ipl-logo

Chivalrous Ideals In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

743 Words3 Pages

Chivalrous Ideals in

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

It is common to see benevolent characters in early english literature such as Sir Gawain, who is yet another example of a knight who has been put into a problematic situation and must choose to stay true to his chivalrous nature or protect himself. Chivalry and the ethics of a knight are obvious running themes in The Pearl Poet’s, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The author, throughout the story, uses Gawain’s bravery, honor, and loyalty to show the ideal of knighthood.

From the very beginning of the poem, young Sir Gawain puts others before himself. He wears the symbol of a pentangle, which stands for generosity, fellowship, chastity, courtesy, and charity. He is expected …show more content…

When Sir Bertilak asks that he trade anything he receives in his time at the castle, Sir Gawain nobley retorts “‘What I have honourably won inside this castle, With as much good will truly shall be yours.’ He takes the other’s strong neck in his arms, And kisses him as pleasantly as he could devise.” (1383 - 1389) Even though this could be a potentially compromising situation, Gawain tackles it with grace. This grace continues with his stay at Sir Bertilak’s home, especially when he has the opportunity to bed his host’s wife, but instead, turns her down. All of this ends when Sir Gawain is faced with the ultimate choice, the chance to save his own life by hiding a green girdle from Sir Bertilak or to keep his promise to trade his winnings. The knight obviously chose the green girdle, to wear in his encounter with the Green Knight at the end of his journey. Sir Gawain is so dissatisfied with himself when he says, “The first words that the knight uttered there Were, " A curse upon cowardice and covetousness! You breed boorishness and vice that ruin virtue. [. . .] For fear of your blow taught me cowardice, To give way to covetousness, be false to my nature, The generosity and fidelity expected of knights. Now I am false and unworthy, and have always dreaded Treachery and deceit: may misfortune and grief befall both!" (2374 - 2376, 2379 - 2384) Sir Gawain was disappointed in himself because he wore

Show More
Related
515 Words | 3 Pages

Sir Gawain conveys chivalry by his brave actions in order to reflect culture in the Middle Ages. Every knight in this time had to follow a code of chivalry. Chivalry is an outline of how a knight should behave. In the excerpt of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Sir Gawain accepts a risky challenge of attempting to cut off the Green Knight 's head.

Read More
1033 Words | 5 Pages

Gawain keeps this promise for a few days until he is given this magical girdle, that can supposedly protect its wearer from harm. Gawain realizes that he can use it to protect his life from the Green Knight’s blow so he chooses to hide it from lord Bertilak out of fear for losing his life. By doing so, he reveals that he values his life above being truthful. If Gawain was truthful, he would have revealed to Bertilak that he was given a girdle and given it to him as part of their deal.

Read More
1195 Words | 5 Pages

“And he showed them the scar at the side of his neck, confirming his breach of faith, like a badge of blame… though this I suffered a scar to my skin… So that slanting green stripe was adopted as their sign, and each knight who held it was honored forever, all meaningful writings on romance remind us: an adventure when happened in the era of Arthur, as the chronicles of this country have stated clearly.” (187-189). Through this journey, Sir Gawain’s fall became the knights pride. They honored him for all he had done while Gawain instead soaked up all of his shame and surrounded his life around his one major flaw.

Read More
998 Words | 4 Pages

Sir Gawain shows loyalty and humility when he makes the decision of honoring the promise he made with the Green Knight. This humility drives him to set off to pursue the Green Knight to honor the pact they agreed on. On his arrival at the Green chapel, he calls the Green Knight who emerges to greet him and to fulfill the terms of the contract (Cathell). Sir Gawain presents his neck voluntarily to the Green Knight who feigns two blows (Cooke 4). This is a commitment and a sign of piety that Gawain manifests.

Read More
610 Words | 3 Pages

The Green Knight creates a deal with Gawain that leaves him at home with the knight’s wife accumulating goods from her, while The Green Knight compiles hunting meat. When the Green Knight returned, they would complete a fair exchange. Throughout this deal The Green Knight’s Wife, attempts to seduce Gawain at the request of her husband, only to find that he would only accept kisses that he would return to The Green Knight. It was on the third night that Gawain was convinced to take the sash and though his integrity faltered, he only did it in the extreme case of saving his

Read More
1052 Words | 5 Pages

Gawain, who had struck a deal with the lord to surrender all things he received during his stay in the lord’s dwelling, fails to do so in the name of self-preservation. The lord’s wife gifts Sir Gawain a green sash rumored to protect its possessor from physical harm. Gawain, recalling his inevitable meeting with the Green Knight, decides to contradict his agreement with the lord and “hid[es] it away from all hands and eyes” (Line 1875). His decision blatantly violated the chivalrous code, “failing a moral test in agreeing to hide the girdle from the husband, with whom he has the prior arrangement to exchange winnings” (West 9).

Read More
757 Words | 4 Pages

Many other knights would run but Gawain understands that he has to have courage and must be honest about going to meet the green knight and fulfill his deal. One other virtue of chivalry that Gawain presents is courtesy. Gawain shows courtesy to the ladies of the castle. The pearl poet creates this scene: “His acquaintance they requested, and

Read More
1211 Words | 5 Pages

Tempted by the chance of protecting himself from the Green Knight, Gawain takes the girdle and does not give it back to Lord Bertilak that night. In her inquiry to deprive Gawain of his honor, Lady Bertilak uses what he desires against him. Regardless that she has been instructed to do this by her own husband, she still is able to influence Gawain and cause some discomfort.

Read More
699 Words | 3 Pages

Which led to the Green Knight explaining to Gawain that he is actually the same lord of the castle where Gawain spent his holidays. The first two blows, he claims, were in return for the way Gawain returned the kisses of his wife, following the rules of their game as an honest man should. The third blow, he says, was for Gawain’s failure to return the green girdle to him on the last day. But because Gawain’s failing was only because he wanted to save his life, and not because he's just dishonorable, the Green Knight forgives him. He leaves Gawain with only a scar and a girdle as a reminder of his very human sin.

Read More
1110 Words | 5 Pages

The lady tries to convince Gawain to take the girdle by hinting at its magical powers , stating that he “could not be slain through any strategy on earth” (1854) if he wears it . Gawain takes the girdle not out of lust , but because he fears death and that makes him start to believe in its magical powers “It [the girdle] certainly would be splendid to forestall being slain” (1858) . It is a way in which he tries to overcome fear and prepare himself for the appointment with the Green Knight. If we look at it from this perspective , the girdle can also symbolize that Gawain wants to be assured that he lives. The moment he takes the girdle is of great importance : whether he hides or declares the girdle and gives it to the Lord , he violates someone’s trust .

Read More
573 Words | 3 Pages

Gawain is courteous to no end, even asking for permission to “abandon [his] bench and stand by [Arthur]” (Pearl Poet l. 344) so he may risk his own life instead of his kings to abide by the Green Knights game. He even humbly states that he “[is] the weakest” (l. 354) and that it would be the least lost of he was to parish which is untrue. Gawain is also extremely courteous when he is denying the wife’s attempts to seduce him saying he is “a knight unworthy” (l.1245). He plays a game of wits as he must not offend her advances but at the same time must not let the wife win the “game” because then he would have to lay with her and that would be uncourteous to his host, Lord Bertilak. The only time Gawain faults in his courteousness is when he refuses to acknowledge the agreement he made with Lord Bertilak which was “whatever [Lord Bertilak] win[s] in the wood shall at once be [Gawain’s] and whatever gain [Gawain] may get [he] shall give in exchange” (ll. 1107-08).

Read More
454 Words | 2 Pages

Gawain plays this game fairly by giving all that he has received that day to the lord and the lord doing the same with him. This changes on the third day when the lady gives him the green girdle as something to remember her by. He first refuses this gift but after the lady revels that "whoever wears this girdle cannot be killed"(PartIIISummary), Gawain then accepts the gift and only exchanges the kisses that he

Read More
605 Words | 3 Pages

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, whose author is unknown, is an Arthurian Romance/Epic that holds a degree of Christian symbolism. These Christian symbols are intermixed with Britannic Pagan traditions and themes in order to appeal more to the common British people at the time of the early Christianization of Britain. This can be supported by the stories of kings being created in the earlier centuries throughout history. In this particular story, this symbolism is important since all the knights of King Arthur’s Court were supposed to follow a certain chivalrous code of conduct, whether present in the courts or away on some other venture. The chivalric code being the embodiment of Christian virtue and valor, which was expected to be personified

Read More
869 Words | 4 Pages

The last seduction scene, Lady Bertilak plays on his courage with the temptation of a chance of survival with a green girdle which is said to be able to protect him. Sir Gawain is only seen to compromise on his honour as he did not give the green girdle to Sir Bertilak as promised that they will exchange what they get for the day. Sir Gawain’s ideals that he has to hold up to as a knight has broken down as he realised that they contradicted with one another. Sir Gawain’s action of accepting the girdle suggest his desire to live. The notion of survival is an instinctive thought to

Read More
899 Words | 4 Pages

The ideas of Chivalry was expressed through out all sorts of different literary works, such as songs, poems, and more. The Two stories of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Morte D’Arthur express some of the ideas of Chivalry. The first Chivalry idea that is seen in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is the loyalty of Sir Gawain. Gawain on his way to fight the green knight, stays the night with a lord and his lady.

Read More

More about Chivalrous Ideals In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

Related Topics

Open Document