Why, in medieval times, did knights so foolishly jump at any opportunity to die for their king? The answer to this question is not so foolish; it is called the code of chivalry. This code is the “rule book” for knights, the standards that they must live up to. These customs include three major ideas; strength, courage, and honor. The first of these, strength, involves protecting the weak and defenseless. Courage contained not fearing the enemy and not hesitating. Finally, honor implies to perform all of your duties and never lie. Clearly, knights had to possess a lot of self-control in order to maintain the code of chivalry. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, translated by Marie Borroff, and Morte D’Arthur, by Sir Thomas Malory, knights display the code of chivalry through courage, strength, and honor.
First of all, in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Morte D’Arthur, knights show the courage aspect of the code of
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Every knight shows this tenacity in Morte D’Arthur when it says, “And never since was there never seen a more dolefuller battle in no Christian land, for there was but rushing and riding, lunging and striking; and many a grim word was there spoken of either to other, and many a deadly stroke.” (page 187). Undoubtedly, the knights had to have been very strong in order to create such a deleterious confrontation. If they were not so vigorous, the battle would have been over quickly because no one would last very long. An example of strength in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is when it says, “Gawain grips to his ax and gathers it aloft-/The left foot on the floor before him he set-/Brought it down deftly upon the bare neck,” (lines 192-194). Gawain shows immense fortitude in this scene, especially by his ability to precisely aim the heavy ax. Obviously, strength is an essential facet in the code of