Le Morte d'Arthur

one of the most remarkable features in the history of the Middle Ages.”- Horatio Alger. Chivalry may be considered dead today for most people, but even back when chivalry was alive some people, at times, still failed to show it. For instance, in “Morte d’ Arthur” Sir Bedivere exemplifies chivalry by being loyal to one’s king and fails to exemplify it by not being true to his words. Also in “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” Sir Gawain exemplifies chivalry by showing humility and he fails to…

In the Medieval 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…

The Triwizard Tournament is a contest, held between the three wizarding schools’ champions in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which is meant to test the contestants’ intelligence, magical ability, and courage through the completion of three tasks, the last of which concerns locating the Triwizard Cup. Similarly, the Arthurian legend of The Quest for the Holy Grail tells of a quest for the Holy Grail, which can be described as a goblet or cup. The goal of this essay is to compare and…

In 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.…

Satire in Monty Python’s Holy Grail In the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, a group of knights, led by King Arthur, go on a quest, given to them by God, to find the Holy Grail. After a little debate, they split up, going on their own way, but eventually find each other again, where they approached the Bridge of Death. Once getting past the guardian of the Bridge, King Arthur and Sir Bedevere the Wise find the Grail, just to have the police apprehend them. This movie is a significant,…

Harry didn’t do anything wrong, unlike one of the most famous innkeepers in the (relatively) modern day, Monsieur Thénardier from the musical Les Misérables. Monsieur Thénardier embodies everything that could and would go wrong if someone stayed at a bad inn. In his first song of the play, “Master of the House”, Monsieur Thénardier openly admits how awfully he treats the tenants of his inn. Some…

During the High Middle Ages there was an influx of expression through the means of literature, painting, and architecture that encompassed the religious Christian values along with the secular chivalric code. This flowering of the High Middle Ages, during the approximate years 1050-1300, is the direct result of the economic successes from agricultural and commercial advances that greatly benefitted all of the social classes. With such stimulation amongst European economy the feudal and manorial…

Lauren McMillan Professor Kelley World Literature 20 November 2015 Sir Gawain: A Medieval Hero The tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight belongs to the literary genre known as romance. In romance literary pieces, courtly love and chivalry are two idealized standards of behavior. Loyalty, courage, integrity, purity, and courtesy are all attributes of a knight that displays chivalry (Shmoop Editorial Team). Sir Gawain, King Arthur’s nephew and a knight of the Round Table can be seen as an…

In the story Sir Gawain and The Green Knight, Sir Gawain shows a lot of outstanding characteristics. Gawain has the reputation of being a great knight and an elegant lover. He takes pride in himself and his viewpoint of the five points of chivalry in every aspect of his life. Gawain is a capstone of humility, devotion, integrity, loyalty, and honesty. Although he is a man of many characteristics, his main characteristic is integrity. Sir Gawain shows integrity through being selfless, reliable,…

Plenty of our favorite classic tales are set in a mystical world where a noble character is tangled in conflict. Red riding hood gives us the quest of traveling across the forest while being wary of a talking wolf. However monotonous or maybe cliche, medieval romance literature does its best job at staying on point and keeping the reader engaged in the story. In Sir Gawain and The Green Knight, the author used the magical Green Knight in order to push Sir Gawain into the quest that will prove if…