Sir Gawain And The Green Knight Literary Analysis
Arthurian Lit
April 2013
Sources and Analogues of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight The English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a significant piece in Arthurian Literature. The story approaches Gawain’s character much differently than in Sir Thomas Malory’s well-known Le Morte d’Arthur. Unlike Malory’s version of the Arthurian legend where Sir Lancelot is known as the Round Table’s finest Knight, the author of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight chose, instead, to have Sir Gawain play the role of Camelot’s most noble gentleman. In staying true to the theme of chivalry and virtue, the Gawain Poet tells a captivating story of a knights struggle to uphold the chivalric code in the face of temptation and danger.
The poem is built on the …show more content…
In her collection of sources and analogues, Elisabeth Brewer states, “To read the sources and analogues of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is not only to be aware of the poet’s skill in handling traditional episodes, but also to realize how much he added,” she continues, “the bringing together of many different elements and blending them into a new story, above all, the fusing of the beheading-temptation-exchange-of-winnings themes, illustrate the Gawain poet’s astonishing capacity for structuring his material” (3). The Gawain poet intertwines common elements in an elaborate way to emphasize the importance of the values outlined by the chivalric code. Brewer states, “The Gawain poet makes the story hang together and intensifies the meaning of everything that he uses. He makes more sense of the incidents: they have an inevitability, a credibility, they create an illusion of reality” (Brewer 4). Sir Gawain beings the poem as a modest knight who strives to uphold the five points of chivalry. In his test of temptation, Gawain is able to exercise sexual restraint and uphold the laws of courtly love, but he fails to resist the instict to save his own life and jeopoardizes his integrity in lying about the green girdle. Without each other, neither the temptation episode nor the beheading game would have such a strong impact on the story’s outcome or it’s readers. The framework at the beginning and end of the of the story combined with the structure used throughout the poem deepen and emphasize what it is to be Gawain, and what it is to be human (Brewer 4). Any possible sources and analogues of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight pale in comparison to the brillance of the original. Although influenced by former medieval works, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight remains an outstanding and unique piece of
April 2013
Sources and Analogues of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight The English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a significant piece in Arthurian Literature. The story approaches Gawain’s character much differently than in Sir Thomas Malory’s well-known Le Morte d’Arthur. Unlike Malory’s version of the Arthurian legend where Sir Lancelot is known as the Round Table’s finest Knight, the author of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight chose, instead, to have Sir Gawain play the role of Camelot’s most noble gentleman. In staying true to the theme of chivalry and virtue, the Gawain Poet tells a captivating story of a knights struggle to uphold the chivalric code in the face of temptation and danger.
The poem is built on the …show more content…
In her collection of sources and analogues, Elisabeth Brewer states, “To read the sources and analogues of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is not only to be aware of the poet’s skill in handling traditional episodes, but also to realize how much he added,” she continues, “the bringing together of many different elements and blending them into a new story, above all, the fusing of the beheading-temptation-exchange-of-winnings themes, illustrate the Gawain poet’s astonishing capacity for structuring his material” (3). The Gawain poet intertwines common elements in an elaborate way to emphasize the importance of the values outlined by the chivalric code. Brewer states, “The Gawain poet makes the story hang together and intensifies the meaning of everything that he uses. He makes more sense of the incidents: they have an inevitability, a credibility, they create an illusion of reality” (Brewer 4). Sir Gawain beings the poem as a modest knight who strives to uphold the five points of chivalry. In his test of temptation, Gawain is able to exercise sexual restraint and uphold the laws of courtly love, but he fails to resist the instict to save his own life and jeopoardizes his integrity in lying about the green girdle. Without each other, neither the temptation episode nor the beheading game would have such a strong impact on the story’s outcome or it’s readers. The framework at the beginning and end of the of the story combined with the structure used throughout the poem deepen and emphasize what it is to be Gawain, and what it is to be human (Brewer 4). Any possible sources and analogues of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight pale in comparison to the brillance of the original. Although influenced by former medieval works, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight remains an outstanding and unique piece of