Of the characters popular in English literature, the warrior is one of the most common and diverse archetypes. At first glance, Gawain from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight has little in common with Arcite from “The Knight’s Tale”, but after their respective climaxes, both men seem to resemble each other beyond their skill with weapons. Gawain lives by a strict moral code throughout much of his story; in contrast, Arcite shows very little honor or sense of duty to men or women in higher positions of power. The two also differ in their treatment of women, as Gawain shows respect for the one female in his narrative while Arcite objectifies women in his own story. Gawain and Arcite’s use of religion in their narratives also provide several points of dissimilarity. Their tendency towards violence represents their differing personalities the most. While the two seem very unalike throughout the majority of their narratives, the two both show new traits during and after their climaxes that show similarities that they otherwise would not share. Gawain and Arcite …show more content…
Gawain is much more reasonable in when he uses violence to solve a problem. Gawain’s first act of violence in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is cutting off the Green Knight’s head at the start of the story. His second instance of violence is only a threat at the end: “Stop, green man! Don’t swing again! / I’ve taken a single stroke, and stood still for it: / No more, or else I’ll repay you in kind— / Believe me, fellow, I’ll pay you fully / And well.” (Raffel 128). Gawain uses violence as a defense, whether to protect his king from the strange knight or to save his own life. He did not immediately attack the Green Knight after the third axe stroke, but chose to warn the knight to stop his attack before they needed to fight. This relationship with violence is a polar opposite to Arcite’s reactions and show how dissimilar the two