Likewise, Gawain prays when he wants protecting; his shield, decorated with the highly symbolic Pentangle and Virgin Mary, is the ultimate Holy accessory for his battle. Gawain only regards God when he is either wishing for comfort or for safety. Furthermore, Gawain strays from Catholicism completely by expecting the green sash to save him in the fight. Believing that the magical Pagan article will truly redeem him, demonstrates fear and proves Gawain lacks faith in God. Gawain lacks morals when abandoning Catholicism for a Pagan artifact, and when he does pray to God his spiritual motives are impure and
The Wanderer reflects the traditional Anglo-Saxon beliefs, as well as captures the speaker’s efforts to find the answers to his deepest questions. His faith in the Anglo-Saxon culture has been shaken, because it has not treated him well. Not only did he lose his comitatus, but it also forced him into the outcast existence that he must live. Even as he turns to Christianity for an answer and direction, he cannot help looking back fondly on the traditions that were part of him.
When Gawain realizes he was the subject of a test, he sees Bertilak/Green Knight in a different light. The Green Knight now becomes Gawain’s confessor and in doing so assumes a fatherly role. We see that Bertilak perceives Gawain’s fault, his love of life, and irrespective of it, loves Gawain. Despite having sinned, Bertilak sees in Gawain a first-rate knight, far superior to his peers in Camelot, who, faced with the spectre of death, grew silent with cowardice, as the honor of the King lay unguarded.
The Green God Authors incorporate religious principles to set forth the moral characteristics and ideals expected of a person. Literary works are illustrated with biblical allusions to help express the message behind the plot of a story. The poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight integrates biblical beliefs to depict the views on human nature. In this work, Christian concepts are embedded into the poem to suggest the Green Knight’s characterization as God, a representation to test human nature’s fidelity. To begin with, the Green Knight, similar to God, bestows a trial to Sir Gawain in order to test his faith and loyalty to his promise.
As for his love of Christ, as well as his mother Mary again, "I beseech thee, O Lord, and Mary, who is the mildest mother most dear, for some harbour where with honor I might gear the Mass..." (Tolkien 52). These two iconic Christian figures gave Gawain the strength to face any type of opponent, even the Green Knight. "I implore with prayer plain that this match should now be mine" (Tolkien 36). These acts of faith prove that Gawain abides by his knightly code as it says, "Chris... ... middle of paper ... ... monster, the Green Knight. This is key in testing his vow of honesty and ability to follow through with what he promises.
As a Christian Lewis believes God is good, so His allowance of pain and suffering seems to contradict that goodness, and often causes even Christians to question and doubt God. Lewis quickly replies saying that suffering is the fault of man as God has given man free-will, and through his choices man has brought about all this pain. Freud brings the argument to a more personal level: “Is that your excuse for pain and suffering? Did I bring about my own cancer? Or is killing me God’s revenge?”(33).
While writing the story, “Milton exemplifies two crucial tenets of Christian-Particularly Protestant-theology: man’s free will and Go’s grace and divine justice” (Bloom 14). Milton never tries to make the reader believe more in Satan or God, but he tries to paint the picture of what they look like in his own mind and then the reader can imagine what they look like for themselves in their own interpretation. Milton makes it clear that God ultimately wins because he is more powerful than Satan and always will be. Countless critics try to bash Milton’s God by establishing a reasoning that Milton is not supportive of God and portrays Satan in a better light. In Paradise Lost, Satan says “He deserved no such return From me, whom He created... ... middle of paper ... ...alizes how good and powerful God actually is when God shows Adam and Eve mercy after they disobey Him.
What Gawain learns from the green knight’s challenge is that instinctively he is just a human who is concerned with his own life over anything else. Chivalry does provide a valuable set of rules and ideals toward which one to strive for, but a person must remain aware of their own mortality and weaknesses. Sir Gawain’s flinching at the green knight’s swinging ax, his time in the woods using animal nature requiring him to seek shelter to survive and his finally accepting the wife’s gift of the girdle teaches him that though he may be the most chivalrous knight in the land, he is nevertheless human and capable of error. Works Cited Damrosch, D. , & Pike, D. L. (Eds.).
His proposition reduces "the noblest knights known under Christ” (Part 1) “to cowering, quaking men.”(Part 1) In spite how the court reacted to the Green Knight's challenge, Arthur still insists, "No guest here is aghast of your great words" (Part 1). By verbally accepting the Green Knight's challenge, Sir Gawain supports Arthur's playful - if not outright dishonest - words, thereby managing to maintain the integrity of King Arthur's court. He also unknowingly passes his first and most obvious test. It is in the castle that Sir Gawain's ability t... ... middle of paper ... ... host. However, because he does not realize that he is being tested, Sir Gawain fails the test.
Paganism and Christianity’s Roles in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Gawain’s belief by the end of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” is that he has failed—in honesty, fidelity, and faith. As a representative of an ideal Christian whose priority is to remain godly (and knightly), he sees the outcome of his quest quite differently than the Green Knight. The Green Knight also prizes honesty, though not always at the cost of life, a view not necessarily shared by Gawain. Strangely enough, King Arthur’s court, ideally as devout as Gawain, sees Gawain’s small human flaws not as a failure (as Gawain does) but as an overall achievement—he returned to court alive and bravely kept his word to the Green Knight. Considering these three points of view, one may wonder if the author is suggesting that the pagan Green Knight’s emphasis on life and humanness is more sensible than Gawain’s pursuit of godliness.