Green Knight

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight defies many conventions of traditional heroic tales. Interactions between Gawain and his protagonist the Green Knight differ substantially from the typical interactions of protagonists and antagonists in heroic tales, and the Green Knight is not simplistically evil like most antagonists in heroic tales. There is less physical conflict than in most heroic tales, and more social conflict, tests which challenge Gawain’s loyalty to his chivalric moral code. These…

The identity of the Green Knight in “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” is a topic that has been discussed amongst scholars for decades. Throughout academia the Green Knight has been theorized as a remnant of cultural mythology such as the vegetation myth (Benson 62, Speirs, 225), a demon, wild man (Benson, 72), and even the devil. Among these popular scholars, Larry Benson connects the Green Knight to the Green Man and Wild Man stories, which explain the knight’s ambiguous chivalrous and…

At the beginning of the story Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the story takes place around Christmas time and New Year’s. In the first scene, “Many good knights and gay his guests were there, Arrayed of the Round Table rightful brothers, With feasting and fellowship and carefree mirth.”(Pg.4, lines 38-40) The characters are seated around King Arthur’s round table celebrating the holiday. There is food, carol-dancing, and gift giving. Also this is all happening in December, one of the coldest…

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…

The Medieval English romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a great literary piece that narrates the journey of a chivalrous, heroic knight who goes on a journey and faces countless risks and supernatural threats in between, to show his king his abilities and courageous behavior. The principle of chivalry has played a key role in English society through out the ages. Knights during this time follow three codes of conducts in which the knights venture to keep their honor by doing as their…

chivalrous man can also often be conditional on how he performs in a sexual charged dilemma. The great Arthurian knight Gawain is a great example of how a patriarchal order structures his actions in both “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” and “The Knight of the Sword”. In each story, a woman is used as a pawn by either her husband or her father in order to test Gawain’s status as a virtuous knight from the grand King Arthur’s Round Table. The virtues of the woman, however, are seen as nearly…

poem, the poet depicts King Arthur as the “most regal of rulers in the royal line” (Gawain poet, 25, 186), who is most honorable and noblest amongst his knights. His court functions by a Christian chivalrous code, in which bravery and courtesy become the testament in which produces a characters standing. However, the arrival of the Green Knight signals the abrupt destruction of this ideal, leaving both court and Sir Gawain to abandon their loyalty to the code. The contrast of atmosphere,…

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight honor is held above all else. To maintain one’s virtue, is to protect their immortal soul. Sir Gawain, first portrayed as the perfect knight, confronts not only his faith but heroic code within the poem. Sir Gawain’s struggle to maintain virtue and uphold the heroic code in a society laden with temptation makes him more relatable to the everyman while still providing a model of what an upstanding Christian and knight should strive to be. A knights worth is proven…

In this focus on a short excerpt of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight which is a tale about Gawain encountering challenges he must face and overcome. A challenge is placed before the round table where Gawain is granted one free swing to kill the Green Knight and if unsuccessful, must seek out to receive the exact same a year from the current day. Following this encounter, as Gawain is in search of the Knight he owes, he stumbles upon a castle with a most generous lord and lady where a deal is made…

In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, by the Gawain Poet, the knights of King Arthur’s court consume themselves in heroic achievement. Sir Gawain, the nephew of King Arthur, believes himself to be the lowest of all knights residing in Camelot. Gawain is a humble man who believes his weakness is a dishonor to the knights of the round table. Gawain handles his realities with good intentions, as he furthers himself as a proper knight and changes himself to bring honor to his uncle’s court. Gawain’s…