Sir Gawain And The Green Knight Literary Analysis

In the text “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” the tale can be seen as a heroic one. Sir Gawain is the brother of both Sir Gaheris and Sir Gareth, and also the nephew of King Arthur which already gives him the qualities of a character in a royal family. In the poem “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”, Sir Gawain is described as “the most courteous” (line 639) and “the good knight” (line 109). These characteristics are seen as characteristics of a hero and the tale shows how the hero, Sir Gawain, overcomes some of the difficult tasks throughout the poem. When Sir Gawain steps up to the plate and takes upon the task of King Arthur this shows his loyalty. Sir Gawain’s “supernatural abilities” are also shown throughout the poem, but in the beginning one can …show more content…
This poem provides similar examples of what heroism and supernatural abilities that occurred in another poem that we read called Beowulf, and similarly just like this poem Beowulf had an unknown author. Both of the heroes in each poem fight against these nasty creatures and monsters that can potentially kill them. When Sir Gawain begins his journey to the Green Knight’s chapel we can notice that he begins to come across some dangerous enemies and the poem says that “So many were the wonders he wondered among… Now with the serpents he wars, now with savage wolves… And giants that came gibbering from the jagged steeps… He had met with many mishaps and mortal harms” (lines 718-725). This displays what kind of rivals Sir Gawain comes across and defeating them executes the statement that Sir Gawain may have some sort of supernatural abilities, and that Sir Gawain is one mighty heroic character. Just by going on this journey not knowing of the different kind of monsters that are on his way shows how courageous Sir Gawain is and that he is willing to complete his task despite the size of these