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Compare and contrast chivalry
Medieval code of chivalry
Medieval code of chivalry
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Compare and contrast chivalry
Medieval code of chivalry
Medieval code of chivalry
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Recommended: Compare and contrast chivalry
A knight is sworn to fear God and maintain His church. As a Christian we believe that you should always do the right thing no matter the consequences or situation. In the story, Sir Gawain kept his word and went searching for the Green Chapel where he would meet his end so he thought. In search for the Green Chapel, Sir Gawain climbed many a hill and crossed many marsh and river; he battled bears, wolves, and serpents but kept travelling (3). I believe in God, that nothing should come before come before him, and that I should live my life as Christianly as possible.
Why, in medieval times, did knights so foolishly jump at any opportunity to die for their king? The answer to this question is not so foolish; it is called the code of chivalry. This code is the “rule book” for knights, the standards that they must live up to. These customs include three major ideas; strength, courage, and honor. The first of these, strength, involves protecting the weak and defenseless.
There was once a time where knights were meant to be the epitome of chivalry; they symbolized honor, courage, justice and much more. However, not every knight matched the narrative of what a true knight should be. One way to teach people a certain value is through exemplary texts such as, “The wedding of King Arthur”. This story uses the knights and their actions to instruct the reader to be honorable by punishing the, shameful, dishonorable knights while rewarding the true and honorable one hence, guiding the reader towards a more honorable path. Sir Gawain does not show mercy to a defeated foe and is punished for it.
“For that noble princess pushed and pressed him” (Line 1770). This line from “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” suggests to readers that the woman of the story is dominant over Sir Gawain. This theme is unusual considering the time period it was written in. During this period, women were subordinates to their male counterparts. Men found them to be inferior to their power.
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.
During the medieval era, the knightly moral code was held in an extremely high regard. One of the most important aspects of the knightly code was courtesy. Throughout the story, Gawain was always courteous when he was supposed to be. During the time when the Hosts wife was pursuing sexual activity from Gawain, he kindly refused as he said, “I've pledged myself to none, nor will I for a while”. In this quote, Gawain rejected her in such a way that he would not hurt her feelings.
In Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales a window to a time long lost opens for us to peer through. In the age of chivalry, there were knights, and guildsmen's honor and religion were held highly except for when friends killed each other or cheated on their 19-year-old wives with someone younger. So overall it was a great time. Throughout the novel, the reader follows a pilgrimage to pay respects to the late Saint Thomas Becket, who was murdered for being Catholic. His shrine is in Canterbury so the pilgrims meet at The Tabard Inn and prepare for the winding journey to Canterbury.
Geoffrey Chaucer has greatly influenced English literature with many of his works. He comprised more than twenty tales in his most famous collections The Canterbury Tales. There are several of his many tales that expresses love, marriage, and romanticism to display an important message. The Merchants Tale in particular refers marriage and love between the characters. First, the story introduces the narrator Chaucer, whom tells the story of a knight.
At the end of the Knight’s section, he says, “He wore a fustian tunic stained and dark/ With smudges where his armor had left mark” (lines 77-78). Despite being the highest ranking member of the pilgrims (according to the social order) and possessing many fine horses, the Knight wears surprisingly modest and dirty clothing. This shows that even after a long day of riding into battle and beating the Muslims, the Knight is humble enough to join the others on the pilgrimage. Chaucer also says, “And in his bearing modest as a maid.../ He was a true, a perfect gentle-knight“ (lines 71-74).
A Code of Conduct In the Medieval era, aristocrats considered knights the nobility in feudal society. Arthurian Knights are equipped with weapons and armor, while partaking in violence and bloodshed. As highly skilled fighting men, they hold power over other members of society. The only way to restrain a knight’s actions is through chivalry, or a code of conduct they have to follow. Without chivalry, Gawain, the “Prologue” knight and the “Wife of Bath’s Tale” knight would not have been able to call themselves knights.
An Eye for an Eye During the 1380’s a miller, who is the person who grinds flour, only made twenty dollars a year, while the cost of flour was 56 cents per pound. This might make it difficult to stay honest, because stealing 40 pounds of flour would be worth more than he made in a year. Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, The Reeve’s Tale, is a story told by Oswald, the reeve, because he is angry about the miller’s tale. Oswald decides to tell this tale to embarrass the miller.
You may ask what is courage, courage is the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery. Medieval Literature is attempting to teach readers about the importance of one of these three major themes Pride, Loyalty, and Courage in early British. Because these are foundational themes for British society which is the basic foundation of the modern English society. In the epic Beowulf and one of The Canterbury Tales: The Pardon 's Tale, both of them fully expressed courage of the main characters, but in different ways, Beowulf is representing the positive way of courage, on another hand, The Pardon 's Tale is representing the negative way of encouraging.
In the Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer utilizes the immoral character of the Pardoner to tell the utmost moral tale through satirical devices, presenting the true greed and hypocrisy that runs throughout the Church, regardless of it attempt to cover it. Chaucer introduces the hypocrisy within the Church through the characterization of the Pardoner, as he is explained to be a man with, “flattery and equal japes./He made the parson and the rest his apes” (“General Prologue” 607-608). “Japes” are tricks, alluding to the Pardoner’s relics, as they are fake; yet, the Pardoner still sells these relics to the Church members as genuine treasures. This creates dramatic irony, because the character of the Church body is unaware of the situation bestowed
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.
Stories contain many characters with some that stand out more than the others. A person is considered the protagonist depending on who is telling the story and what story is being told. The protagonist is the main character in a literary work. Whether good or evil, the audience sympathize with the protagonist and understands the motif of the character. Beowulf is a protagonist whose encounters with evil proves him to be a strong heroic warrior.