Lancelot And Gawain In Sir Thomas Malory's Morte D Arthur

There are many archetypes in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight that help Gawain on his hero's journey. While on his journey, Gawain has learns many different lessons while dealing with these characters. As he travels deeper into the “Zone of Magnified Power” (Campbell 71), he develops as an archetypal hero and recognizes the conflict on his community. A number of characters in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight play key archetypal roles in the perfecting of the hero’s moral development. Arthur, the king of Camelot, has become a kind of mentor for Sir Gawain.

A Code of Conduct         In the Medieval era, aristocrats considered knights the nobility in feudal society. Arthurian Knights are equipped with weapons and armor, while partaking in violence and bloodshed. As highly skilled fighting men, they hold power over other members of society. The only way to restrain a knight’s actions is through chivalry, or a code of conduct they have to follow. Without chivalry, Gawain, the “Prologue” knight and the “Wife of Bath’s Tale” knight would not have been able to call themselves knights.

Medieval Europe had a code for love know as, The Rules of Courtly Love. These rules were exemplified in characters seen in a book written about that era, The Once and Future King. One of the main characters, Lancelot, follows these rules. Lancelot follows the Rules of Courtly Love because he follows the rules that, the easy attainment of love makes it of little value: the difficulty of attainment makes it prized, he whom the thought of love vexes eats and sleeps very little, a slight presumption causes a lover to suspect his beloved, and that a true lover does not desire to embrace in love anyone except his beloved. Lancelot follows the Rules of Courtly Love because he follows the rule that, the easy attainment of love makes it of little value:

In medieval times, chivalry was something that many men lived up to. If a man lived up to the expectations of chivalry he was said to be loyal, brave and courageous. For some it was difficult to follow certain codes especially when it came to romance, an example: Sir Lancelot in the movie “First Knight.” Medieval romance was taken seriously during its time. Not only did men/knights have to follow rules and codes about war, but also about romance.

Others seek power for their own self-serving needs. Self-serving can be defines as selfish, or a need that will not help anyone other than one’s own self. Most of the literature written in England during the 18th century is romance literature. During this period of time, the emphasis on emotions was great. Many characters in literature felt realistic emotions, such as, feeling selfish, angry, jealous, and revengeful.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a late fourteenth century Arthurian Romance Poem. During the time of Sir Gawain, society was dominated by males with women receiving little power. Women were treated with chivalry, but not respected as beings of their own rights. Knights were prided in having the code of chivalry yet were under the assumption woman could not attain much for themselves.

Countless people have had their hearts broken due to cheating and deception. However, in the Arthurian legend, these disastrous love triangles have much more devastating consequences. One story in the Arthurian legend is of Iseult, King Mark, and the knight Tristan, and their eventual demise as a result of their love triangle. Then, before King Arthur was even conceived, his father Uther and the Duke Gorlois fought over over Igraine, and waged a war over her, costing many lives.

Logres, The Distopian Society Logres is known as the Land of Blessing, and it is thought to be one of the most peaceful places on earth. However, there was also war, betrayal, and lots of human error. In Roger Green’s book, King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Though in the beginning of Logres’ existence, it could have been considered a successful Utopian Society it drifted into a country full of war and betrayal. Logres,was not a utopian society because of the many problems that occurred daily.

Some of the most famous stories about the Middle Ages are about King Arthur and his Round Table. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is an example of a story that deals with King Arthur, his court, and Sir Gawain. As the title manifests, this story focuses on Sir Gawain and his conflict with the mysterious Green Knight. In place of King Arthur, Sir Gawain accepts the Knight’s proposition: Gawain shall strike a blow to the Green Knight’s neck and after a year and one day, the Knight shall do the same to Sir Gawain.

The tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight—a well-known, late 14th century Middle English romance—embodies significant themes. These themes are successfully fulfilled by the influential characters in the story. One of these characters, Sir Gawain—the protagonist of the story and one of King Arthur’s knights—proves to be the hero of the story. Although he humbly denies it, Gawain has a repute of being a distinguished knight and loyal subject. In the story, Gawain is portrayed as possessing the acme of all knightly characteristics, yet, still has several attributes to master.