Sir Gawain and The Green Knight Analysis

In the work “Sir Gawain and The Green Knight Analysis,” we will analyze the story and character of Sir Gawain and The Green Knight.  Sir Gawain and the green knight is about sir Gawain a knight of the knights of the round table, who accepts a game from a mystery man called the green knight who asks the knights if any knight to strike him with his axe if they will in return take a strike from him in a year and a day. Then Sir Gawain accepts the challenge, then goes through a journey with a bunch of hardships and morally incorrect temptations on his way to the green chapel where he will comply with the agreements of the green knight and him made.

Sir Gawain is a knight of pride but the parts of pride that he represents the best are resilience, integrity, and dependability. Gawain shows resilience when traveling from is home at Arthurs's castle to the green chapel because he had to go against monsters and foes along the way in the deadly cold winter in order to comply with the agreement/game he made with the green knight in order to maintain his honor.

Sir Gawain shows integrity by showing the quality of being truthful and by having powerful moral principles and by keeping his honor and not leading down the wrong and nontruthful path. He shows this integrity by refusing the Lord's wife’s advances because he knew that it was wrong and that he shouldn’t follow along with what she was encouraging him to do and that shows integrity because he refused temptations because he knew that the morally correct decision is to refuse her advances in a polite and respectful manner to the lady.

Finally, He shows dependability by agreeing to the green knight’s game and following through with the agreement even though it was basically a death trap and there was nothing he could have gained from it, except maintaining his honor and being dependable to the green knight by showing up to get his head cut off by the green knights' axe and dependable to his home/Arthurs castle in order to maintain the honor of the knights of the round table since he is apart of that group and he represents the honor and authenticity of what the knights of the round table really stand for and what they are really chivalrous knights and not just a bunch of cowards. The authority legend is a medieval story with a mythological character called King Arthur who was the leader of the kingdom Camelot and the knights of the round table. Although it is not proven either King Arthur was real, though it is thought that he may have been a Roman military leader who managed to stave off a Saxon invasion during the 5th to 6th centuries.

Let`s research the traits of Sir Gawain in the Sir Gawain and the green knight analysis essay. The first trait that sir Gawain represents is resilience no matter what happens. He starts off with agreeing to the green knights game and losing and following through with it and not quitting which shows resilience even though this game will most likely cost him his life because isn’t the green knight and he can’t just get his head cut off and put it right back on like nothing happened if gets his head cut off its lights out for him meaning his life is officially over, game over. The only way to keep his honor and the honor of the king of the round table is to get his head cut off by the green knight and his huge deadly murdering machine the green axe which brought tons of pressure on him to follow through with the agreement. Now after all that he had to put on his suit and travel all the way to the green chapel by the new Year which wasn’t an easy task looking at the fact that he was all alone by himself and had a long way to go until he reached the green chapel. Then cold deadly winter appeared and started corroding the metal on his suit and then it got really cold in the suit because it was a metal suit, then he had to battle against foes and monsters. Also whenever he needed to rest to regain his energy he had to sleep on medal since he couldn’t take off his suit. Then he stumbles across a castle and walks up to it since he couldn’t go on much farther in the condition he was in due to all the hardships along the way on his journey to the green chapel, then walks up the green nights chapel by new years to finish the game he was playing with the green knight to get his head chopped off and goes their even knowing it was a death trap and that he was most likely going to die by the green knights' hands.

I think he really shows resilience because most knights would have never agreed to the game in the first place and if they did they would have most likely just have been cowards and never have gone to the green chapel anyways and if they got that far then the person escorting Sir Gawain to the green knight calls the green knight a green monster/murdering machine and that if sir Gawain wanted to run away right now he would keep his mouth shut and not say anything. Finally, after all, that he gets to the green chapel and lets the green knight cut his head off with his axe.

The second trait that sir Gawain shows is integrity. He shows integrity when the green knights challenge them to a game and king Arthur accepts it because no one would, so he could defend the honor of the kingdom and the knights of the round table. Then sir Gawain volunteers for it right after king Arthur said he would know that losing king Arthur would be a huge loss compared to losing him. Also, sir, Gawain shows integrity by traveling through the deadly cold winter while fighting off monsters and foes along the way. He also shows integrity by refusing the lord’s wife’s advances because he knew complying with her advances is morally incorrect and is the exact opposite of what honor and integrity stand for. When the lady kept showing advances toward him he did it in a respectful manner to the lady but at the same time didn’t fall into her trap throwing away his integrity. He also shows integrity when the person escorting him from the castle to the green chapel said if you leave right now I won’t say anything because the green knight is a ruthless murderer and likes to kill for the fun of it and that he is a green monster. Even with that chance to run away, he still goes to the green chapel and lets the green knight have a clean shot to chop his head off with his axe, although he would most likely die from one blow.

Even though the girdle that the lady offered him he accepted it and didn’t give it to the lord because it would save his life was wrong it doesn’t mean he doesn’t have integrity because it wasn’t to harm anyone or to get ahead in life, it was so he could live to see another day. I say that because it wasn’t integrity that he didn’t show, it was the loyalty that he didn’t show and that’s why the green knight didn’t chop his head off and just barely chipped off the side of his neck slightly to show him what he did was not wrong and that the green knight agreed with what he did but the best decision would have been to not have accepted the girdle from the lady at all. He heavily shows integrity throughout his journey to the green chapel because he refused every single temptation that wasn’t morally correct, but the one he did accept was to save his life, not to harm anyone, not to get ahead and he was not a womanizer.

The third trait Sir Gawain shows is dependability. Sir Gawain shows dependability when no one would accept the green knight’s challenge but then king Arthur accepted it because no one would, but a few seconds later sir Gawain accepted it because he knew losing king Arthur would be devastating to the kingdom and that shows dependability because at that was a crucial moment, that was a moment that the kingdom was in need of help, they needed to someone to defend the honor of the knights of the round tables honor and that’s when sir Gawain stepped up to the challenge and showed dependability to the kingdom and the knights of the round table.

He also shows towards the green knight in the sense that they made an agreement and that he followed through with it shows that the green knight could depend on sir Gawain to follow through with the agreement and not coward out. No one was as dependable as sir Gawain in the knights of the round table since no one else volunteered to play the game because of the risk of dying and make their zero chance of king Arthur dying from playing the game with the green knight since he was their leader and the most valuable member of the knights of the round table. He was dependable in a crisis when no other knight of the round table was and looking at the fact that no other king of the round table would volunteer to play the game with the green knight to save their own leader and respect their honor I seriously dought anyone would travel miles and miles through the deadly cold winter fighting off monsters and foes just to get their head cut off.

My conclusion of the “sir Gawain and the green knight themes essay' is that sir Gawain heavily shows resilience, integrity, and dependability. He showed resilience by walking miles and miles to the green chapel, then on the way he has to fight off monsters and foes in the deadly cold winter then he finally arrives at the green chapel just for the green knight/ the green monster/the green murdering machine to mercilessly murder/chop his head off with an enormously large axe. He showed integrity by honoring the green knight's game/agreement and making it to the green chapel for the green knight to get one blow at his neck. He also refuses the lord’s wife’s advances in a polite and respective manner and when accepted the girdle he accepted it to save his life and not to get ahead in life or cause harm but to just save his life and in the end the green knight agrees with his decision and spares his life. He shows dependability by saving king Arthur and volunteering to play the game with the green knight when no other knight of the round table would, he showed dependability in times of need and crisis. Also, he shows dependability by showing up to the green chapel by the new Years.

Sir Gawain showed every aspect of Lbhs pride throughout his journey to the green chapel except for when he accepted the girdle from the lord’s wife and then not giving it to him when they traded to each other what they got throughout the day which was part of their agreement.

Also, the lord’s wife did tell him not to tell her husband that she gave the girdle to him, so if he were to given the lord the girdle he would have not stayed truthful to the lady. He accepted the girdle to save his life, not to get ahead in life or to cause harm so this doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have integrity or he lost his integrity, it means that he has loyalty issues, which is what the green knight tells him when he reveals to him that his name is Bertilak which is the lord's name and that’s when sir Gawain realizes that the green knight is the lord and that he only drew blood on his third blow since the third day is when sir Gawain accepted the girdle from the lord's wife, but he didn’t chop his head off and kill him on the third blow because he agreed with sir Gawain’s decision to accept the girdle to save his own life. He made the morally correct decision every time throughout his journey but when he made the wrong decision it wasn’t morally incorrect but it wasn’t the best decision, which was to not have accepted the girdle at all and stay truthful to the lord and their agreement.