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Canterbury tales knight character analysis essay
Knight character by Geoffrey Chaucer
Medieval society and knights in Europe
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Knights have always fascinated people with their daring deeds and good manners. In the Pearl Poet’s “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” the Green Knight arrives at King Arthur’s castle to Challenge his Knights, but no one accepts the challenge until finally, Arthur stands up. Eventually, Sir Gawain accepts the challenge and has his reputation challenged along the way. When Sir Gawain became a knight, he promised to live by the Code of Chivalry just like I live my life by a set of rules. My code of honor shares similarities with the Code of Chivalry.
Sir Gawain conveys chivalry by his brave actions in order to reflect culture in the Middle Ages. Every knight in this time had to follow a code of chivalry. Chivalry is an outline of how a knight should behave. In the excerpt of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Sir Gawain accepts a risky challenge of attempting to cut off the Green Knight 's head.
(Document E). Parallel to this, knights follow a code called, ‘The Code of Chivalry’. In this code, the knight has to be loyal to the king, give mercy to all and live a well-rounded life all together. Meaning, he must be kind and respectful to ladies and must serve his king with a great deal of loyalty. Breaking this code was a huge disgrace to any knight.
To be a marvelously noble Knight one needs to be honorable and as a knight honor is obtained by those who show outstanding valor. Thus, as a knight, valor means that one is honorable and noble. There are multiple ways that honor and valor are shown as a knight. Roland and Oliver show their valor and loyalty through their loyalty for kin, king, and country, through their hardship of battle, and eventually in their death.
Sir Gawain takes knighthood to a deeper level and continues to see his knightly duties and responsibilities as they blatantly are verses getting hot-headed, dramatizing a situation, and uprooting his
“There was a knight who was worthy. He devoted his life to chivalry, justice, and truth. In many wars, he fought for his lord (king) in Europe and the Middle East and won rewards for being brave. The knight had been there and done it all.
Sir Gawain and The Green Knight as a Model of Chivalric Culture The Chivalric Code was undoubtedly of the most prevalent motifs in Middle Age English literature. This code of conduct, established as the model of the behavior of knights in medieval, was based on the ideals of honor, courage, and service. Originally, the term chivalry came from the Old French word chevalerie which meant “horsemanship” (Online Etymology Dictionary). Over the years, however, it evolved to denote a general sense of “courtesy” (Britannica).
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.
Chivalry is a code of conduct associated with the medieval institution of knighthood which developed between 1170 and 1220. Between this time period many authors wrote about knights and warriors and how they represented the values of being loyal, courageous and their willingness to give one’s life for another or in other words being a chivalrous warrior. Some examples of these tales are Beowulf and Le Morte d’Arthur. Beowulf and Wiglaf from Beowulf and King Arthur from Le Morte d’Arthur each have two examples of them reflecting the values of being a chivalrous warrior.
Medieval times were a time when honor was valued above all other qualities. All knights, the highest models of medieval manhood, adhered to a code of chivalry. When properly followed, this code allowed men to be truly honorable. Among the qualities most highly esteemed were integrity, loyalty, and courage. The clearest examples of chivalry were King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
Despite the human flaws that each knight bears, all three knights represent knighthood and the chivalric code because of its importance in medieval society. The author of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” describes Sir Gawain as the “most courteous knight” (215) in Arthur’s court because he models chivalry ideally. Gawain’s chivalric traits
Essay 4 Jean-Paul Sartre was an influential philosopher of the 19th century because of his thought on existentialism. Sartre believed that there was no God or mother nature. “God makes man according to a procedure and a conception, exactly as the artisan manufactures a paper-knife, following a definition and a formula. ”(Solomon, p.622)
In Sir Gawain and The Green Knight, the characteristics of the ideal knight is represented by King Arthur’s court. However, it will be challenged by The Green Knight as well as Bertilak’s court. Sir Gawain would reach a new understanding that ideals would eventually remain as ideals and that he is human, therefore it is perfectly fine to feel weak. The clashes between religion and chivalry that defines the ideal knight in King Arthur’s court.
In addition, the themes displayed in Canterbury Tales can be still seen in present day such as social satire and competition. In Canterbury Tales, the knight is described as someone who is noble and chivalrous as he should be because he has fought many battles in order to protect the king and country. He is one of the most respected character according to the third person omniscient narrator. The knight is similar to Hercules as Hercules was considered a hero just like knights were during the pilgrimage to Canterbury.
Respect (A Discussion on Chivalry used in The Green Knight and Morte D’Arthur.) Chivalry is code of conduct used by knights, and heroes of the past. “Chivalry, the order of knighthood and, especially, the code of knightly behavior that was a feature of the High and later Middle Ages in western Europe”(Funk). Along with this idea of Chivalry, Feudalism was used in Europe as well. Feudalism is the system of both government and land ownership, where in exchange for a nobleman 's oath of loyalty, a king would grant them land.
