Sir Gawain And The Green Knight Integrity Analysis

Improved Essays
The major theme in the story “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” is integrity. The word integrity means “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles”. Sir Gawain had integrity, but deprived some of the traits that came with it, generally, confidence. He was what you called a coward, he lacked self-assurance and pride, however, it came a day when that all went away. Sir Gawain begins to have confidence in his self, pride in his self, and also trust. People began to count on him for the conservation and congratulated him for his chutzpah. Sir Gawain integrity never succumbed despite him facing major tests against it like his confidence, seduction from women other than his wife, and his desire to survive. Seeing as though Sir Gawain was timid and fearful at first, he took it upon his self to fight the Green Knight right before the king took his strike. Sir Gawain began to …show more content…
Sir Gawain had a huge desire to live and did not want anything to get in the way of that. His integrity did not let anything get in the way of that. Meeting up with the Green Knight and preparing for the battle was a breeze, but his confidence began to shift once he saw the Green Knights ax. The Green Knight mocked him and it offended him, which made him upset and want to kill him. His anger paid off and the Green Knight was dead. He carried his head in his hand while he rode his horse. In essence Sir Gawain has integrity, but had three major tests against it like confidence, seduction, and desire to live. Sir Gawain took on a challenge to boost his confidence, and it helped. His opponent's wife seduced him, but his morals stopped anything else from happening. Also his desire to live helped him become victorious. He was proud and self-assured of himself after his victory. People congratulated him and were proud he went through with his plans. Sir Gawain’s integrity is boldly

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Malala Yousafzai Dbq

    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In this story, due to the fact that the Green Knight gets his head chopped of by Gawain, Sir Gawain is faced with a situation in which he has to decide whether or not to uphold his promise of getting his own head cut off. Although Sir Gawain’s fear of becoming headless tenses him up, he still upholds his oath and daringly travels to the place where the Green Knight lives. Because of Sir Gawain’s loyalty to his promise, he ends up saving his life. Due to Sir Gawain’s noble action, despite his fear of getting his head sliced off, he is the definition of a selfless…

    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    To make him appear to the knights as even more intimidating, he wielded an enormous green axe that no sword would stand a chance against. The writer of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight states within the story that “It seemed no man there might survive his violent blow” (Greenblatt pg.190). The massive knight spoke of a game he came all this way to play, which required a knight of Arthur’s to chop his own head off, then he would get to return the favor to them. He then began to mock the knights calling them cowards due to the fact none of them would step up to the plate and accept the challenge. Then, with Arthur and Guinevere’s permission, Gawain rises from his seat and accepts the call of the Green Knight.…

    • 1554 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Sir Gawain shows integrity through being selfless, reliable, and trustworthy. To begin with, Sir Gawain is very selfless. He steps up and accepts the challenge from King Arthur because none of the other knights will. He swiftly beheads the green knight. The knight bends over and picks up his bleeding head and…

    • 525 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Sir Gawain: A True Hero

    • 1355 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The appearance of Green Knight was truly an unexpected incident, which gave Sir Gawain a precious long-awaited opportunity to execute his knighthood without hesitance. Green Knight’s call for dueling had a terrifying condition. It is described in the book as follows: “‘If any man in this hall is so brave and so courageous as to exchange stroke for stroke, I will give him this noble axe-- heavy enough truly to handle as he may desire: yes, and I myself will stand here on the floor and receive the first stroke of the axe wherever he may smite me. Only me must swear, and you, lord king, to give me the right to deal him such another blow, if I may, a twelve month and a day from now’”…

    • 1355 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    After having been granted permission to take the challenge from King Arthur, Sir Gawain immediately grabbed the ax, “hefted it high,” then “swiftly slashed” at the Green Knight’s neck. Sir Gawain did what he agreed to do and “the fair head fell from the neck to the floor of the hall” (215). The entire task was not yet complete however. The Green Knight then instructed Sir Gawain to find him at the Green Chapel a year and a day later so he could return the strike with his ax. As promised, Sir Gawain honored the knight’s request and set out to find the Green Knight’s chapel and conclude their deal. Like a true knight of the round table, Sir Gawain did not shy away from the idea of being struck by an ax.…

    • 1032 Words
    • 5 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
  • Great Essays

    While there are really never any physical threats that Sir Gawain must face, the author creates the threat of one’s moral character, which are seen as serious as any physical danger. As we mature, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight suggests that we must wage our own war with a constant struggle against the forces that wish to lead us…

    • 1372 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Green Knight swings his axe three times, but only finds success in the third strike, because Gawain was wearing the green girdle. The Green Knight now knows that Gawain interacted with the lady, who actually was the Green Knight’s wife. Gawain was successful in resisting for two days, but faltered on the third, hence why he was struck on the third blow. Gawain realizes that he will forever carry the burden of choosing his life over the Code of…

    • 1310 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    From this, we can see that the author wants us to show us that out of love, wealth, and life, Sir Gawain values life the most. However this shows his fault which was dishonesty and he not only breaks his honor, but also receives a scar after the Green Knight cuts him for partially failing the third test. A similar point of view can be seen in modern literature such as the story The…

    • 1333 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Green Knight is testing Gawain to see if Gawain is worthy enough to rule a kingdom. The Green Knight puts Gawain through a series of tests without Gawain really knowing he was being tested. Gawain learns a lot of lessons along the way of his journey, such as that it is okay to be human and fear for your life, be true to one’s word, and to show…

    • 1100 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the beginning of the story, the knight is portrayed as overly gallant when a giant green knight suddenly appears and “challenges any knight to exchange one blow for another. Gawain the best of knights, accepts and beheads”(229) the gigantic knight. If an unbiased person read this line, they would immediately assume that Sir Gawain is a bloodthirsty knight, because he immediately accepted the challenge. However, this is not necessarily true, as the reader will soon find out, the knight is actually an honorable man who just can’t back down from a challenge. Unknowingly, the knight finds himself being tested by the green knight in disguise.…

    • 1262 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Cultural values of a community reflects the protagonists of literary works through their actions and beliefs. From the Early to the Late Middle Ages, some deplorable and splendid features persist throughout this era. Moreover, Sir Gawain and Beowulf, embark on quests that illustrate their era’s ideals. More specifically, both protagonists demonstrate honorable qualities as well as fraudulent characteristics in accordance with the paradigms of the peoples they represent. Although the quests in Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight take place in varying time periods, corresponding and clashing traits have the potential to become evaluated through analyzing the context of the storyline and archetypes according to Joseph Campbell.…

    • 1766 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Honor is less physical and more about upholding one’s word, respecting those who should be respected and being chivalrous. Sir Gawain goes through trials in order to show his honor. To keep his promise, he had to seek out The Green Knight by his own willpower. In order to continue on with the journey, he had to reside at a castle where he made a deal with the lord. At the end of the story, Sir Gawain failed in one part during his journey and was left embarrassed and…

    • 767 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Sir Gawain finds the Green Chapel and receives his blow just like he promised in their pact, but he is not killed because the Green Knight tested Sir Gawain and saw that he could trust him as stated in lines 2362-2365 (Gawain 234). Many kings feared that there were traitors among them and many wanted to figure out if the people they believed to be a traitor was actually telling the truth. For the most part, however, the person accused would be imprisoned but there were few that could escape that terrible fate if they could prove themselves and their loyalty to their…

    • 1399 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The most basic form of action and decision-making mechanism within an individual is that of human instinct, which in turn develops one’s integrity. In the lengthy poem of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, we learn how one man’s actions develop not, only his integrity, honor, and motivation for self pride, but we also learn that everyone makes mistakes and we are all human. The poem is about a man, Sir Gawain, a member of Arthur’s round table, who takes on a challenge from a mystical and mysterious green knight and is forced by his own intuition to proceed through adversity and temptation to fulfill his duty to the challenge and himself. The poem gives multiple instances where his integrity as a chivalrous man and his faith and honor to God…

    • 1142 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays