
Rather than question the motives of his host, particularly for sake of the daughter, Gawain remains a polite guest and concedes to entertain and be entertained by the girl. Gawain is described to be the perfect gentleman, so much so the girl was convinced he would love her dearly if she so allowed. In this instance, Gawain is performing the ideal acts of chivalry, being neither too passionate nor too distanced. The daughter is so charmed by his conduct she wishes to help him throughout the tale, first by warning Gawain of the wickedness of her father and of Gawain’s dire need to remain the ideal guest. Then, later in the night, she reveals the true intent of her father, which is to kill any man who should have sex with his daughter, in spite of his avid insistence that any man he deems worthy should, in fact, have sex with …show more content…
In the case of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”, Gawain is able to abstain from giving entirely into the urgings of the Green Knight’s wife. However, he still gives in to a final kiss, and is given a green girdle by the woman as a result. That sash symbolizes his moment of weakness to salvage his own life by conceding to the final threats of the Green Knight’s wife, should he not humor her. When he is to complete his yearlong wager with the Green Knight, who is given the opportunity to return the blow with an ax one year prior, the sentence that brought Gawain to the Green Knight in the first place, Gawain is ultimately saved by his allegiance to his prior host. Rather than decapitate Gawain as the wager suggested, upon seeing the green girdle, the Green Knight proceeds to nick the back of Gawain’s neck. The Green Knight does this as a punishment for Gawain’s moment of weakness towards his host on the third day of his stay. The Green Knight, however, still sees Gawain as a respectable knight and states, “But you lapsed just a little; your loyalty flagged. / Since the cause was not courtship or covetousness, / But the love of your life, so much less do I blame” (“Sir Gawain” IV.2366-2368). Therefore, Gawain was reprieved of his end of the wager for the loyalty he