During the Middle Ages, Knights were fearless soldiers that protected the Lords of the Land. Knights were an inherent part of medieval society, following a strict and detailed code of Chivalry. This Code dictated their lifestyles and actions throughout the middle ages. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Europeans of higher status depended on the loyalty of a brave knight. The process of becoming a knight was long and ongoing. First of all, becoming a knight was a privilege that certain sons…
Throughout the Middle English chivalric romance poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Alan Markman describes the protagonist as “the very best knight who sums up…the very best traits of all knights who ever lived” (Markman 576), due to his courageous reputation during the Arthurian period. However, Victoria Weiss disagrees with Markman’s statement, commenting that Gawain’s courage in the poem is viewed as “a lack of concern for human life” (Weiss 363). For the purposes of this study, medieval…
Gawain is an ordinary knight attending festivities at a feast held by King Arthur himself. Then enters the Green Knight, and challenges King Arthur. He planned to test the attributes that make a king and a knight alike. Sir Gawain refuses to let the king be harmed and stands in place for him. At this moment the Green Knight is intrigued by his apparent chivalry and challenges him. Like many stories of the same narrative in the medieval time period, “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” draws on the…
According to the urban dictionary a knight is “a man who served his sovereign or lord as a mounted soldier in armor”. In other words a professional killer. Even tough we view Knights as professional warriors, we failed to see that they were much more than a warrior. Knights were not merely professional warriors: knighthood includes guidelines that one must follow: the notion of social status, political power, legal classification, and cutural expressions of knightly identity-- bravery, honor,…
Title: 3 major reasons why Samurai would win If Knights and Samurai engaged in a battle, who would triumph (win)? Knights are European warriors and Samurai are Japanese warriors. In a battle between Knights and Samurai the Samurai would win because of superior discipline, training and code of honor. According to Japan Memoirs of a secret empire (Doc B) Samurai were expected to live according to Bushido, a strict ethical code influenced by Confucianism that stressed loyalty to one’s master,…
The stories of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Beowulf both tells the stories of two honorable and noble kings, whose bravery is put to the test when they have to overcome obstacles in order to succeed in returning a favor and keeping a promise. There are some similarities and some differences that could be analyzed from these stories due to the fact that they both have heroic reputations that they seem to own up to by the end of them. Although, along with the similarities are the…
(An analysis of chivalry as observed in the Arthurian texts, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Song of Roland, Perceval, and Morte D’Arthur) Chivalry is commonly known as being gentleman-like. If someone has chivalry, he is respectful and holds the door for people. But where does this idea of chivalry come from? Back in the middle ages, the Code of Chivalry was born with the rise of King Arthur and his Knights. Scholar Chantry Westwell states, “The epic tales of King Arthur’s court, of chivalry,…
The concept of loyalty is strongly related to the concept of knighthood. The image of the Knights of the Round Table can hardly be imagined without thinking of the loyalty amongst those knights. In “The Morte Darthur,” the loyalty that has been established between the Knights of the Round Table is shattered when loyalties are pledged to single knights instead of the whole group. Throughout “The Morte Darthur,” themes of loyalty are very apparent and can be seen in stark contrast to the themes…
tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, we meet the heroic Sir Gawain, who is faced with a very important quest. He was put up to a very particular test during the Christmastide that he fears will cost him his life. As a knight though, he is bound by the knight virtues to keep his word or troth. Troth being in medieval literature, the fidelity to one’s own word no matter what shall happen. The idea of Troth is the central focus of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. During the Christmas season…
the Middle Ages, the chivalric code was created to control the violent tendencies of knights who used to fight in wars and establish an ideal model that all knights should follow. At the same time, the concept of Courtly Love was introduced to meet women’s taste in stories and further show knights loyalty and respect for women. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the protagonist Sir Gawain is a righteous knight who tries to fulfill both of these ideal concepts, but ends up failing his quest. His…