Christianity In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, an epic poem written by the mysterious Pearl Poet is a story centered on the nephew of the royal King Arthur, Gawain, and his adventure through the countryside in search of an ambiguous Green Knight, later revealed as a local leader, Lord Bertilak. This Arthurian legend brings about two distinct, yet well-known religions and ideologies that are clashed and represented by the purity of Sir Gawain, and the Green Knight’s supernatural appearance first unveiled in the first fit. The hero in this eminent tale is unanimously considered Gawain with the alien figure being resembled as the Green Knight. At the time of publication of this piece, (approximately 1300-1400) Christianity had already captured a large number …show more content…

The sudden introduction of an odd, strange creature like the Green Knight brings a deep contrast to Christian ideals of perfection, attacking the long-standing place of Christianity with Paganism and questioning the authenticity of the knights, Arthur, and fellow leaders of the time. As shown in the epic poem, the ideals of Christianity frequently come into play during the time period and directly affect the actions of Sir Gawain and his adventure. Different from most Arthurian allegories, Arthur himself is not the principal character, and Gawain accedes that position. From the inception of the poem, the prowess of Christianity is depicted as the “most chivalrous and …show more content…

Although paganism wasn’t a large religion anymore, its ideologies were huge contrasts to those of Christianity. In Fit 1, during the supper, “a mountain of a man, immeasurably high” ruddily infiltrated the court with his horse in search of a knight worthy enough to play the infamous beheading game (136). The sheer representation of the Green Knight screams an out-of-this-world and peculiar figure present in Arthur’s court. Also, the “hulk of a human” displayed a bright green color, reminiscent of the natural world and other symbols in Pagan views, another reason to believe the Green Knight was a concrete Pagan symbol (138). The distinct image of the “half [emerald] giant” wearing enforces the many interpretations of the color green and imposes the vagueness on the literal and cultural reasoning on why the Knight has come to a predominantly Christian kingdom

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