Sir Gawain and The Green Knight

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Recommended: Literary analysis of sir gawain and the green knight

Take a trip back in time to a place where magic reigned free and was bountiful in daily life, and in fact was the reason the legend began, a place where knights gathered around a round table, where the men honored the men and women and children of their kingdom and served their lords. Not to mention, a king that was chosen by destiny after he pulled the sword Excalibur out of a rock, this was none other than the beginning of Arthurian Legend. The legendary King Arthur and his court in Camelot are the center of Arthurian legend that defined the chivalric code that was followed for centuries in Europe by knights. Arthurian legend through stories such as Sir Gawain and The Green Knight, defined the chivalric code and exemplified its uses throughout its plot. Even before the men in these steel suits knew these characteristics, Arthurian legend was developed in its earliest stages.
While King Arthur’s name doesn’t appear anywhere on a timeline of rulers during the Middle or the Dark ages, according to lordsandladies.org, we do know that his legend had landmark affects on the chivalric code and honor of courtly love. Scholars state to find to locate King Arthur historically they have to go back to the “antique period, and the collapse of Roman Britain” (Goodman). With no accurate recordings of Arthur’s history or reign, the only claim we have is based on books written by clerics of different nations. After years of dedicated research and studying the different time periods mentioned throughout the legends scholars state, “Arthurian legend was developed out of stories from Celtic mythology” (Colombia 1-2). According to lordsandladies.org a Welsh cleric whose name was Geoffrey of Manmouth also greatly contributed to the legend of King A...

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... British and American Literature. Boston, Mass.: Twayne Publishers, 1988. Web. 28th November 2013.
Lull, Randal "The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Middle Ages: Topic 1: Texts and Contexts: The Book of the Order of Chivalry." The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Middle Ages: Topic 1: Texts and Contexts. W. W. Norton and Company, n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.
Markman, Alan M. "The Meaning of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." PMLA 72.4 (Sept. 1957): 574-586. Rpt. in World Literature Criticism, Supplement 1-2: A Selection of Major Authors from Gale's Literary Criticism Series. Ed. Polly Vedder. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 1997. Literature Resource Center. Web. 28 Nov. 2013.
"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." Masters of British Literature. Ed. David Damrosch and Kevin J. H. Dettmar. Vol. A. New York: Pearson Longman, 2008. 146-202. Print.

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