Sir Gawain And The Green Knight Courage Analysis

Consider how the theme of courage is treated in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a story that celebrates courage in a positive light in the majority of situations but we see that courage can have a negative impact on some of the characters in the story and it questions knighthood. Courage is an honourable term defined “The ability to do something that frightens one; bravery:” (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/courage) and for Gawain to be called this term defines him as a knight. His actions throughout the story makes it difficult to analyse how courage is treated in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. A lot of Gawain’s experiences shape the theme of courage in this story and can make it

Courage is a very important aspect of a knight’s life and is needed in the succession of knighthood. Gawain is a knight that possesses this and gives the reader an effective concrete picture to the theme of courage in the story. It answers my questions in the introduction, what is courage and what do you have to do to be courageous. It is simple really when you take into consideration Gawain’s experiences. Courage is not just about being brave in front of others or being fearful but standing up to them, it is about being courageous on the inside, using everything in your heart to achieve the unachievable and reaching goals you never thought you would ever reach. You do not need to have any sort of characteristic to be courageous, anyone can be it and some people don’t even realise it sometimes when they are. In Gawain’s experience, underneath it all, he wanted to prove to himself that he was worthy of being a knight and that he obtained chivalry and knighthood and carried it with him everywhere he went. It is true to say that he proved himself and the theme of courage is treated positively because of him as he was always true to