Juan Villa Ms. Willingham British Literature 28 October 2015 Cultural Elements Cultural elements are found in many texts as they resemble or symbolize the events occurring during the time period the text was written in. The definition of a hero has changed with time, today a hero is someone who wears a cape, mask and possess a supernatural power. Culture has much to do with the definition of a word or the way we look at certain situations we read. “The Wife of Baths Tale, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Beowulf” all have common cultural elements found in the text. Elements such as social organization, religion, forms of government, and customs and tradition. Although the texts have similarities they also have distinct perspectives on …show more content…
In fact the poem is considered to be categorized as Romance, in the Middle Ages popular tales written in the Roman Empire language were considered romantic. A romance tale at the time was known to be an adventure including a knight on a quest. Also elements of magic or supernatural powers are always present in the romantic stories of the middle ages. The story begins with the introduction of a challenge to a knight willing to take on the challenge. Just like in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the knights travel far and face many obstacles. Sir Gawain encounters the challenge of having to overcome seduction of women, honesty and following the code of chivalry. During the Middle Ages family lineage was important since Gawain was King Arthurs nephew this made him part of the nobility. He was described “girt with great saddle... that was agleam...and…bedecked all with gold.”(Lines 597-600). However his expectations as a knight was to follow the chivalry code during the time the code was being influenced heavily by the church. The Church revised the code and altered its policy the conversion of the Saxons made the church rethink their attitude. The church later decided to give knights authority. “The most honorable knights are known under Christ.” (Lines 4143) This allows the readers to know that religion had a major impact in the story of the Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Another Cultural Element found in the story is the role of women. The church believed that all the women were at fault for the imperfections of the world. The pearl poet is the name giving to the poet who wrote Sir Gawain and the green knight he used women in the text as symbols of what was going on at the time. During the story he faces seduction from a woman which later leads to him to break the chivalry code. The woman offers him a piece of cloth that if he wears he will possess the ability to