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Sir Gawain And The Green Knight Journey Essay

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According to Canadian rapper Drake, “Sometimes it's the journey that teaches you a lot about your destination.” This excellent quote teaches you to appreciate the journey more because you can learn a lot from the journey that can prepare you for your goal. Indeed, this quote is a common theme that is applied to many books and short stories in literature. In fact, a popular story written by an unknown bard, titled Sir Gawain and The Green Knight includes a brave knight named Sir Gawain from Camelot that accepts a dare from a mysterious Green Knight. After the Green Knight serves his part of the dare Sir Gawain sets out on a journey to the Green Chapel to serve his end of the dare. Throughout the journey Sir Gawain is faced with many temptations …show more content…

First, the poem begins on New Year's Eve in Camelot during a feast. Furthermore, at the start of the poem, a Green Knight on a horse carrying an ax enters Camelot. Immediately, a mysterious Green Knight proposes a bizarre dare. The dare involves one of the people of Camelot to give the Green Knight a blow with the ax. Additionally, in one year and one day the Green Knight will return the blow with the ax. Surprisingly, Sir Gawain is the only knight to accept the dare. Next, he tells everyone in Camelot that he is “the weakest, well I know, and wit feeblest, and the loss of my life would be least of any”(l. 128). Before Sir Gawain hits the Green Knight, he adds one final condition to their agreement. In addition, he tells Sir Gawain he must go to his house. Finally, Sir Gawain strikes the Green Knight. The Green Knights head falls to the floor and blood gushes from the body. The chapter ends with Sir Gawain hanging the Green Knights ax on the wall. In summary, this chapter is important because it discusses a dare, with that mysterious Green to the people of …show more content…

Along the way, he encountered many temptations that threaten to deter him from keeping his promise to the Green Knight. The first temptation or obstacle he faces is the physical and mental obstacles of his journey to the Green Chapel. On his way to the Green Chapel he runs into many obstacles such as dragons, beasts, and ogres and is also alone in the woods in the cold. This could have been very tempting for Sir Gawain to turn back and avoid the dare until he reaches a “shimmering castle on Christmas Eve''. The second temptation is Lady Bertilak trying to seduce Sir Gawain. While Lord Bertilak is hunting Lady Bertilak visits Sir Gawain and he reluctantly accepts a single kiss from her. In addition, the third temptation is the ruby ring Lady Bertilak offers Sir Gawain. Sir Gawain declines the gift and states that “I have nothing to give, so nothing will I gain.” Furthermore, the fourth temptation is another gift from Lady Bertilak being a “magic” girdle. Sir Gawain Reluctantly accepts this girdle but promises Lady Bertilak that he wont tell her husband and gawain agrees. Finally, the fifth temptation Sir Gawain faces is the squire's dire warnings about the Green Knight. The squires claims that the Green Knight is “more powerful than any person alive on this planet.” Sir Gawain responds by stating he will not back down from the dare. The chapter ends with Sir Gawain's response to the

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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a Middle English romance poem written by an anonymous West Midlands poet. Sir Gawain, survives two tests: the challenge, to behead the fearsome Green Knight and to let him retaliate a year later at the distant Green Chapel; and the temptation to commit adultery with the wife of Lord Bercilak,whose castle he stays in when headed to the chapel. this story of Sir gawain follows closely with Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey. The start of the story takes place in King Arthur’s great hall.

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He challenged King Arthur and his men because he heard of their high reputation. When no one was willing to take the Green Knights challenge he began to criticize them. Sir Gawain finally stood, in the place of King Arthur, to take the Green Knights challenge; he felt that it should be him because he thought he wasn't as worthy or useful as the other knights. After taking the challenge, he was instructed to strike the Green Knight with his own ax; however, if he does so the Green Knight will do the same in return. Once the agreement was made, the Green Knight dismounted his horse and kneels before Sir Gawain exposing his neck.

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The main theme of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is the journey to maturity of Gawain, the hero. During the passage, Gawain goes through three tests on his development. First, Gawain shows courage and resourcefulness when he volunteers to take the Green Knight’s challenge instead of Arthur doing so. Second, Gawain shows authority, self-restraint, and integrity when he denies the sexual endeavours of the lady of the house. Lastly, Gawain shows bravery when he faces death by keeping his meeting with the Green

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In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight the hero, which in this case is Sir Gawain, must undergo multiple situations

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On the third day, however, she tries giving Sir Gawain a gold ruby ring, which is the third temptation. However, he turns this down as well, as he remembers the design on his shield which highlights the five virtues of knighthood. Though, Gawain does accept the next temptation, Lady Bertilak’s girdle. In an act of self-preservation, Gawain accepts this magical girdle, which just might have the power to save his life against the Green Knight, and doesn’t tell Lord Bertilak about it, which breaks the rules of their deal. Finally, the Squire shows Sir Gawain the way to the Green Chapel, where the Green Knight resides, but gives him a dire warning to run while he still can, describing how brutal the Green Knight really is.

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In response to the taunting of the Green Knight, Sir Gawain says, "I shied once: no more. You have my word," (272-273). Gawain, like all natural man, shied away once from the Knight's sword as a defensive reflex, but he quickly shakes off any cowardice and announces to the Green Knight that he was caught in a moment of doubt. From there he goes to say that he ultimately is no coward, but rather a noble and courageous knight of the roundtable who is devoted and loyal to King Arthur. He is more than willing and prepared to take what is coming and preserve the honor of his people, as well as his own.

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Sir Gawain shows loyalty and humility when he makes the decision of honoring the promise he made with the Green Knight. This humility drives him to set off to pursue the Green Knight to honor the pact they agreed on. On his arrival at the Green chapel, he calls the Green Knight who emerges to greet him and to fulfill the terms of the contract (Cathell). Sir Gawain presents his neck voluntarily to the Green Knight who feigns two blows (Cooke 4). This is a commitment and a sign of piety that Gawain manifests.

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The Green Knight creates a deal with Gawain that leaves him at home with the knight’s wife accumulating goods from her, while The Green Knight compiles hunting meat. When the Green Knight returned, they would complete a fair exchange. Throughout this deal The Green Knight’s Wife, attempts to seduce Gawain at the request of her husband, only to find that he would only accept kisses that he would return to The Green Knight. It was on the third night that Gawain was convinced to take the sash and though his integrity faltered, he only did it in the extreme case of saving his

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Encountered three temptations.” (Morpurgo 682) This quote shows the courage Sir Gawain has to go after the Green Knight. Also on the way he faced three temptations that he overcame to go fight the green knight. As is illustrated in the legend Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Sir Gawain proves that he is more chivalrous then Young

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Gawain takes King Arthur’s place in the competition with the green knight, chivalry dictates this as the right course of action, a knight must protect and serve the king. Gawain then delivers the blow to the green knight, who then picks up his own head, and remains alive. Gawain fails to kill the green knight and now must face his own death next year. Later, Gawain makes his way to the green chapel to face the green knight. When he visits the Lord Bertilak on his own, Gawain struggles with the Lady and what to do when she invites him to kiss her.

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Throughout his entire journey, Gawain tried to remain courageous and brave. In fact, Gawain demonstrated his bravery when he accepted the challenge that no one else dared to do. Following that he then showed his braveness by cutting off the Green Knights head and keeping his word to return in one year and one day. He even had enough courage to go on a journey by himself rather than having the other knights go along. Although Gawain is seen to be fearful of death because instead of giving away the girdle he kept it in secret so its magical powers would protect him from the Green Knight.

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Early on in the tale, Sir Gawain shows courage when he steps up and accepts the Green Man's challenge well knowing of the chance of Death. By doing so Sir Gawain surpassed his fear of death by stepping up to do a mission none of the other knights at the round table wished to do. His reasoning for this was to take the place of his uncle, King Arthur who was originally the chosen participant after none of the other present knights volunteered. After chopping off the head of the Green Man, Sir Gawain is told that he must go to the green chapel in one year and one day to meet the Green Man. Sir Gawain fearful of death debates whether or not he will set journey to the green chapel at that time yet his courageous characteristics force him to go.

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Which led to the Green Knight explaining to Gawain that he is actually the same lord of the castle where Gawain spent his holidays. The first two blows, he claims, were in return for the way Gawain returned the kisses of his wife, following the rules of their game as an honest man should. The third blow, he says, was for Gawain’s failure to return the green girdle to him on the last day. But because Gawain’s failing was only because he wanted to save his life, and not because he's just dishonorable, the Green Knight forgives him. He leaves Gawain with only a scar and a girdle as a reminder of his very human sin.

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Redemption is a thing that exists and many people strive for, but Sir Gawain is not one of those

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