Violence In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight
Fantasies of Violence in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight In 2003, the motion picture, Kill Bill Volume 1, debuted in theaters. Set to a backdrop of bloodshed and violence, the film offers 112 minutes of savagery, as the main character attempts to get back at every person who has wronged her in the past four years. Kill Bill is only one of the many films in which violence is the number one attraction. “Kill or be killed,” seems to be the overarching motto, as millions of moviegoers flock into theaters each weekend to watch as characters fight to the death. In contrast, violence portrayed on the silver screen is no longer acceptable outside of the theater. Groups such as “Black Lives Matter” protest the violence enacted against minorities at
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He is described as a man, “None had seen...with sight in that hall so grand” (197). Immediately he asks for the leader of the house to which he extends his request for a contest to King Arthur. Shortly after, the unnamed knight reveals the rules of the game. Carl Martin, in his essay, “The Cipher of Violence,” elaborates, “ The Green Knight reveals here that while the typical warrior-noble engineers his aggrandizement through public displays of prowess… he is also bound by a strict code of behavior meant to restrain and refine his aggression” (312). So too, the knights of the round table and the entire court of Camelot are bound to the same laws of courtesy. They cannot demand bloodshed, however, in the guise of a game, it can be desired, even more so, required, for the sake of entertainment. In time, Gawain accepts the challenge in the King’s stead, takes the ax and, “Brought it down deftly upon the bare neck” (420). This is the moment the court has fantasized about, the instant when courtesy is exchanged for violence. Given that the court has treated the unnamed knight with all the courtesy they possess, they are now allowed to ensure he dies nobly at the hands of one of their own, in the sight of all who dare to watch. “The blood gushed from the body, bright on the green/ Yet fell not the fellow, nor faltered a whit (429 - 430). Instead of completing their fantasies of violence however, the Green Knight survives
He is described as a man, “None had seen...with sight in that hall so grand” (197). Immediately he asks for the leader of the house to which he extends his request for a contest to King Arthur. Shortly after, the unnamed knight reveals the rules of the game. Carl Martin, in his essay, “The Cipher of Violence,” elaborates, “ The Green Knight reveals here that while the typical warrior-noble engineers his aggrandizement through public displays of prowess… he is also bound by a strict code of behavior meant to restrain and refine his aggression” (312). So too, the knights of the round table and the entire court of Camelot are bound to the same laws of courtesy. They cannot demand bloodshed, however, in the guise of a game, it can be desired, even more so, required, for the sake of entertainment. In time, Gawain accepts the challenge in the King’s stead, takes the ax and, “Brought it down deftly upon the bare neck” (420). This is the moment the court has fantasized about, the instant when courtesy is exchanged for violence. Given that the court has treated the unnamed knight with all the courtesy they possess, they are now allowed to ensure he dies nobly at the hands of one of their own, in the sight of all who dare to watch. “The blood gushed from the body, bright on the green/ Yet fell not the fellow, nor faltered a whit (429 - 430). Instead of completing their fantasies of violence however, the Green Knight survives