Sir Gawain and the Green Knight :: Fourteenth Century English Literature Essays

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a metrical composition written in the fourteenth century by an anonymous author. It describes the adventures of Sir Gawain, during which his ethics is put to the test. The story develops around the Christmas risque with the Green Knight. In this game the challenger, the Green Knight, proposes to exchange blows with an axe within a one- yr interval. At the time Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was written, Sir Gawain was considered to be the most noble and admirable of the knights of the Round Table. His actions, therefore, in this poem, testify to the reader that his knightly honor is unblemished, notwithstanding the moral tests he is put through in the story. The main judgment behind the poem is to show that the perfect Christian knight, is not on the nose the strongest and bravest warrior, but also the most moral and honorable person. Therefore, Sir Gawain is tested in order for us to see if he is a perfec t knight. interpret The second part of the poem (stanzas 1 through 3) presents us with a change in the poems tone, as comp atomic number 18d with the previous festival atmosphere of the castle. We are given a detailed rendering of passing time. The change in weather and all the surroundings seems to be governed by fate, but as the poet notices the First things and final conform but seldom (Norton, 212). The vivid description of passing clouds, fostering showers(212) and singing birds signifies the beginning of summer-time, which changes with the portrayal of harvest season, the maturation of the fruits and the turning of green grass into gray (Norton, 213), marked by arriver of the autumn. We see how the eternal cycle of seasons is once again approaching its end. The heatless winter is very close now, and that also means that so is Sir Gawains move around to find Green Knight and complete the Christmas game And so the year moves on in yesterdays many, And winter once more, by the worlds law draws nigh. (Norton 213, lines 529-530)