Æsir

Actor Anson Mount said, “I think all of us have a hero and villain in us.” This quote comes to mind when reading Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and The Miller’s Tale. Sir Gawain is a noble knight with high morals and very spiritual. He is flawed, like a villain would be, but still maintains his noble and heroeic qualities. The Miller’s Tale on the other hand has no hero. Both the storyteller and the main character in this story come across as low class villains. Both The Green Knight and The…

Midwives only turned up if someone was sick with women-problems or there was a pregnancy… or pregnancy loss. That had to be it. She’d conceived and lost the baby. That had to hurt. “Sir Gawain, do you believe in the gods?” He didn’t know. But was that the right thing to say to a child who was still developing his own beliefs and trying to make sense of the world? “I’m not sure,” he said, sticking with…

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is an epic poem by an unknown author about a knight in Camelot who is given a challenge by a green man during the holidays in King Arthur’s court. This “Green Knight” challenges someone to accept his request of chopping his head off and a year later he will use the same axe to swing at their neck as well. Sir Gawain steps up to the challenge after King Arthur volunteers, showing great courage and saving his king. Gawain uses the green man’s axe and cleanly cuts…

In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight translated by Simon Armitage, there are multiple dilemmas presented to the reader, one being a matter of conscience. According to William Lyons’s Conscience—An Essay in Moral Psychology, there are three different definitions of conscience: a Christian definition, a Freudian definition, and a personal integrity definition. Throughout the poem, there is strong evidence to support that the Christian definition of conscience is being used. To begin to analyze…

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Holiday season is in full swing at Camelot, King Arthur and his Queen along with the Knights of the Round Table, are all there to enjoy the festivities of the Christmas season to be enjoyed within the hall. “It was Christmas in Camelot—King Arthur’s court, where great and the good land had gathered, the right noble lords of the ranks of the Round Table all roundly carousing and reveling in pleasure. “ (36 - 40). This was an opportunity for the King to bond with…

1800’s, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight became a poetic masterpiece. Sir Gawain served his king bravely, courageously, and never declined a challenge, demonstrating the components of a true knight. The suit of armor may signify the strength and the status of a knight. A knight’s code of chivalry was proved not only by their words and actions, but also the shield in which they carried. Metals and pins may tell a story of what a hero or a chivalrous person has endured in order to earn it. Sir…

Meaning of `Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” by Alan Markman, it is suggested that the sole purpose of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is to display that a human can be a hero without being a god. The thesis of this paper is that the poem was written to show what a grand person Gawain was despite the difficult test endured. An argument that Markman states is that “in the entire poem there is not a line which ascribes to the hero any superhuman or supernatural quality” (Markman 1). In the poem…

Chivalry defines a knight who stays true to his religion, kingdom, and brothers. In Sir Gawain and The Green Knight, the Pearl Poet uses the motif of chivalry to explore the idea that Sir Gawain is an excellent, and at times an imperfect knight. He is a bold and protective knight that stands up for a challenge with the Green Knight to save Camelot society, but when it comes to him residing with the green knight, on the third day, he does not tell the host about the green girdle but still gives…

We would further understand the concept of ‘Medieval Romanticism’ by studying the text Sir Gawain and The Green Knight written by an anonymous author generally called The Pearl Poet or The Gawain Poet. The poem talks about the adventures of Sir Gawain, a trusted high-ranking noble of King Arthur, who is challenged to fight by a powerful combatant known as the Green Knight. These compositions are both doctrinal and episodic in nature and as mentioned earlier are written as powerful third person…

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a poem following a knight in King Arthur’s court, named Gawain, who accepts a challenge from an outsider, the Green Knight. The Green Knight challenges any man to chop off his head, as long as in a year’s time the Green Knight can do the same to him. Gawain accepts the challenge, dismembers the Green Knight’s head, and in a year’s time sets off to fulfill his promise. He is given a shield for his journey, and the symbols on the shield, the pentangle and Virgin…