Sir Gawain
- Submitted by: rempeno
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- Category: English
- Date Submitted: 01/06/2011 07:03 PM
- Pages: 6
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Gawain’s Life Lesson
The biblical story of Adam and Eve’s betrayal, causes the sinful behavior of human beings. God knows humans make mistakes and forgives them through penance. Perfection cannot be found in this sinful universe for God built us with original sin. Newborns come into the world with original sin; therefore, everyone has sinned in their life. Like a newborn, Gawain encounters his first experience of guilt, a chivalric sin when he takes a magical green belt that he was to return. The code of chivalry plays a great role in the meaning and universal truth the author tries to convey to its readers. In the poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the pearl poet, an anonymous poet, notes Gawain’s quest for the Green Knight as a learning experience, where the moral of the poem is to remind others that no one is perfect and anyone can make mistakes through courage, courtesy, and faith, the three codes of chivalry.
Courage helps Gawain fulfill his adventurous journey for the Green Knight with the help of others. Courage helps Gawain through his trek by encouraging him because he knows that the point of the trek was going to be a mortal ending. For instance, Gawain takes pride in himself as a knight and takes on the game of the Green Knight announcing: “life the least, my death no loss- my only worth is you, my royal Uncle, all my virtue is through you” (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 1.350-57). The pearl-poet illustrates Gawain as a courageous knight who provides him with a personality that does not give up on what they are to do. Gawain takes on the game even though the game’s result is death. King Arthur was to take upon the challenge himself but instead, Gawain takes it away from his majesty and takes the death for himself instead of his king. For example, “Gawain hefted the axe, swung it high in both hands, balancing his left foot in front of him, then quickly brought it down” (1.421-23). Pearl-poet expresses Gawain with this strong...
The biblical story of Adam and Eve’s betrayal, causes the sinful behavior of human beings. God knows humans make mistakes and forgives them through penance. Perfection cannot be found in this sinful universe for God built us with original sin. Newborns come into the world with original sin; therefore, everyone has sinned in their life. Like a newborn, Gawain encounters his first experience of guilt, a chivalric sin when he takes a magical green belt that he was to return. The code of chivalry plays a great role in the meaning and universal truth the author tries to convey to its readers. In the poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the pearl poet, an anonymous poet, notes Gawain’s quest for the Green Knight as a learning experience, where the moral of the poem is to remind others that no one is perfect and anyone can make mistakes through courage, courtesy, and faith, the three codes of chivalry.
Courage helps Gawain fulfill his adventurous journey for the Green Knight with the help of others. Courage helps Gawain through his trek by encouraging him because he knows that the point of the trek was going to be a mortal ending. For instance, Gawain takes pride in himself as a knight and takes on the game of the Green Knight announcing: “life the least, my death no loss- my only worth is you, my royal Uncle, all my virtue is through you” (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 1.350-57). The pearl-poet illustrates Gawain as a courageous knight who provides him with a personality that does not give up on what they are to do. Gawain takes on the game even though the game’s result is death. King Arthur was to take upon the challenge himself but instead, Gawain takes it away from his majesty and takes the death for himself instead of his king. For example, “Gawain hefted the axe, swung it high in both hands, balancing his left foot in front of him, then quickly brought it down” (1.421-23). Pearl-poet expresses Gawain with this strong...