ipl-logo

Grogan's Essay 'Sir Gawain And The Green Knight'

1662 Words7 Pages

It is so easy to point out the flaws in others, but how difficult and painful it is to address one’s own flawed life. In commentaries on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Grogan addresses the faults within Gawain through Lady Bertilak, and Shoaf acknowledges Gawain’s sin, and Benson emphasises Gawain’s subtle obsession with his identity.
Nedra C. Grogan in her essay “Mulier est hominis confusio: The Green Knight’s Lady” approaches the lady in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in a different view than other critics. Grogan points out that many neglect the importance and significance that lady Bertilak serves, and therefore closely analyzes the lady in her personality, abilities, and her purpose in the poem.
Grogan begins the essay by determining …show more content…

Allen Shoaf directs a chapter from his book, “The Poem as Green Girdle: Commercium in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” to Gawain’s sin in pride, covetousness, and idolatry:“The man who is proud of his life -- its price, beauty, glory, what have you – necessarily fears for the loss of that life”(Shoaf 1). Knowing that Gawain fears the loss of his life, Shoaf notices Gawain’s sin and how it envelops him. Gawain magnifies the importance of the green girdle to equal the importance of his own life: “A piece of cloth, has become identical with his life, so much so that he has paid for it with the meaning of his life”(Shoaf 1). Gawain is now the servant to the idle he makes his master: the girdle. He puts his trust and his life into this object, and Gawain is engulfed in idolatry. Though Shoaf claims it is not just the idolatry of the green girdle: “More importantly, the creature Gawain has become the Creator, Creator of himself… he is the Creator of the ideal – – that he is chivalry itself… Gawain comes to believe… that accepting the green girdle is chivalrous”(Shoaf 3). Gawain raises himself as an idol. His pride compels him to stay true to both the lord and the lady. Lady Bertilak only encourages him “at one point in her effort… to humble Gawain… Bertilak’s Lady sweetens her flattery with a hint, though just the barest hint that Gawain is the author of knighthood and chivalry” (Shoaf

Show More
Related

Maturity In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

85 Words | 1 Pages

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

Read More

Sir Gawain And The Green Knight Deceit Analysis

1052 Words | 5 Pages

Lady Bertilak tempts him further by saying, “Courtly virtue lining his heart, he’d never have stayed so long with a lady and left her unkissed” (98). To uphold chivalry is to uphold courtly love. Gawain does not want to kiss another man’s wife, but he wants to uphold chivalry which calls him

Read More

Comparing Sir Gawain And The Green Knight And The Canterbury Tales

159 Words | 1 Pages

The theme of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” can be found in other Middle English poems as well. Geoffrey Chaucer’s stories “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale” and “The Miller’s Tale” are two pieces from his infamous work “The Canterbury Tales”. These two stories exhibit the theme of a woman’s place in society. One other work of this time period that has this theme of

Read More

Sir Gawain And The Green Knight Deception Analysis

1719 Words | 7 Pages

Bertilak has one motive, that being to make Sir Gawain no longer look as if he is a Goddess, but as a failure. Lady Bertilak is very successful in deceiving Sir Gawain as part of Bertilak’s plan, leading to Bertilak's main motive being achieved, which is making Sir Gawain feel as if he is not as great as everyone thinks he is, and that really he is just a failure and sinner. At the end of the poem Sir Gawain and the Green knight meet to challenge each other when Bertilak reveals himself as the green knight “Because of our other agreement, in my castle; You kept it faithfully, performed like an honest Man, gave me everything you got. Except that you kissed my wife: I swung For that reason-but you gave me back her kisses” ( Page 128). Bertilak reviles himself, which conveys to Sir Gawain that he had been deceived the whole time, especially when Lady Bertilak acted as if no one would know and that they were completely alone the entire time she wanted to have relations with him.

Read More

How Does Sir Gawain And The Green Knight Show Moral Courage

1343 Words | 6 Pages

It could be debated that the tale “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” written by Sir Thomas Malory, did not display moral courage within the text. However, it can be proven that it did in fact have moral courage, and this theme was developed through the use of characterization and conflicts. Malory uses direct and indirect characterization to reveal the theme of moral courage. He does this by using Sir Gawain’s words, actions and how he progresses as a person. In this tale, Arthur and all of the Knights of the Round Table sit around laughing, enjoying the festivities of the day with an enormous feast.

Read More

Sir Gawain And The Green Knightly Virtue Analysis

998 Words | 4 Pages

The ideals of Christian morality and knightly qualities are represented by Gawain’s gold, star-shaped pentangle. The five knightly virtues that Sir Gawain expresses are: generosity, chastity, friendship, piety, and courtesy. From the beginning of the poem, Sir Gawain portrays his generosity by agreeing to cut the Green Knight’s head with an axe. He makes this decision after King Arthur fails to do so (Cathell, 2014).

Read More

Honor In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

775 Words | 4 Pages

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight In the Pearl Poet’s Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, an epic story emerges to reveal a man’s journey of honor, honesty, valor, and loyalty. Throughout Gawain’s adventures in the poem, he discovers and demonstrates his own chivalric qualities. Although he makes a few mistakes along the way he strives to be an honorable man.

Read More

Chivalry In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

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

Women In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

1211 Words | 5 Pages

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a late fourteenth century Arthurian Romance Poem. During the time of Sir Gawain, society was dominated by males with women receiving little power. Women were treated with chivalry, but not respected as beings of their own rights. Knights were prided in having the code of chivalry yet were under the assumption woman could not attain much for themselves.

Read More

Theme Of Chivalry In Sir Gawain

699 Words | 3 Pages

Gawain returns to King Arthur’s court all ashamed and sad that he’s failed a test of honor by withholding the green girdle from Sir Bertilak out of a desire to preserve his own life. He feels like he’s failed in his duty as a knight and let everyone down. Perhaps, more importantly, he’s learned that he’s not perfect and never will be. He explains to the whole court that he plans to wear the girdle forever as a reminder of his failing, because "a man may hide his misdeed, but never erase it, for where once it takes root the stain can never be lifted". But instead of being properly sobered, the whole court laughs at Gawain’s words and agrees that everyone in court will wear a similar girdle for Gawain’s

Read More

The Green Girdle In The Green Knight

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

Sir Gawain And The Green Girdle Analysis

454 Words | 2 Pages

When the Green Knight gives him the girdle back Gawain says "I gladly take it and be pleased to posses, not for the pure gold, nor the bright belt itself, not the beauteous pendants/When I ride in renown, and remember with shame the faults and the frailty of the flesh perverse, how it 's tenderness entices the foul taint of sin"(2439-36). It is at this point where the girdle has changed from a symbol of life to a symbol or shame and temptation. Gawain and the Green Knight say goodbye to each other and part ways. Gawain heads home ashamed of what he had done, when he gets home the court is overjoyed that he had returned and he was alive. When the court asks of the quest that he had been on he retells how it was all set up and that he now wears the green girdle out of shame because of his actions.

Read More

Sir Gawain And The Green Knight Symbolism Essay

1008 Words | 5 Pages

In the poem of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” written by the Pearl Poet, there are very prevalent amounts of symbolism. Some of the symbols within the poem are easy to see while other symbols are not so easily found or even understood by the reader. The easy symbols the reader can clearly see in the poem would be the Pentangle, the Girdle, and the color green. The symbols that are harder to see in the poem, is the number three, and certain objects such as the axe and the rose. The symbolism used by the author gives the poem a deeper plot and a more important meaning.

Read More

Theme Of Courage In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

1105 Words | 5 Pages

Essay: Consider how the Theme of courage is treated in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. It has to be said that Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is arguably one of the greatest middle English poems of the 14th Century. The author of the text, whom, amazingly is still unknown tells the reader, through the medium of poem the courage of the Great Sir Gawain as he bravely challenges the Green Knight. The poem also shows the courage of others. In Medieval times and especially medieval writings, there was a great engrossment with courage.

Read More

Christianity In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

1021 Words | 5 Pages

Sir Gawain and the Green depicts this importance of faith by testing Gawain’s moral and knightly code. Gawain is the epitome of what a knight ought to be, with a strong moral code and an unquestioning faith, which he proudly displays on his shield with the Virgin Mary painted on the inside and the Pentangle on the outside. This faith is soon meet with a test the castle of the lord and his once strong faith in God falters. While Gawain is able to remain innocent when it comes to the seductive ways of the lord’s wife, he is unable to stop himself from accepting her magical girdle that would protect him against any harm, even though it is in opposition to both his faith and his loyalties. Gawain comprises his morals due to fear about his impending encounter with the Green Knight and he give into his fear and takes the magical protection the girdle offers.

Read More

More about Grogan's Essay 'Sir Gawain And The Green Knight'

Related Topics

Open Document