Epic Poems are some of the most widely read and interpreted stories from around the world. Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight are two examples of epic poems. There are many types of heroes, some are better than others, also there are two key areas of which heroes must be compared to be counted as so. Sir Gawain is the better or more heroic of the two because of his actions and also because he falls under the Medieval influence vs Beowulf’s Anglo-Saxon influence. One must first look at a hero’s everyday life and see if he can be considered as living up to “Heroic” standards when not in battle or a perilous situation. Second, we must look at how they act in battle. Inside both of these tests, we must evaluate according to both actions
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The story of Beowulf tells of Beowulf’s feats and great achievements but never actually tells us of him just living life on a daily like basis. Some people would argue that he returning to his homeland would qualify as being ‘normal’ or showing a normal act. However, when he does return he ends up gives away all his riches as a display of power and prowess which takes back on the “normal” concept. So we find that his everyday life was very much like his heroic life, and in lameness terms, he was always being a showoff. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight on the other hand tells us of several days where Gawain is really doing nothing very heroic at all so it is possible to see how he acts when doing nothing heroic. In the story, Sir Gawain visits a castle and stays there for several days and while in the castle, the lady of the castle tries to seduce him. Gawain is honorable and is able to turn away the temptations and turn her down. Even as she gets so persistent that Sir Gawain has to cry out to God for help, he is still able to do everything honorably and keep the values of the medieval …show more content…
Instead, the lady offers him a green girdle, and when worn, is supposed to make it impossible for him to be killed. He kept this in secret, even though he had made a promise to the lord of the castle to give him all of his gains for each day. Even though many would say Gawain has failed as a knight, they must keep in mind that he did not fall off the path to the greater sin which is that of adultery, but instead merely tried to save his own life. Also, he was forgiven by the person who set the temptation up, which was the Green Knight. So as we can see here, Sir Gawain has more evidence and more reason why he has better behavior and a moral set of values than Beowulf who really does not have any kind of ‘normal’
The story of Beowulf tells of Beowulf’s feats and great achievements but never actually tells us of him just living life on a daily like basis. Some people would argue that he returning to his homeland would qualify as being ‘normal’ or showing a normal act. However, when he does return he ends up gives away all his riches as a display of power and prowess which takes back on the “normal” concept. So we find that his everyday life was very much like his heroic life, and in lameness terms, he was always being a showoff. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight on the other hand tells us of several days where Gawain is really doing nothing very heroic at all so it is possible to see how he acts when doing nothing heroic. In the story, Sir Gawain visits a castle and stays there for several days and while in the castle, the lady of the castle tries to seduce him. Gawain is honorable and is able to turn away the temptations and turn her down. Even as she gets so persistent that Sir Gawain has to cry out to God for help, he is still able to do everything honorably and keep the values of the medieval …show more content…
Instead, the lady offers him a green girdle, and when worn, is supposed to make it impossible for him to be killed. He kept this in secret, even though he had made a promise to the lord of the castle to give him all of his gains for each day. Even though many would say Gawain has failed as a knight, they must keep in mind that he did not fall off the path to the greater sin which is that of adultery, but instead merely tried to save his own life. Also, he was forgiven by the person who set the temptation up, which was the Green Knight. So as we can see here, Sir Gawain has more evidence and more reason why he has better behavior and a moral set of values than Beowulf who really does not have any kind of ‘normal’