Sir Gawain And The Green Knight Chivalry Essay

The textbook definition of chivalry is “a gallant or distinguished gentlemen” or “the system, spirit, or customs of medieval knighthood.” In the Medieval era, a knight had to behave in a certain manner, they had to follow the chivalric code or where punished. A knight had to be honorable and courteous towards others, and uphold a system of values of loyalty. A knight was required to have not just the quality and abilities to fight battles in the savage period of the Middle Ages but at the same time was relied upon to remember his chivalric duty and to maintain his composure. The concept of chivalry gave inspiration for stories about King Arthur and his round table in the Medieval period (169, Pearson). The virtues of a Knight's Code of Chivalry were displayed in poems, ballads and literary works of Medieval authors. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight there were several examples of chivalry shown through the characters. Sir Gawain displayed chivalry through bravery by offering to take King Arthur’s place to fight the Green Knight, with this he also honored his king by offering to take his place. Loyalty to one’s king or Lord was very important to knights (174, Pearson). He also demonstrates bravery by allowing the Green Knight to take a blow
Sir Bedivere is a character that demonstrates chivalry in the story. Bedivere proved to be honorable to King Arthur by taking his sword, Excalibur, and threw it into the water and told him what happened once the sword landed in the water (191, Pearson). Also in the story, King Arthur displays courage when he knew the battle between him and Mordred would be fatal and he still fought (188, Pearson). Additionally, the Ladies from the lake and the hermit who honored King Arthur with a proper burial demonstrated characteristics of chivalry (194, Pearson). All these characters portray different qualities of honor, courage, and