ipl-logo

Sir Gawain And The Green Knight Archetypal Analysis

506 Words3 Pages

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. Arthur’s teachings and customs had made his knights serve him with honor. In the beginning of the medieval romance, Gawain has accepted the task from the Green Knight for Arthur and Camelot. Although he has blood ties with Arthur and has a high status among the knights at the Round Table, Gawain reveals that he is the weakest among Arthur’s knights. He accepts because he is devoted to Arthur and has great respect for him. Arthur …show more content…

She is called the temptress for her acts on Gawain to betray the host he is living with for the meantime during his quest. The temptress has lead him through three trials for three days. This seems to be some type of way to get through Gawain's religious beliefs to see whether or not he is devoted to himself and God. With each attempt to being seduced, Gawain is one step closer to the Green Knight. These three trials aid him to never be tempted by things that can have bad consequences.
The archetypal characters help Gawain’s development as an archetypal hero and helps get the overall theme that the medieval romance was trying to get across. In every hero’s journey, there is always a message that needs to be sent and understandable to the reader. From Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the concept of being honest and staying true to yourself helps you in the long run in life rather than getting out the easy

Show More
Related

  • Comparing The Ideals Of The Pentangle And The Chivalric Code

    1288 Words  | 6 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Women In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

    1211 Words  | 5 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Maturity In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

    85 Words  | 1 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Character Analysis Of Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

    1005 Words  | 5 Pages

    Although Sir Gawain does not want to take the Green Knight’s challenge, he honorable takes the place of King Arthur and lies about his worth. The Green Knight arrives carrying an axe and holly, symbolizing peace and war, but tells them that he “travel[s] in peace and seek[s] no trouble” (12). Despite saying that he wants no trouble, he proposes a game involves one strike with his axe by whoever is brave enough for another done by him a year later. The court is baffled by his request, and when no one speaks up to take the Green Knights challenge, he ridicules them by conveying that “all the pageantry and power of the Round Table made nothing by the words of one man” (13). After the Green Knight finishes mocking the Knights of the Round Table, Arthur boldly takes the challenge until Sir Gawain politely requested to take his place.

    Read More

  • Christian Symbolism In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

    605 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Sir Gawain And The Green Knight Research Paper

    545 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Honor In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

    775 Words  | 4 Pages

    Sir Gawain and the Green Knight In the Pearl Poet’s Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, an epic story emerges to reveal a man’s journey of honor, honesty, valor, and loyalty. Throughout Gawain’s adventures in the poem, he discovers and demonstrates his own chivalric qualities. Although he makes a few mistakes along the way he strives to be an honorable man.

    Read More

  • Sir Gawain And Christianity Analysis

    645 Words  | 3 Pages

    Relations Between Sir Gawain And The Green Knight And Christianity “Sir Gawain and The Green Knight” have a plethora of connections and relations to Christianity all around its story. Some examples could be Arthurian chivalry with the pentangle of Sir Gawain's shield and Mary's face in the middle, the battle between Sir Gawain and the Green Knight which took place inside the chapel of a church, and The Green Knight's decision toward Gawain in showing him mercy. These examples show only few reasons why “Sir Gawain And The Green Knight” have connections and relations towards Christianity. The ideals of Christianity and chivalry are brought together in Gawain’s symbolic shield.

    Read More

  • Sir Gawain And The Green Knightly Virtue Analysis

    998 Words  | 4 Pages

    The ideals of Christian morality and knightly qualities are represented by Gawain’s gold, star-shaped pentangle. The five knightly virtues that Sir Gawain expresses are: generosity, chastity, friendship, piety, and courtesy. From the beginning of the poem, Sir Gawain portrays his generosity by agreeing to cut the Green Knight’s head with an axe. He makes this decision after King Arthur fails to do so (Cathell, 2014).

    Read More

  • The Hero In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

    1269 Words  | 6 Pages

    .This makes Sir Gawain as a relatable hero, opposed to the heroes that are portrayed as godly and infallible. Sir Gawain was not a military warrior with badges, he did not swing a weapon but one at the Christmas games in the beginning. Sir Gawain is considered a literary hero because he was brave for stepping forward to protect King Arthur, his king and uncle. He had faith that led him through his journey into the enchanted forest and into the castle and he did not abandon it. He was noble in being a guest at Lord Bertilak’s, or the Green Knights, castle by offering his services to Lord Bertilak and, resisting temptations, and not sleeping with Lady Bertilak, Lord Bertilak’s

    Read More

  • Chivalry In The Green Knight And Morte D Arthur

    899 Words  | 4 Pages

    Respect (A Discussion on Chivalry used in The Green Knight and Morte D’Arthur.) Chivalry is code of conduct used by knights, and heroes of the past. “Chivalry, the order of knighthood and, especially, the code of knightly behavior that was a feature of the High and later Middle Ages in western Europe”(Funk). Along with this idea of Chivalry, Feudalism was used in Europe as well. Feudalism is the system of both government and land ownership, where in exchange for a nobleman 's oath of loyalty, a king would grant them land.

    Read More

  • Redemption In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

    688 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, we see many places where redemption and self-worth are extremely important to the plot. Redemption is the act of failing and falling, but getting back up again, time after time. Gawain fails to meet this in many parts of the story, including bad bets, trying to believe he was faultless, and, most importantly, blaming others for things he himself did. While the act of redemption is very real, Sir Gawain does not showcase this. Gawain can’t seem to learn his lesson when it comes to betting.

    Read More

  • Loyalty In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

    718 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sir Gawain takes knighthood to a deeper level and continues to see his knightly duties and responsibilities as they blatantly are verses getting hot-headed, dramatizing a situation, and uprooting his

    Read More

  • Chastity In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

    573 Words  | 3 Pages

    The lines 1550-1553 from the Pearl poets epic Sir Gawain and the Green Knight epitomizes two of the most important virtues of a noble knight, and Sir Gawain, the man the story follows, defines what is a true knight. He holds a place next to King Arthur and the queen as well as exemplifying two of a knights most important virtues. The first being chastity and the second being courteousness, both however, are very much entwined in this tale. Throughout this epic and many other Arthurian legends praised these traits in the knight and as we shall see, Sir Gawain although still very much human, is a master of both. The virtue of chastity is extremely important in Arthurian legend and we can see this from examining Gawain’s shield.

    Read More

  • The Paradox Of Failure In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

    686 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gawain’s values as a knight are in conflict, because he needs to be polite to the Lady, but he is also loyal to the Lord. Gawain ultimately fails

    Read More

More about Sir Gawain And The Green Knight Archetypal Analysis

Open Document