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Green Knight Vs Beowulf

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Recommended: Analysis of sir Gawain and the green knight

Beowulf, written during the eight century, is an Anglo-Saxon epic poem. The story revolves around the strongest warrior at the time, Beowulf, who accomplishes heroic feats to gain glory and fame. In the medieval romance “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” the story dramatizes a knight’s traits of honesty and loyalty. The stories share many similarities such as questing, protecting self-honor, and achieving glorious deeds on behalf of his king. Moreover, Beowulf and “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” are structured in verses. However, looking beyond the identical context, they portray distinct differences regarding the characters' level of human essence. Furthermore, the stories occurred during different time periods. Nevertheless, these traditional …show more content…

While they depict parallel concepts, one notices stark differences between Beowulf and "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." The main difference between the two stories is the degree of struggle against the opposing force. In Beowulf Grendel is a vicious beast terrorizing the Danes. Furthermore, Grendel, ravaging the land of the Danes for twelve years, is a force of evil that advances humankind to their best. Although the Grendel’s war on the Danes lasted for a long time, Beowulf sails to the rescue defeating Grendel in a bloody fight within a day. The author of Beowulf depicts their quarrel as a gruesome fight leaving Grendel fatally wounded. However, in "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," the Knight is a supernatural being who can withstand decapitation. Although the Green Knight seems to be immortal, Gawain continues to seek out the mysterious figure to uphold the chivalrous code. Contrarily, Furthermore, both stories differed in their endings. Beowulf ultimately dies as the warrior-king defending his kingdom from the wickedness of the dragon. On the other hand, Sir Gawain seeks out the Green Knight to fulfill his promise allowing the knight to strike a single blow. However, Sir Gawain did not die; rather, the Knight lauds Gawain’s bravery and honor and teaches him valuable lessons such as loyalty, honor, and

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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a Middle English romance poem written by an anonymous West Midlands poet. Sir Gawain, survives two tests: the challenge, to behead the fearsome Green Knight and to let him retaliate a year later at the distant Green Chapel; and the temptation to commit adultery with the wife of Lord Bercilak,whose castle he stays in when headed to the chapel. this story of Sir gawain follows closely with Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey. The start of the story takes place in King Arthur’s great hall.

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The main theme of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is the journey to maturity of Gawain, the hero. During the passage, Gawain goes through three tests on his development. First, Gawain shows courage and resourcefulness when he volunteers to take the Green Knight’s challenge instead of Arthur doing so. Second, Gawain shows authority, self-restraint, and integrity when he denies the sexual endeavours of the lady of the house. Lastly, Gawain shows bravery when he faces death by keeping his meeting with the Green

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With ancient understandings and tales in the early times, Beowulf sings of times long forgotten, the times where the only tombs men sought was the battlefield, and their legacies, glory from the most extraordinary of feats. Eras filled with monsters, demons and selfless devotion towards the Glory of God. Even the flamboyant stories from the early centuries, still ring with connections to our world today, that our

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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a story about a knight’s honesty getting put to the test due to him cutting off the head of a green knight that appears in Arthur’s castle one night. This green knight tells Gawain that a year from that day he must go to a green chapel so that he can return this action. Sir Gawain is best described as an honest, brave, and chivalrous knight that accepts a game that is assumed to lead him to his death. Accepting this game made him realize his weaknesses for example, he lied to the host by now telling him about the kirtle. The reader also assumes that he and the host wife had more than just a kiss.

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Most important is that Beowulf, as part of the pagan history of Britain, believes in Fate: "if ever the end of ills is fated,” (Murphy, line 280) “heroes such as the hest of fate,” (299), “Forced of fate, he shall find his way,” (1005). Sir Gawain has Christian beliefs and is under the chivalrous code of a knight. Beowulf and Sir Gawain are clearly honorable heroes, and the best warriors of their time. However, this make it difficult to compare them to heroes of a more modern

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Throughout history, every work of fiction that has been constructed has contained a hero that reflected the cultural values of the time. Whether it be Shakespeare or J. R. R. Tolkien, the hero of the tale has not only epitomized these values, but served as a paradigm for heroes in other works of fiction. Beowulf and Sir Gawain exemplify the cultural values of the Anglo-Saxons and the Middle English. Some of these values, such as honor and valor, are reflected throughout the evolution of the Early to Late Middle Ages, although some are replaced, and there is a slight paradigm shift with regard to the nature of the two heroes; this can be clearly viewed when one analyzes the archetypes in Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in terms

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Gawain takes King Arthur’s place in the competition with the green knight, chivalry dictates this as the right course of action, a knight must protect and serve the king. Gawain then delivers the blow to the green knight, who then picks up his own head, and remains alive. Gawain fails to kill the green knight and now must face his own death next year. Later, Gawain makes his way to the green chapel to face the green knight. When he visits the Lord Bertilak on his own, Gawain struggles with the Lady and what to do when she invites him to kiss her.

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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.

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