Honesty In Beowulf

After receiving The Medal of Honor, Douglas MacArthur said “ Duty, Honor, Country. Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be.” When thinking about honor many may think that honesty is the most important characteristic to obtain. When being honest, people are held to not lie, cheat, or steal. Not only is a honorable person honest, they are fair, and also highly respected. Honor can be found in many people, but is often associated with men. Three works during the British literary period, emphasize on the characteristics of honor, the epic poem Beowulf, the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Mel Gibson’s film Braveheart. In the epic poem Beowulf, honor is shown throughout the

The way the Green Knight is explained in the beginning of the poem sets him aside from the other characters, because his character is explained with more details. “In these details the Green Knight is told to be in a splay of green and so was the maine of his mighty destrier, but the knight, his eyes were like lightning, flashed, / and it seemed to many a man, / that any man who clashed/ with him would not long stand” (Gawain 1-24). The Green Knight is put up so high above the other characters and he is made to seem that he can never be stopped and will take anyone down who attempted to clash with the knight. This shows the knight is honored that either he is never clashed with because people are afraid of being killed or that he is so honored by most people that they never return “a twelvemonth and a day”. As the Green Knight comes to King Arthur, he is explaining how he needs someone to go against him to exchange stroke for stroke, and who better to be brave enough to do it than Sir Gawain (Gawain 67-82). Sir Gawain feels honored to take the king’s spot so the king does not get hurt or injured because of the knight’s stroke. Sir Gawain tells how his life would be missed the least and he needs to take his uncles spot and he did not have any honor if he did not do this for the King, his uncle. Sir Gawain is honored by all the men who did not have to go against the knight and on the twelvemonth and a day, Sir Gawain will return to get the stroke of the Green Knight. A twelvemonth and a day in this poem, shows a reflection and change for Sir Gawain. This saying was used in medieval literature and used in many situations. This poem fits into the literary period because of the style and the phrases used in the