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Theme Of The Supernatural In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

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Theme Of The Supernatural In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight
Dana Jeter
Professor Dale Katherine Ireland
Eng 3010
First Essay
The Theme of the Supernatural The theme of the supernatural is present in the two poems, Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. However, even though this theme is in both poems, it is approached differently due to the different genres; one being an epic and the other a romance. These two genres have different characteristics of how the story is supposed to unfold, and focusing on how the supernatural plays apart of that is where the difference of this theme is shown.
Beowulf is an epic poem in which it focuses on a significant event featuring a hero’s deeds. There are actions that take place that involve superhuman deeds in battle, which are usually done by the …show more content…
On CliffsNotes.com, it says, “A romance is a tale of adventure involving knights on a quest, and elements of fantasy and magic are always present. Typically, a romance story begins at a noble court, where the knights receive a challenge before setting out on a journey to accomplish their task. The knights travel far from home, encountering terrible hardships and doing battle with their enemies before achieving their goal and returning to the court to tell their stories.” Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is exactly that. The elements of fantasy and magic, that are always present in a romance, is shown through the supernatural beings Gawain faces on his quest to the Green Chapel, “There were stares on all sides as the stranger spoke, / For much did they marvel what it might mean / That a horseman and a horse should have such a hue, / Grow green as the grass, and greener, it seemed, / Than green fused on gold more glorious by far, / …For many sights they had seen, but such a one never, / …And stunned at his strong words stone-still they sat / In a swooning silence in the stately hall,” (232-243, 9). The Green Knight, who is something magical, comes to Arthur’s Court in the beginning to propose a challenge to the king, and Gawain steps up to take part in the challenge instead, “For the head in his hand he holds right up; / …And it lifted its lids, and looked with wide eyes, / And said as much with its …show more content…
The theme is approached during Beowulf portraying heroic deeds by battling supernatural beings. Gawain is approached by the supernatural theme during his quest to finish a challenge he was proposed in the beginning of the poem. By Sir Gawain and the Green Knight being a romance and Beowulf being an epic, the theme of the supernatural is approached differently to fulfill the characteristics of the
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