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.
In the medieval story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the holly branch, the battle ax, and the green sash are used as symbols to represent life and death. When the Green Knight enters the room he “instead held in one hand a bought of the holly/That grows most green when all groves are bare” (L.27-28). The holly branch is green and it represents peace and the beauty of life and nature. The holly branch also has berries and they are poisonous representing death. On the other hand he “held an ax, immense and unwieldy” (L.29).
Original: Sir Gawain is responsible for all of the negative things that happen to him Revised: Sir Gawain is responsible for all of the negative things that happen to him because cuts off the Green Knight’s head, makes the bet with the host, and keeps the wife’s green girdle Final: Sir Gawain acts irrationally when making decisions, which is why he is the only one to blame for the negative things that happen to him. 2)
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.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a late fourteenth century Arthurian Romance Poem. During the time of Sir Gawain, society was dominated by males with women receiving little power. Women were treated with chivalry, but not respected as beings of their own rights. Knights were prided in having the code of chivalry yet were under the assumption woman could not attain much for themselves.
In the poem of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” written by the Pearl Poet, there are very prevalent amounts of symbolism. Some of the symbols within the poem are easy to see while other symbols are not so easily found or even understood by the reader. The easy symbols the reader can clearly see in the poem would be the Pentangle, the Girdle, and the color green. The symbols that are harder to see in the poem, is the number three, and certain objects such as the axe and the rose. The symbolism used by the author gives the poem a deeper plot and a more important meaning.
In the story, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the main character, Sir Gawain, According to the Gawain-poet, King Solomon originally designed the five-pointed star. A symbol of truth, the star has five points that link and lock with each other, forming what is called the endless knot. The pentangle symbolizes the virtues to which Gawain aspires: to be faultless in his five senses; never to fail in his five fingers; to be faithful to the five wounds that Christ received on the cross; to be strengthened by the five joys that the Virgin Mary had in Jesus (the Annunciation, Nativity, Resurrection, Ascension, and Assumption); and to possess brotherly love, courtesy, piety, and chastity. The side of the shield facing Gawain contains an image
The Parallelism between Sir Gawain and the Pentangle When looking through stories and poems of the past, one tends to find symbols or themes within the story that set it apart from stories of its own time and even the modern stories of today. Throughout the Middle Ages, imagery defined poems and story’s alike. Story’s such as the poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, contain diverse symbol’s that express a mood or a character trait through color or the shape of the object. During the time that this poem was written, readers, young and old alike, could have easily picked up on the references made about color.
I read “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” in this summer holidays as an English homework and thought that the story has unique symbols in some scenes. Although the story contains many symbols, I explain some major symbols and how the story contributes to a greater meaning in the story. I think that the main symbols of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” are the pentangle on Gawain’s shield, the Green Knight, the green girdle, and poet highlights number in the story. First, according to the Sir Gawain’s poetry, the shape of mark is five pointed star, and so the symbol of the story is the pentangle on Sir Gawain’s shield. I think that it represents faultless in Sir Gawain’s five senses and never to fail in his five fingers.
Throughout Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, we see, as with many medieval stories, a wide array of symbolism from the clothes he wears to the plants he walks by. One of the most important parts of the story centers around the hunting trips that the lord of the castle, the Green Knight, goes on. While he is out hunting each morning, he sends his wife to seduce Gawain to test the reputation of Arthur’s court. By alternating the stories of the hunt and those of the bedroom, the poet emphasizes the connections between the two. Just as the Green Knight is hunting, his wife is as well.
Sir Gawain And The Green Knight The focus of the poem is showing what it takes to be a knight. During King Arthurs reign the Knights were respected, and it was such an honor to be a knight. First, the knight had to go through a test to prove his worth in keeping up to their word and to prove their moral virtue. The poem talks about Sir Gawain the youngest knight in King Arthur’s army and the tests that he went through to prove his worth. Surviving a test entails that one is witty enough to go through it all While getting out of it alive is the main agenda maintain honor is the core purpose of the test.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, whose author is unknown, is an Arthurian Romance/Epic that holds a degree of Christian symbolism. These Christian symbols are intermixed with Britannic Pagan traditions and themes in order to appeal more to the common British people at the time of the early Christianization of Britain. This can be supported by the stories of kings being created in the earlier centuries throughout history. In this particular story, this symbolism is important since all the knights of King Arthur’s Court were supposed to follow a certain chivalrous code of conduct, whether present in the courts or away on some other venture. The chivalric code being the embodiment of Christian virtue and valor, which was expected to be personified
The poem sir Gawain and the Green knight was written by the pearl poet or the Gawain poet is the name given to the author of pearl an alliterative poem written in 14th century Middle English. Despite its Christian message the poem has strong roots in celtic myth. There are many elements common to pre Christian Celtic mythology, such as the waiting period twelve months and a day, the beheading and the temptation Game. The Green knight himself is a strongly pagan character similar to the Green man or wild man of the woods who fertility in folklore. Gawain’s journey can even be seen like the hero’s archetypical encounter with the otherworld, an essential theme in pagan belief.
When looking through stories and poems of the past, one tends to find symbols or themes within the story that set it apart from stories of its own time and even the modern stories of today. Throughout the Middle Ages, imagery defined poems and story’s alike. Story’s such as the poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, contain diverse symbol’s that express a mood or a character trait through color or the shape of the object. During the time that this poem was written, readers, young and old alike, could have easily picked up on the references made about color. Reading these same poems and stories from the Middle Ages in modern times become difficult because of the vast culture differences between modern and past societies.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is an Arthurian medieval romance. The color green in Christian arts praises the season of epiphany. Its associates with nature, hope, bounty and fertility. In this poem I found that the color green mainly represents nature and fertility. Nature is first represented in this poem as a force that can’t be reckon with, such as the unexpected encounter of the Green knight.
