Mirror Mirror on the Wall
In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, both Arthur and Bertilak serve as hosts. The positions they have been put in mirror each other. The author mirrors Arthur and Bertilak which ultimately creates a deep comparison of their maturity. At the beginning of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Arthur is having a party that Sir Gawain attends. After the Green Knight walks in and offers the game he wants to play, Arthur starts to question the game. He asks “‘you request,’ he countered, ‘is quite insane’” (323). Arthur shows no confidence that he can win the game. Gawain steps in, trying to be polite as possible, and says that he will play the game instead of Arthur which shows that Arthur isn’t a good king. Being a good king takes bravery, intelligence, and likability. Because Arthur didn’t accept the game fairly quickly, it demonstrates that he doesn’t contain a few qualities it takes to be a good king. Also during the party, Arthur was drunk, which again isn’t something to do while hosting a party. The host shouldn’t be drunk while at their own party because that shows his guests he doesn’t care.
Arthur displays a liking for amusement and games when he does not want to eat until he is entertained. The author says,
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Arthur exhibits childish qualities because he wants to get drunk at his own party and play games, instead of being respectful and polite. Arthur, not playing the Green Knight’s game, shows he isn’t a good king and that he doesn’t have the maturity to be a good king. Bertilak demonstrates that he has a mature state of mind when he invites Sir Gawain in and says his house is at Sir Gawain’s disposal. He also shows that he wants to entertain his guest with a game before he leaves. Arthur did want to play a game, but he wanted it because he wanted entertainment. He didn’t really care about his
This makes Gawain feel as if the only reason he is on the court is because he is Arthur’s nephew - which is somewhat true. Gawain’s feelings of inferiority help to initiate his deception of the Round
The elevated expectations that he places upon himself allow him to create his own checks and balances. When King Arthur and the Green knight forgive Gawain’s mistakes, he continues to recognize his own faults rather than dismissing them like other people had
Arrogance Hidden in Plain Sight: “Sir Gawain and The Loathly Lady” The definition of arrogant is characterized by one’s sense of self-importance and superiority. This is by far the exact same character Sir Gawain portrays in the short text “Sir Gawain and The Loathly Lady” by Selina Hastings. The text begins as the King Arthur stumbles upon a large issue that puts him and his kingdom at risk. King Arthur is stumped but when he is met with the Loathly Lady in the forest who holds the key to his answer, in order to save himself, he must be burdened with marrying the old, ugly woman to one of his loyal knights.
The main theme of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is the journey to maturity of Gawain, the hero. During the passage, Gawain goes through three tests on his development. First, Gawain shows courage and resourcefulness when he volunteers to take the Green Knight’s challenge instead of Arthur doing so. Second, Gawain shows authority, self-restraint, and integrity when he denies the sexual endeavours of the lady of the house. Lastly, Gawain shows bravery when he faces death by keeping his meeting with the Green
At the first of the story, the Green Knight challenges all of the knights of King Arthur’s Round table to a game. “This ax, that is heavy enough, to handle as he likes, And I shall bide the first blow, as bare as I sit….In twelvemonth and a day He shall have of me the same….Who dares take up the game… If he astonished them at first, stiller were then All that household in hall, the high and the low” (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, lines 289-302).
In Morte d’ Arthur, Arthur cares for his knights and for his people. When Griflet comes to Arthur and requests to become a knight Arthur says, “Thou art full young and tender of age,[...], for to take so high an order on thee” (Morte d’ Arthur Page 1). In this statement, Arthur is showing his genuine concern for his young squire. Arthur knows Griflet stands little chance to defeat the knight who killed his master. Arthur does not want to lose a young squire who may become a great knight someday.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, whose author is unknown, is an Arthurian Romance/Epic that holds a degree of Christian symbolism. These Christian symbols are intermixed with Britannic Pagan traditions and themes in order to appeal more to the common British people at the time of the early Christianization of Britain. This can be supported by the stories of kings being created in the earlier centuries throughout history. In this particular story, this symbolism is important since all the knights of King Arthur’s Court were supposed to follow a certain chivalrous code of conduct, whether present in the courts or away on some other venture. The chivalric code being the embodiment of Christian virtue and valor, which was expected to be personified
Despite the human flaws that each knight bears, all three knights represent knighthood and the chivalric code because of its importance in medieval society. The author of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” describes Sir Gawain as the “most courteous knight” (215) in Arthur’s court because he models chivalry ideally. Gawain’s chivalric traits
In Nicholls essay, The Testing of Courtesy at Camelot and Hautdesert, the author argues that courtesy serves to mask the true desire for violence in King Arthur’s court. “ Politeness is a veneer over the violence latent in human affairs and courtesy…[it] acts as a restraining
In the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, we begin in King Arthur’s court at a Christmas feast. A stranger, who calls himself the Green Knight, interrupts the festivities proposing a game. Anyone from King Arthur’s court has the chance to have one swing to chop of the Green Knights head, but in return the brave man who does must find the Green Knight at the Green Chapel in a year’s time, and allow the Green Knight to return the favor. When no knight rushes to take on his challenge, the Green Knight insults the court by calling them cowards. "What, is this Arthur's house...
The opening scene in the story shows the Green Knight disrupting the acts of communion between King Arthur and his knights. These acts of communion symbolize the togetherness, community, and even touch the basis of loyalty, which is supported by the selfless act of Sir Gawain putting his life in danger for his king. The Green Knight’s disrupting the acts of life-giving by, indecently, threatening to take the king’s life in a challenge. “And so all I ask of this court is a Christmas game.”(L. 63).
After Gawain comes clean and acknowledges his sin, the Green Knight praises him for being an honorable and chivalrous knight. He then invites Gawain to a great feast, but Gawain humbly states that he must return to his duties and continue to defend and protect King Arthur and his subjects. Sir Gawain even thanks the Green Knight and wishes him well after this frightening test of honor. He says, "I've reveled too well already; but fortune be with you; May He who gives all honors honor you well," (401-402).
Gawain is courteous to no end, even asking for permission to “abandon [his] bench and stand by [Arthur]” (Pearl Poet l. 344) so he may risk his own life instead of his kings to abide by the Green Knights game. He even humbly states that he “[is] the weakest” (l. 354) and that it would be the least lost of he was to parish which is untrue. Gawain is also extremely courteous when he is denying the wife’s attempts to seduce him saying he is “a knight unworthy” (l.1245). He plays a game of wits as he must not offend her advances but at the same time must not let the wife win the “game” because then he would have to lay with her and that would be uncourteous to his host, Lord Bertilak. The only time Gawain faults in his courteousness is when he refuses to acknowledge the agreement he made with Lord Bertilak which was “whatever [Lord Bertilak] win[s] in the wood shall at once be [Gawain’s] and whatever gain [Gawain] may get [he] shall give in exchange” (ll. 1107-08).
The green knights adheres to the code of chivalrous conduct. The Green Knight is a mysterious, supernatural creature. He rides into Arthur’s court on New Year’s Eve almost as if summoned by the king’s request to hear a marvelous story. His supernatural characteristics, such as his ability to survive decapitation and his green complexion, immediately mark him as a foreboding figure. The Green Knight contrasts with Arthur’s court in many ways.
The virtues have welded into Sir Gawain's character, so it was only natural for him in wanting to embark on this quest. The virtues are embodied in him as he confronts the Green Knight, who is secretly lord Bertilk in disguised to judge the character of king Arthur's court. Sir Gawain's virtues saved him for it was them that aided in the help to pass lord Bertilk test during his stay in the castle. Through the action previous observed by lord Bertilk that he had chose to over look Sir Gawain's lie about the girdle, and essential deeming Sir Gawain as act in good