Sir Gawain Speaks
This monologue represents an exercise in creative writing. It was created to convey something that Sir Gawain might say:
Sir Gawain I am, and I am very pleased to meet you. I've just returned from the Green Chapel where I suffered the most humiliating experience at the hands of the Green Knight. I did my best to uphold the code of chivalry by being courteous, truthful and loyal. Somehow I let my guard down and failed. And yet, the Green Knight and my companions of the Round Table laughed at my situation. For some reason they do not see that I've failed; instead they seem to think that I've just been human. But I still feel that is no excuse...
You see, the Green Knight showed up at Uncle Arthur's New Year's celebration and offered a challenge. Uncle Arthur was going to take it. But I, being the weakest, thought the loss of my life would be less great. I took the challenge to uphold the honor of the Round Table. I struck the Green Knight and off his head rolled. But he just picked up his head and rode out of the hall. I guess it was then I knew I was in trouble.
A year passed quickly, and it was time I set out to meet the Knight to receive the return blow. On Christmas Eve I found myself a welcomed guest at the castle of Sir Bercilak. The whole time I was there I was unable to put my impending death at The Green Chapel out of my mind. Bercilak and I had a deal that whatever we won each day, we would turn over to the other. He hunted furiously while I rested at the castle. Each night he offered me the fruits of the hunt while I offered him no more than the kisses I received from his wife, which leads me to my next point.
Bercilak's wife was so insistent! I was constantly conscious of her feelings, and I tried to rebuff her with the utmost courtesy. After all, I did not want to be rude.
Nursing is constantly evolving and changing, in order to be more efficient in providing care than in the past. The nursing profession includes professionals who are not only caregivers but support systems as well as educators. All these factors help to provide optimal care for patients and to also better serve their families and the community. All nurses are encouraged to break down the simplistic notion society has about the nursing profession because nursing is a multi-faceted profession encompassing many different factors that are beneficial to overall human development and health.
Sir Gawain is presented as a noble knight who is the epitome of chivalry; he is loyal, honest and above all, courteous. He is the perfect knight; he is so recognised by the various characters in the story and, for all his modesty, implicitly in his view of himself. To the others his greatest qualities are his knightly courtesy and his success in battle. To Gawain these are important, but he seems to set an even higher value on his courage and integrity, the two central pillars of his manhood.
In the final scenes of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain’s encounter with Sir Bertilak allows Gawain to perceive his own flaws, manifested in his acceptance of the Green Girdle. The court’s reaction to his personal guilt highlights the disconnect between him and the other knights of the Round Table. Gawain’s behavior throughout the poem has been most noteworthy; his understanding of his sin, one that many of us would dismiss since it was propelled by his love of life, enhances his stature as a paragon of chivalry.
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.
The Green Knight begins to mock the court; and then boldly, King Arthur accepts his challenge. Sir Gawain realizes that this should not be the king’s responsibility for there are others present worthy of the challenge including him. Symbolically, this scene can be seen as a Christian standing up for what he believes in. Gawain says, “I am the weakest, well I know, and of wit feeblest;/ And the loss of my life would be least of any; (354-355). Here, Gawain humbles himself before his lord, just as a Christian should in prayer to God.
Sir Gawain is the nephew of the most famous King Arthur. Gawain being in line of the throne knew he must show his bravery and man up in front of his fellow knights. The Green Knight stormed into the king’s courts riding on a mystical horse. He taunted the men asking for the bravest knight in the kingdom to stand up and take his outrageous challenge. As the men sat quietly not knowing what to do, Sir Gawain decides t...
Sir Gawain was heroic in seeking out the Green Knight to finish the challenge that was brought to King Arthur’s men. “Said Gawain, ‘Strike once more; /I shall neither flinch nor flee; /But if my head falls to the floor /There is no mending me!’” (lns. 2280-2283) There was no physical power that forced Sir Gawain to keep true to his word. Gawain sought out the Green Knight, just as he had promised, and was now about to receive the blow that would send him to his death. This quote shows that Sir Gawain was ready to be dealt his fate, and that he knew there was no way for him to survive as the Green Knight had done earlier in the poem. This shows a very human side to Sir Gawain as he appears somewhat afraid of death, but ready to face it nonetheless. It is this willingness and readiness to accept death at the hand of the Green Knight that makes Sir Gawain a...
The character, Sir Gawain is an interesting character. He has many different qualities both good and bad. Though he has bad qualities, his intentions behind them are completely innocent. His good qualities far outweigh his bad ones. He makes many decisions though not always the best ones. These decisions have lasting effects on other characters from the story. The ethics of sir Gawain are a main theme throughout the story. Sir Gawain has some interesting motives to his actions that are a focus in the beginning of the story. Throughout the entire story, Sir Gawain is growing as a character. Gawain has many appealing qualities, interesting ethics and motives, and some of his decisions are questionable, but all the while he is growing
Winter, T. (2011), America as a Jihad State: Middle Eastern Perceptions of Modern American Theopolitics. The Muslim World, pp. 101: 394–411.
The term jihadi was not always commonly recognized in the United States. It was not until the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that the word jihad became widely known. Since the terrorist attacks, the media and the U.S. government have used the word jihad to invoke frightening images of non-Americans coming to destroy American freedoms and to define Islam. Today, scholars have begun to try to define this complex word and its multitude of meanings. When viewers tune into the news, it is sometimes difficult to unravel the layers of information that is being fed to them by the media and the U.S. government. In its most literal form, the term “jihad is an Arabic term meaning, as a noun, ‘struggle’ or, as a verb, ‘to exert effort’ toward a goal” (International Ency 1). However, in Mary Pat Fisher’s book Living Religions the chapter on Islam discusses how the definition of the term jihad is “commonly mistranslated as ‘holy war’ (Fisher 148). While the media frequently portrays jihad consistent with the idea of “struggle,” the media almost always flips the definition on its head by suggesting that this struggle is a malicious struggle between two groups of peoples, each of whom believes that righteousness, and in many cases God, is on their side and evil is on the other side. Suggesting that jihad and violence are in connection with each other has been the case since pre-modern times. In fact, Fisher suggests that the primary associations of the word jihad are religious, specifically with reference the Prophet Mohammad and to the religion of Islam, but also invoke a sense of violence or resistance against an opposing force. While violence and jihad have typically been spoken about together, as of late, the...
A staff development educator or Nursing Professional Development (NPD) work in different practice settings and environment, some work in the hospital, some work in clinical units or settings functioning in orienting, precepting and managing staff nurses, new graduates, and student nurses. They have a tremendous responsibilities including facilitating the learning experiences of student nurses, assisting in transforming diverse group of nurses in their practice that is safe, quality, and effective. According to Swihart, 2009, “these practitioners are more than educators”. Further, according to The American Nurses Association (2009), NPD is distinguished as a professional specialty based on the sciences of nursing, technolog...
Though God does grant forgiveness, it must be earned at a price. The Lord opens people’s eyes to the severity of one’s sins, which often leaves a person feeling ashamed. Despite having committed a grave sin against the Christian honor, Sir Gawain was forgiven by the Green Knight. He has “confessed . . ., admitted [his] fault, and done honest penance on the edge of [the Green Knight’s] blade” (Winny 4.2391-2392). No one has to continue to live with the guilt, but should at least understand their sin. Sir Gawain realizes that he surrendered to cowardice and learned “to give way to covetousness” (Winny 4.2380). The Green Knight fulfills his role as God by bringing to attention the weakness Sir Gawain possesses as a knight and as a human. The Gawain poet describes the significance of “God’s grace for the forgiveness of sin and the granting of salvation” through the Green Knight’s godly role (Champion
In light of recent events in the global community, one word that is used frequently but rarely truly understood is the Islamic word Jihad. Jihad has become a very volatile word, so it is necessary that those who use it should understand exactly what it means, what it entails, and what significance it has in current global events.
In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain shows qualities of a chivalrous knight. He demonstrates that by showing generosity, courtesy, and loyalty during his travels. A mysterious knight shows up at the king’s castle and calls himself the Green Knight. The Green Knight then challenges one to play a game which he challenges the king to strike him with his axe if he will take a return hit in a year and a day. Sir Gawain steps forward to accept the challenge for his uncle King Arthur when nobody else in the castle would. He took the King’s role in the game to protect him from the Green Knight. He must learn to accept his responsibility as a knight, in accepting his fate.He demonstrates goodness at the hand of the Green Knight. He shows courage by accepting what is to come upon him during his voyage. His journey to find the Green Knight is filled with temptations.In the conversation with him and the “Lady”, Sir Gawain showed a Chivalrous code by keeping his loyalty to the king by not kissing his wife. The lady states “if I should exchange at my cho...
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, written by an anonymous fourteenth-century poet in Northern dialect, combines two plots: "the beheading contest, in which two parties agree to an exchange of the blows with a sword or ax, and the temptation, an attempted seduction of the hero by a lady" (Norton p.200). The Green Knight, depicted as a green giant with supernatural powers, disrespectfully rides into King Arthur's court and challenges the king to a Christmas game -- a beheading contest. Sir Gawain, a young, brave and loyal knight of the Round Table, acting according to the chivalric code, takes over the challenge his lord has accepted. The contest states that Sir Gawain is to chop off the Green Knight's head, and in one year and a day, the antagonist is to do the same to the hero. The whole poem is constructed in a way that leads the reader through the challenges that Sir Gawain faces -- the tests for honesty, courtesy, truthfulness. Throughout, we see his inner strength to resist the temptations.