Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

However, before Arthur can strike the blow, Sir Gawain speaks up, asking if he can replace the King in this game because he does not think the King should take the responsibility upon himself. The court agrees to let Gawain take the challenge, and the King blesses him. Gawain goes to the Green Knight, who asks his name and then accepts him as the challenger. Gawain asks the Knight where he will find him in a year, and the Knight tells him that he will learn after he takes his strike. The Green Knight bows his head, baring his neck for the blow, and Gawain swings the ax and chops off the Knight's head.

It is important to remember that fight with the Green Knight was Gawain's first challenge; he was the youngest knight of King Arthur's court, a knight with no experience behind him. Gawain suffers for lying to the Green Knight (the third blow of an axe cuts Gawain's neck), and this experience influenced Gawain so much that he keeps and wears the belt as a reminder of his mistake even though everybody at the Arthur's court take this as a fashion statement when Gawain returns. Gawain looks and speaks in the way an ideal knight should look and speak. His clothes are regular for the knight; his speech, on the other hand, is somewhat distinct from other knights. He is the only knight that steps forward to save Arthur's honor and life in the stories of The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

The Green Knight then reveals to him how it was all a test and tell Sir Gawain that he truly if a very good knight. The Pearl Poet displays the societal values of bravery and honor through this plot. After King Arthur accepts the Green Knight’s challenge, Sir Gawain speaks up saying, “I beseech you, Sire, let this game be mine” (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 123-124). Sir Gawain displays bravery by accepting what is viewed by the knights as certain death. The game the Green Knight wishes to play would bring any player to their deaths.

Sir Gawain ultimately learns the lesson that men must be mindful of their pride. Although he almost completely resists the temptations set before him by the Green Knight, he does falter slightly, although only for fear of his own life. He thus realizes that the flesh is weak, even in the most noble of men. He takes on the belt that saves his life as a symbol to remind himself of his own weakness. He becomes wiser for having faced death because he realizes that symbols, like the green belt he wears, like the cross of Christ, can be powerful reminders of lessons and ideas forgotten in the rush of daily life and human vanity.

Passage Analysis of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight In this passage, we find ourselves in King Arthur's court during a Christmas feast. A Green Knight has just proposed a challenge before the court, a game in which a blow for a blow shall be given. Seeing that no one is willing to accept this challenge, King Arthur himself steps up to the Green Knight, ready to defend his honor. Sir Gawain, being a noble knight, asks the court if he can replace King Arthur in the game. His wish is granted.

Gawain's first trial is in the castle when he takes over A... ... middle of paper ... ...ble to admit that he was dishonest and proved that the knights at the Round Table were all just as honorable as he. The return occurs after the Green Knight and Sir Gawain embrace each other in friendship and Sir Gawain heads back to Camelot. He was given his life back, and the green scarf as a reminder that he had committed a sin. He was a stronger knight and had learned a valuable lesson when he returned to King Arthur's court. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a great example of the hero cycle.

The Green Knight disrupts a Christmas celebration taking place in Camelot, and offers a contest: an exhange of ax-strokes. Gawain takes up the contest and chops off the head of the Green Knight who survives through magical means. Gawain sets forth to accept the return blow which is to take place a year and one day from the first. While Gawain is searching for the Green Knight's chapel, he is taken in by a great lord named Bercilak who puts Gawain's honesty and integrity to the test. In parrying Bercilak's wife's attempts at seduction with gentlemanly skill, Gawain passes this moral test.

Another such example is shown at the start of the main conflict, when the Green Knight comes riding into the court, asking if anyone is brave enough to accept a decapit... ... middle of paper ... ...ilure of the entire court. Throughout the poem, the author portrays Sir Gawain to be the truest and the best of the Arthurian knights. Yet on pg. 60, he deceives Bertilak, not holding up his end of their bargain, and on pg. 71 he failed in bravery, flinching beneath the axe of the green knight.

While Arthur seeks pleasure in hearing tales “of some fair feat” (92), the Green Knight undermines all formality known to be chivalrous challenging the king to a life risking game. With a “broad neck to buttocks” (137), (opposed to Arthur’s’ court depicted in the ever regal color red,) the Knight is clothed in green, the color of nature. He appears with no armor other then his faith, merely a utilitarian woodsman’s ax. While Green Knight is described like an animal who is said to have “wagged his beard” (306) yet understands the cyclical nature of life and truth of mans futility, it is only after Sir Gawain proclaims his lack of strength (though he says it at that point as a matter of chivalry) that he is able to ... ... middle of paper ... ...Gawain’s time in the wilderness, living nature, and his acceptance of the lady’s offering of the green girdle teach him that though he may be the most chivalrous knight in the land, he is nevertheless human and capable of error. Through jest of a game the Green knight enlightens Gawain the short sights of chivalry.

Gawain knows that he is not the strongest, smartest knight but the loss of his life would not be as bad as if King Arthur loses his life. King Arthur agrees to let him enter this game and gives him a weapon to use against this Green Knight. King Arthur says to Sir Gawain, "Keep, cousin what you cut with this day, and if you rule it aright, then readily, I know you shall stand the stroke it will strike after." (372-374) Gawain, with his weapon in his hand, is now ready to take part in the game. Before the contest starts, the Green Knight goes over the rules of the game again.