Gawain s Knightly Status Noble Or Failure - 907 Words

Maxx Mainzer Ms. Hinshaw H Brit. Lit-Period F November 30, 2014 Gawain’s Knightly Status: Noble or Failure? Sir Gawain, nephew to the well-known King Arthur of the Round Table, is regarded as the most elite and noble of all the knights in the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Yet, like anyone else in the world, Sir Gawain is far from perfect. Gawain, a courteous knight living a life dedicated to honor, courage, and self-preservation, is tested on his chivalrous code throughout his journey; a search for the Green Knight. Throughout the tests, Gawain’s actions reveal that even the best of men can be selfish and are subject to guilt and sin. In the beginning of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain is introduced as a courtly knight with a sense of perfection. The author does this to compare it to his failures, which are later displayed through Gawain’s acts at Morgan le Fay’s castle. Gawain is portrayed to be a chivalrous knight with honor and courage. Gawain is presented with a challenge: accept the game to cut off the Green Knight’s head, and in a test of courage and honor, set out to allow the Green Knight to return the favor to him in a year and a day. This initially shows the knightly characteristics of Gawain which presents him as noble and honorable, which allows the author to shock the audience when Gawain falls under pressure to actions that contradict the chivalrous code. The first of these actions taken by Gawain in opposition to his morals is the temptationShow MoreRelatedThe Pentangle Of Sir Gawain And The Green Knight1947 Words   |  8 PagesThe pentangle in Sir Gawain and the Gree n Knight which is displayed on the front side of Gawain’s shield, represents his knighthood and all that Gawain stands for. â€Å"In particular, Gawain s courtesy is associated with his virtue in the symbolic device of the pentangle in his shield (Morgan, p.770).† One of the points of the pentangle represents courtesy, which means a knight has to be courteous to not only women, but also men, in order to be able to be seen as reaching this pillar. Courtesy is anRead MoreSir Gawain And The Green Knight3517 Words   |  15 PagesCora Orme Kapelle Medieval Literature 16 April 2015 Sir Gawain’s Performative Identity and Antifeminist Diatribe in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Medieval scholars continually inspect the particularities of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (SGGK) within the context of the preexisting Gawain literary tradition, and the issue of Gawain’s sudden antifeminist diatribe repeatedly comes to the forefront of these textual investigations. Often, literary critics claim that Gawain’s antifeminist outburst