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How Beowulf Essay On Good Wins Over Evil

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Amanda Weaver Dr. Thomas ENL 3013-001 20 November 2014 Critical Paper Beowulf - Unknown Good wins over evil through the virtues of courage, strength, loyalty, and integrity. Beowulf comes to the assistance of the Danes for complicated reasons. Certainly he is interested in increasing his reputation and gaining honor and payment for his own king back in Geatland. However, there is an implication that Beowulf's family owes a debt to Hrothgar. Beowulf's father, Ecgtheow, once killed a leader of another tribe in a feud. When his enemies sought vengeance, Ecgtheow took refuge with Hrothgar, then a young king. Eventually, Hrothgar settled the feud by making a tribute payment (wergild) of "fine old treasures" (472) to Ecgtheow's enemies. The bond …show more content…

He wanted to contrast views by embodying the values of each in ideal knights. He did this by facilitating generalized comparative judgments of the relative cultural value each view of knighthood possessed. Malory's typology of knighthood provides the long-sought "key" to the organizing structural principle of the work besides having major thematic implications. (Kelly 105) In his first Tale, Malory introduces his typology through two sets of three knights who are on parallel quests; each knight represents a type: first, the quests of Gawain (Heroic), Torre (True), and Pellinore (Worshipful), then the quests of Gawain (Heroic), Ywain (Worshipful), and Morholt (True). The Chivalric Code of Le Morte d’Arthur throughout the tales of King Arthur are a combination of stories of brave knights and noble lords. These stories gave a standard for people to base their values and way of life on. Sir Thomas Malory wanted to recapture the loss of chivalry with his tale “Le Morte d’Arthur”. He wished to inspire people to return to the basic ideals of the chivalric code. Le Morte d’Arthur presents the importance of possessing the characteristics of honor, loyalty, and

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The story centers itself on many characters and their way of following the chivalric code. Some examples given are Sir Lancelot and his escapades, Sir Galahad and his purity, or Sir Mordred and his greed. The chivalric code is a concept not many knights could follow to the end. These characters’ imperfections are what makes this story great, we see them triumph and we see them fail in every way. They all chose paths that seemed to be the best, they used their free will and got what God gave them.

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During the Medieval times chivalry was one of the most important characteristics a knight could display. Chivalry was viewed as a moral obligation that involved bravery, honor, respect, and gallantry. Knights were expected to uphold this code or face social consequences for any infractions, with punishments ranging from humiliation to termination of their knighthood. “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” presents the struggles knights faced with honoring the chivalrous code at all times. Sir Gawain, while imperfect, exhibits qualities expected of knights and embodies the internal struggle between honoring the chivalrous code and giving into selfish desires.

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