Comparing The Hero's Journey In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

During Christmas time at Camelot, King Arthur and his men sat prepared for their annual feast. Suddenly, a green, protuberant knight comes into their presence. The haughty, green knight challenged and provoked the knights until one of them agreed to play his “game”. The story Sir Gawain and The Green Knight, by Michael Morpurgo, incorporated stages of the hero’s journey such as: the call to adventure, refusal to call, meet the mentor and crossing first threshold, along with archetypes such as the regular guy, the rebel and the magician. In the ordinary world, the archetype, regular guy can represent the audiences’ perception of the knights. To emphasize “And all was done in fun, in spirit of great comradeship, for they were happy to be all together once more at this blessed time.” (Lines 6-8) To the audience, the Knights seem to be a homogenized group of men with one common goal, which is to fight for their king. The knights apart of the round table do not show any signs of heterogynous characteristics.

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King Arthur even gives Sir Gawain advice about the technique in which he should slay the knight, to illustrate “As you wish, Nephew. There’s nothing I’d like better than to separate this man’s great green head from his great green shoulders, but I willingly give the task to you. Strike boldly, Nephew… Here’s the ax. You’ll find it a bit heavy and cumbersome, but it’ll do the job.” (Lines 215-220) King Arthur seems flawless throughout the whole folktale by holding his composure as the green knight provoked the knights and himself. The audience feels a sense of relief for King Arthur because although he possess an adequate amount of skills and knowledge to sever the head of the green knight, he is not the one who has accepted the challenge of slaying the green knight. Conversely, he is the one who encourages Sir Gawain to sever the head of the green