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Literary elements in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Symbolism in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Literary elements in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
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“Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a very interesting and stimulating narration, filled with mystical creatures and wonderful details, the author known as Gawain-poet did a wonderful job in portraying the characters throughout the story. During the story, The Green Knight challenges King Arthur to a game, which Sir Gawain accepts. Gawain participates in the game by chopping the head off of the green knight, who picks it up and leaves, Gawain is to meet the green knight in a year to receive his blow. The theme of the narration is simply youth compared to age, which is implied at the beginning of the story because of the New Year’s feast. “The youthfulness of Arthur and of Arthur's folk ... introduces the theme of youth in contrast to age which is an aspect of the spring-winter (or New Year-Old Year) theme” (Spiers 10).
The point of view is third person limited omniscient; Sir Gawain describes his tale in a third person voice limited to Gawain’s point of view, which is a great aspect of the story, especially for the tale’s surprising ending. The setting’s place and time change throughout the story, in the beginning it set in Camelot for a Christmas feast and the ending at the green chapel, both begin around the time of the New Year and Christmas and is also placed within the mythical period of King Arthur’s court. “The Gawain-poet thus focuses on the destruction of Troy, the establishment of ancient city states and realms (Rome, Tuscany, Lombardy, and Britain), and the rise of King Arthur” (Blanch 1).
The characters throughout the story are described with such detail and the author uses magnificent language to describe the different obstacles in which Gawain must overcome throughout the story....
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... 68.1 (Jan. 1971): p255-269. Rpt. in Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism. Ed. Jelena O. Krstovic. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale Research, 1988. Word Count:4243. From Literature Resource Center.
Romance and Anti-Romance in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Sacvan Bercovitch. Critical Studies of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,". Ed. Donald R. Howard and Christian Zacher. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1968. p257-266. Rpt. in Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism. Ed. Lynn M. Zott. Vol. 54. Detroit: Gale Group, 2002. Word Count:3400. From Literature Resource Center.
Sir Gawain And the Green Knight: Overview. Robert J. Blanch. Reference Guide to English Literature. Ed. D. L. Kirkpatrick. 2nd ed. Chicago: St. James Press, 1991. Word Count:1411. From Literature Resource Center.
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.
Phillipa, Hardman. "Gawain's Practice of Piety in Sir Gawain and The Green Knight." EBSCO host Academic Search Premier.
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.
Ruskin, John. “Grotesque Renaissance.” The Stones of Venice: The Fall. 1853. New York: Garland Publishing, 1979. 112-65. Rpt. in Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism. Ed. Jelena O. Krstovic. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1989. 21-2.
164-69. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 341. Detroit: Gale, 2013.Artemis Literary Sources. Web. 5 May 2014.
Beowulf is an epic poem that describes the heroics of a man with superhuman strength and bravery to go with it. The poem starts with a journey across the sea to defeat an enemy that has plagued the land of Herot for twelve years. The poem ends with Beowulf’s final deed of defeating a dragon that was plaguing his own land, but with the defeat of the dragon also comes the death of Beowulf. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a poem of bravery by one of King Arthur’s knights. Sir Gawain takes up the deed of playing a Christmas game with the challenging Green Knight. The Green Knight takes a blow from an ax at the hand of Sir Gawain, and in one year and one day, the Green Knight is to reciprocate the action to Sir Gawain. While Sir Gawain was heroic in his deed, Beowulf shows a certain selflessness in his bouts makes him a better hero than Sir Gawain.
In Gordon M. Shedd’s “Knight in Tarnished Armour: The Meaning of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”, he argues that Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is truly about the strength and weaknesses of human nature. One particularly interesting part of his argument asserts that Gawain’s humanity broke medieval romance tradition.
Markman, Alan M. "The Meaning of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." Modern Language Association 72.4 (1957): 574-86. JSTOR. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
Sir Gawain's inner values and character are tested to the fullest and are clearly defined in the text of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The unknown author describes Gawain and the other knights as "Many good knights" (Norton 159), and he is referred to as one of the "most noble knights" (Norton 159) in King Arthur's land. This claim by the author is solidified by a challenge presented by the evil Green Knight, who enters the court of King Arthur and asks him to partake in a Christmas game. Sir Gawain, after hearing this challenge, asks the king if he may take his place. This represents that Gawain is very loyal to his king. Sir Gawain is also an honest knight in the text because in a year's time he ventures out in search of the Green Knight to endure a blow with the ax as the rules of the game were stated. He very easily could have not have carried out his end of the bargain by not traveling to the Green Chapel to meet the evil being, but Gawain is an honest knight who is true to his word.
Literary Criticism. Ed. Roger Matuz and Cathy Falk. Vol. 62. Detroit: Gale Research, 1991. Literature Resource Center. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
Gawain's actions reflect the social mores of 14th century England, where a good knight was expected to adhere firmly to the code of chivalry. Gawain is the model knight, gallant and valorous, not to mention a devout Christian. Gawain's superb character traits are bolstered by his status as a member of King Arthur's court. The Gawain poet writes of Camelot: "With all delights on earth they housed there together, / ...
"Morton, Thomas - Introduction." Literary Criticism (1400-1800). Ed. Thomas J. Schoenberg. Vol. 72. Gale Cengage, 2002. eNotes.com. 2006. 21 Feb, 2011
Forum 19.4 (Winter 1985): 160-162. Rpt. inTwentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Thomas J. Schoenberg and Lawrence J. Trudeau. Vol. 192. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Literature Resource Center. Web. 30 Nov. 2013.
Sir Gawain is a poem of heroism, chivalry, brave knights and even romance. The story itself is so engaging that all too easily the reader may miss many of the symbols present within. Here we will consider the symbolism and importance of the hunting scenes and how they help develop and enhance the plot.
- - -. “Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800.” http://go.galegroup.com. N.p., 1988. Web. 9 Dec. 2010. .