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The power of women in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
The power of women in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Sir Gawain and the green knight symbolism
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In literature there are many parts to a successful story. What appears to be the main themes within a specific text may in fact be completely different, or interpreted in another way. As with many successful works what happens in the background may be more interesting or noteworthy than that of which happens in the foreground. Those happenings may also control the outcome, or even the whole of the tale. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Such a circumstance may be in effect. Unlike in various other texts of that time, many of the females portrayed in the poem are unlike how they were supposed to be in that era. Through their actions, it is the women that control the story and thus guide it from its rocky start to its wild conclusion. This is shown through Lady Bertilak’s actions towards Sir Gawain, Morgan’s overall hand in the charade, and the symbols and actions of the main men within the text.
Perhaps the most relevant point to make is Morgan’s hand in the plot. At the end of the poem the readers learn from the Green Knight that the entire situation is set up by Morgan. Essentially, the entire story rides on the fact that Morgan dislikes Guinevere and wishes to both scare her (Possibly to death) and humiliate Arthur and his knights. Without this malice towards Guinevere, there would be no poem to begin with. Morgan sets up the conflict by enchanting Lord Bertilak and ordering him to do as she bids, going to Arthur and his knights and posing the challenge to them. This proves the power Morgan holds over the men, as she is the one in control. This may be combatted with the assumption that she plays the part of the evil witch and thus plays into one of the many stereotypes of women in that time. Dr. Shadi Neimneh and associates ...
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...t necessarily the ones holding the reins. Throughout the poem Morgan and Lady Bertilak transform the two main men at their will, Morgan turning Lord Bertilak into The Green Knight, and Lady Bertilak stealing Sir Gawains masculinity. They control everything from the beginning scene in which the Green Knight entices King Arthurs court, to Sir Gawains presence in Lord Bertilak’s estate, all the way to the very end when their deeds are revealed and they send Sir Gawain back to Arthur with the humiliating girdle tied firmly around him. Morgan may not have fully achieved her desire to mock King Arthur and falsify his knights, but with the combined efforts of Lady Bertilak and Lord Bertilak, she is able to shame Sir Gawain and teach him humility that he spreads throughout the kingdom. In the end, it is the women who earn the greatest importance in the quest, and the poem.
With this submission Lady Bertilak establishes herself as a catalyst in the story as she pushes the protagonist into a new and uncomfortable situation that challenges his original allegiance to Christianity and courtly love. Her submission to Gawain appears genuine as the protagonist is initially unaware that Lady Bertilak’s as she is stubborn with her flirtatious behavior. Also because the Green Knight is absent from the castle during the encounter, Gawain is deceived to infer that his actions with the lady will lack tangible repercussions. With a false sense of security and genuity in his relationship with Lady Bertilak, Gawain is tempted to stray from his moral obligations. Considering the lady’s passion and forethought seducing Gawain, it is obvious that the host’s wife possesses a desire to defeat Gawain’s allegiance to the Arthurian code. Because Gawain is supposed to be a representation of perfect character, her ability to spur the knight to violate chastity proves human vulnerability to temptation. In this way Gawain’s fall
We first meet her as the ugly old lady that was along side Lady Bertilak in the castle, she is covered head to toe but is described as “repulsive to see and shockingly bleared (Winny 2011: 55).” In the end we find out she is really Morgan le Fay. Though she is not mentioned very much in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, but she plays a very significant role. Morgan le Fay is really King Arthur’s half sister and sent the Green Knight, who we also find out is the same person as the Lord Bertilak, to King Arthur’s in the very beginning of the poem. She does so to test King Arthur’s knights as well as to scare Queen Guenevere to death (Winny 2011: 137). “Through the power of Morgan le Fay” she controls Lady Bertilak as well as Lord Bertilak to do the work and test King Arthur’s knight, Sir Gawain (Winny 2011: 137). The whole time Morgan le Fay had power over most of the characters. She was the one that set up the idea that Sir Gawain would have to meet the Lord Bertilak/Green Knight at his chapel and set up the agreement that Sir Gawain and Lord Bertilak/Green Knight to exchange gifts daily. Though Lady Bertilak did go about testing Sir Gawain with her own power, it was Morgan le Fay who made it happen. This whole poem would not have happened if Morgan le Fay did not set up the whole thing. Morgan le Fay had power over everyone and everything throughout the entire
When the Green Knight arrives at Camelot, he challenges Arthur’s court, mocking the knights for being afraid of mere words, and suggesting that words and appearances hold too much power with them. Although the Green Knight basically tricks Gawain, by not telling him about his supernatural capabilities before asking him to agree to his terms, Gawain refuses to withdraw of their agreement. He stands by his commitments, even though it means putting his own life in jeopardy. The poem habitually restates Sir Gawain’s deep fears and apprehensions, but Gawain desires to maintain his own individual integrity at all costs which allows him to master his fears in his quest to seek the Green Chapel. After Gawain arrives at Bertilak’s castle, it is quite obvious that h...
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.
Women were always viewed as weak, dependent, and powerless in the Middle Ages. Not only is it a common view during that time period, but this also is often stereotyped labeled to women today as well. In the romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the hatred of women is portrayed throughout. However, while women are certainly looked down upon, they also are influential to the knights. This romance also portrays how a woman having different characteristics, could change the way she was viewed as well. Although women in the Middle Ages appeared to lack power, the women in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight have a hidden influence over the men and actually drive the action of the medieval romance.
When Arthur's court was challenged by the Green Knight, Gawain alone offered to take the cup from Arthur's hands. He showed pride and courage greater than all - by coming forward. The poem is filled with opportunities in which Gawain inevitably was forced to face difficult decisions. During his travels he had every opportunity to turn around, especially when the rain and cold and desolation became fierce. Gawain, however, continued on his way. Three times did the lady tempt him and twice he managed to neither offend her with discourteousness nor accept her amorous advances and defile his chastity.
All three of the main women’s roles are marginalized and reduced in importance, the entire plot of the poem rests on Morgan le Fay, who is introduced at the end of the play with a handful of lines, Lady Bertilak, who is reduced to how the men around her feel about her, and Guenevere, who is another extremely important character mentioned only in a few lines. Morgan le Fay is the single most important character in SGGK. Even though she is an absolutely vital character, she is named exactly once. It is at the end of the poem that the Green Knight (Lord Bertilak) reveals to Sir Gawain that everything in the poem, from the main challenge to the smaller tests, was Morgan’s idea and should be credited to her ingenuity and magic (SGGK, l. 2445-2470). Part of
Of all the themes in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the one which stood out the most to me was that of deception. With the Green Knight, the “evil” and Sir Gawain, the “good”, we see both forces partake in deceptive practices to achieve the desired outcome they sought. Throughout the poem, Sir Gawain’s moral compass was constantly being tested with deception being used to gage his level of loyalty, morality, and chivalry. The “game” that the Green Knight was hell bent on playing was not an honest one. He utilized a host of deceptions to gain the results that he sought after—there was little to no room for error with him. First, he presented a challenge in which he alone knew that he would not perish. When he asked for a volunteer to strike him with the ax, the Green Knight
Excellence has always been a virtue revered by society. Writers throughout the ages have tried to capture the essence of excellence in their works, often in the form of a title character, who is the embodiment of perfection, encapsulating all the ideal traits necessary for one to be considered an excellent member of society. However, the standards for excellence are not universally agreed upon. On the contrary, one man's idea of excellence may very well be another's idea of mediocrity. Yet, human nature is constant enough that by analyzing different literary "heroes", one can discover the standards of excellence that are common to different peoples.
Even though little is known about the author of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, it is considered to be one of the greatest romances of all time. The poem tells the story of one of Arthur's noblest and most courageous knights, Sir Gawain, who is in search of the Green Chapel: "Sir Gawain ingeniously combines two plots, common in folklore and romance, although not found together elsewhere: the beheading contest, in which two parties agree to an exchange of blows with a sword or an ax, and the temptation, an attempted seduction of the hero by a lady" (Norton 200). The poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight deals with important themes and ideas such as nobleness, chivalry, knighthood, Christian ideals, truth, temptation, and hunting among others. The poem is also a "study [of] how successfully Gawain, as a man wholly dedicated to Christian ideals, maintains those ideals when he is subjected to unusual pressures" (Norton 200). The poet effectively uses literary devices such as alliteration, rhyme, irony, metaphor, symbolism, and imagery to reinforce his ideas and themes.
The story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight revolves around the knights and their chivalry as well as their romance through courtly love. The era in which this story takes place is male-dominated, where the men are supposed to be brave and honorable. On the other hand, the knight is also to court a lady and to follow her commands. Sir Gawain comes to conflict when he finds himself needing to balance the two by being honorable to chivalry as well as respectful to courtly love.
...rtesy toward females are all tested in the poem. Sir Gawain who is supposed to embody these principles is tested by the Green knight and the lady and he fails to uphold the chivalric code. The failure leaves Gawain scarred for life but it also reflects a change in attitude towards capital violence and the role that it should play in the knights’ life. Gawain makes clear that there is a limit to how loyal and strict a knight can be when he is following the chivalric code and that the demands of the code are so immense that eventually a knight will fail to uphold the code. But this failure to uphold the code and not adhering to capital violence does not show cowardice and is in reality just human mistakes that are expected and are justified
Sir Gawain and The Green Knight is an example of medieval misogyny. Throughout Medieval literature, specifically Arthurian legends like Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the female characters, Guinevere, the Lady, and Morgan leFay are not portrayed as individuals but social constructs of what a woman should be. Guinevere plays a passive woman, a mere token of Arthur. The Lady is also a tool, but has an added role of temptress and adulteress. Morgan leFay is the ultimate conniving, manipulating, woman. While the three women in this legend have a much more active role than in earlier texts, this role is not a positive one; they are not individuals but are symbols of how men of this time perceive women as passive tokens, adulteresses, and manipulators.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a poem which tells the tale of a knight who undergoes trials-testing the attributes of knighthood-in order to prove the strength and courage of himself, while representing the Knights of the Round Table. One of King Arthurs most noblest and bravest of knights, Sir Gawain, is taken on an adventure when he steps up to behead a mysterious green visitor on Christmas Day-with the green mans’ permission of course. Many would state that this tale of valor would be within the romance genre. To the modern person this would be a strange category to place the poem in due to the question of ‘where is the actual romance, where is the love and woe?’ However, unlike most romances nowadays, within medieval literature there are many defining features and characteristics of a romance-them rarely ever really involving love itself. Within medieval literature the elements of a romance are usually enshrouded in magic, the fantastic and an adventure. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight follows Sir Gawain over the course of one year, from one New Years to the next, as was the deal he and Bertilak, the green knight, struck.
In the Middle Ages, the roles of women became less restricted and confined and women became more opinionated and vocal. Sir Gawain and The Green Knight presents Lady Bertilak, the wife of Sir Bertilak, as a woman who seems to possess some supernatural powers who seduces Sir Gawain, and Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath Prologue and Tale, present women who are determined to have power and gain sovereignty over the men in their lives. The female characters are very openly sensual and honest about their wants and desires. It is true that it is Morgan the Fay who is pulling the strings in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; nevertheless the Gawain poet still gives her a role that empowers her. Alison in The Wife if Bath Prologue represents the voice of feminism and paves the way for a discourse in the relationships between husbands and wives and the role of the woman in society.