Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - Character Analysis of Sir Gawain
"The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell" is a medieval romance poem written by an anonymous author. Sir Gawain is one of the major characters in the poem. He is a very likable personality. Sir Gawain represents an ideal knight of the fourteenth century. Throughout the story, we see Sir Gawain portrayed as a very courteous and noble knight, always trying to help King Arthur. The characteristics of Sir Gawain like kindness, generosity and firmness are revealed from his actions.
Sir Gawain is a very gentle and noble knight, always willing to help people, particularly his king. King Arthur is in a bad predicament, as he has killed a deer while hunting in the woods. To save his life, King Arthur has a period of twelve months to find the answer to the question: What is it that women most desire? Of King Arthur's knights, Gawain is the only one who can help King Arthur: "Sir, me marvailithe right sore, Whate thing that thou sorrowist fore." (329). King Arthur is depressed about the entire situation, and needs a friend to understand him and help him. Sir Gawain being a noble and gentile knight is willing to help King Arthur with his problem. Sir Gawain suggests that the two of them ask everyone for the answer:
'Ye, Sir make good chere;
Let make your hors redy
To ride in straunge contrey;
And evere wheras ye mete outher man or woman, in faye,
Ask of them in whate they therto saye.'(330).
He travels to different places to find the answer to the question, in order to help King Arthur.
Sir Gawain is a noble and loyal knight. The test of his loyalty to King Arthur comes into play when King Arthur asks Gawain to marry the ugly woman named Dame Ragnell. The author descr...
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...he challenge of the Green Knight. During his in the Hautdesert castle, the Character of Sir Gawain his tested by the Green Knight. He fails his last test, and is no more perfect he is still a courageous, loyal knight, that kept his promise to King Arthur.
Works Cited
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. In The Norton Anthology of Literature. Ed. M.H.Abrams, et al. Vol I. Sixth Edition. New York: W.W.Norton & Company, 1993, pp 200-256.
Bobr, Janet. Origin. 1998. November 30, 1998.Online. Internet. Available http: csis.pace.edu/grendel/prjs2f/gawain2.htm
Finker, Leonid. Sir Gawain the Noble Knight. 1996. November 30, 1998. Online. Internet. Available http: csis.pace.edu/grendel/proj2a/sirgaw.html
Sera, Joe. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight- Close Reading of Lines 130-202. 1997. November 2, 1998. Online. Internet. Available http: csis.pace.edu/grendel/projs3f/proj2.html
8[8] Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Trans. Marie Borroff. Norton Anthology of British Literature Vol. 1, New York: WW Norton, 1993.
The poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, tells of one knights struggle to uphold the code of chivalry. What makes a knight a noble knight? Why does this social standard force us to hold this individual to higher expectations? What should we think about Sir Gawain when he breaks his vows in Sir Gawain and The Green Knight? How does Sir Gawain and Arthur’s court pass the test of The Green Knight? This paper will argue that Sir Gawain, despite his mistakes, is the greatest knight because of his repentance and the lesson he learns when he encounters The Green Knight.
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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a fourteenth-century tale written by an anonymous poet, chronicles how Sir Gawain of King Arthur’s Round Table finds his virtue compromised. A noble and truthful knight, Gawain accepts the Green Knight’s challenge at Arthur’s New Years feast. On his way to the Green Chapel, Gawain takes shelter from the cold winter at Lord Bercilak’s castle. The lord makes an agreement with Gawain to exchange what they have one at the end of the day. During the three days that the lord is out hunting, his wife attempts to seduce Gawain. At the end of the story, it is revealed that Morgan le Faye has orchestrated the entire situation to disgrace the Knights of the Round Table by revealing that one of their best, Sir Gawain, is not perfect.
Sir Gawain is King Arthur’s nephew and one of his most faithful knights. Although Gawain modestly refutes it, he has a reputation of being an honorable knight and courtly man. He prides himself on his adherence of the five parts of chivalry and is a pinnacle display of humility, piety, integrity, loyalty, and honesty that all other knights strive for. Though Gawain sits at the high table during the New Year’s celebration at Arthur’s court, he defines himself as the least of King Arthur’s knights in terms of both physical ability and mental aptitude. Gawain continually seeks to better improve his inner self throughout the story. His only known flaw proves to be his love to preserve his own life, so much that he will sacrifice his honor in order to save himself.
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In the opening lines of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the Gawain-poet predicates the numerous dualities—which lead the reader through questions of moral seriousness—that exist in the poem. The opening historical recounting, according to Richard Hamilton Green, reminds the reader that “the greatness of the past is marred by reminders of failure” (179). The paradox of triumph and greatness arising out of failure foreshadows Sir Gawain following the same pattern of fate as his predecessors. While the completion of Gawain’s quest reaffirms the historical paradox of greatness, his journey to renown is fraught with situations and symbols that develop the poem’s main concern of moral seriousness. The Gawain-poet skillfully reveals his theme by leading Gawain on a journey in which nothing is what it seems. Sir Gawain and the reader are confronted with several contrasts of characters’ actions and intentions, symbolic meanings, and Christian and secular virtues. Mainly by showing the difference between actions and attitudes while inside in a social situation and outside in a more wild, untamed environment, these contrasts help to emphasize the importance of unbending faith and loyalty.
Barron, W.R.J., trans. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.. New York: Manchester University Press, 1974.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Sixth Edition, Volume One. General Ed. M.H. Abrams. New York: Norton, 1993.
Sir Gawain is, undoubtably, the most varied of the Arthurian characters: from his first minor appearance as Gwalchmei in the Welsh tales to his usually side-line participation in the modern retelling of the tales, no other character has gone from such exalted heights (being regarded as a paragon of virtue) to such dismal depths (being reduced to a borderline rapist, murderer, and uncouth bore), as he. This degree of metamorphosis in character, however, has allowed for a staggering number of different approaches and studies in Gawain.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Sixth Edition, Volume One. General Ed. M.H. Abrams. New York: Norton, 1993.
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The Character of Sir Gawain in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight fit in with the concept of a romance; it has all the elements that would make one consider the text as so. The tale holds adventure, magic, a quest and an unexpected reality check that even those who are considered “perfect” are also just humans. The author used this story as a way of revealing faults in some of the aspects of knighthood through the use of intertwining chivalric duty with natural human acts; thus showing to be perfectly chivalrous would be inhuman.
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