What Is The Theme Of Chivalry In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

A prominent theme that plays an important role in the alliterative poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is the Code of Chivalry. One might ask, “What is chivalry?” The word chivalry, also known as the chivalric code, is defined by behaviors and qualities that a knight is expected to possess during the Middle Ages. A knight was a warrior who pledged loyalty to his lord or noble woman. Knights’ could express their means of violence, honor, and love through the code of chivalry. (Brown, p.275). The courageous knight Gawain demonstrates these knightly values when challenged by the Green Knight in the late 14th century narrative.
The Middle Ages was an anarchic time, where society was shaped by hierarchy and religion. Chivalry was society’s way of encouraging good over evil, taming willful men, and reducing unnecessary violence (Brown, p.276). In other words, it was a moral system that gave society order. Knights were expected to possess prowess, fear God, protect the defenseless, fight for the wellbeing of all, respect women, and to accept any challenge that was set forth. During Medieval times, a man was determined at birth that he would become a knight, and would be raised to do so. He

In part 1, a knight by the name of Gawain defends Arthur’s Court when a mysterious green knight ridicules and challenges the fellow knights during a New Year’s feast. “The man on the horse turned himself in his saddle, ferociously rolling his red eyes about, bunched up his eyebrows, bristling with green, swung his beard this way and that to see whoever would rise” (Black, lines 342-348). When the Green Knight dared a challenge to prove their cowardly character, Gawain accepts the challenge. “When no one answered he cried aloud, “To let this task be mine” (Black, lines 349-351). He displays a well-respected act of valor and then continues on his quest to execute the Green Knight’s