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Sir Gawain and The Green Knight Is A Medieval Romance

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a late 14th century English poem recounting the story of Sir Gawain's encounter with a mysterious green-skinned knight. The poem explores the themes of chivalry, honor, and a knight's process of self-discovery. Written in the same dialect as Chaucer's works but set in northwest England, the poem's author is unknown but speculated to be influenced by French sources or Welsh folklore. It emphasizes Christian morality while retaining magical elements from Arthurian legend.

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Mary Cris Espiritu
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821 views1 page

Sir Gawain and The Green Knight Is A Medieval Romance

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a late 14th century English poem recounting the story of Sir Gawain's encounter with a mysterious green-skinned knight. The poem explores the themes of chivalry, honor, and a knight's process of self-discovery. Written in the same dialect as Chaucer's works but set in northwest England, the poem's author is unknown but speculated to be influenced by French sources or Welsh folklore. It emphasizes Christian morality while retaining magical elements from Arthurian legend.

Uploaded by

Mary Cris Espiritu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a medieval romance.

This genre of
literature features adventuring knights, noble ladies, and often, elements of the
supernatural. More importantly, the hero usually undergoes a process of self-
discovery in the course of his adventure, which enables him to reincorporate into
society (represented by the courts) as a better version of himself.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, believed by some scholars to be the work
of the so-called Pearl Poet, first appeared about 1370. In its original Middle English
form Sir Gawain is a poem of more than 2500 lines, which are divided into 101
stanzas grouped into four major sections. The alliterative verse is similar to that of
Beowulf, reflecting the revival of interest in native English poetry that took place in
the 14th century.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a medieval romance. This genre of literature
features adventuring knights, noble ladies, and often, elements of the supernatural.
More importantly, the hero usually undergoes a process of self-discovery in the
course of his adventure, which enables him to reincorporate into society
(represented by the courts) as a better version of himself.
Sir Gawain is a narrative rich in the Arthurian legend and the chivalric code.
The code represented a fusion of Christian and military ideals as a basis for
gentlemanly conduct. The chief chivalric virtues were piety (love of God), bravery,
loyalty, and honor. The most important of these traits was probably loyalty. The
chivalrous knight was loyal to God, to his master, and to the mistress of his heart.
Besides the battlefield, the tournament was the chief arena in which knights
demonstrated the virtues of chivalry.
Sometimes Sir Lancelot is considered to be the perfect knight; however, in
the early Arthurian tradition that role belonged to Sir Gawain. He was the greatest
of the Knights of the Round Table, famous for his physical prowess, courtesy, and
integrity. His encounter with the Green Knight forces him to acknowledge his
human weakness and his failure to live up to the knightly ideal.
This is a prose retelling of a poem written at the same time as Chaucer’s
poems but in a very different dialect, that was used in provincial England 150 mile
northwest of London, where the manuscript was found. Along with the manuscript
there were three religious poems titled “Purity,” “Patience,” and “Pearl.” Because
these poems were all found together, the unknown author is often called the Pearl
Poet. The source of the narrative is unknown. Some believe that a lost French
poem provided inspiration; other scholars find the story of the beheading much like
ancient folklore that might derive from local Welsh sources. Whoever the author,
whatever the sources, the poem is one of subtlety and sophistication.
This work is entirely Christian in its moral because Gawain finds himself in a
situation where his knightly prowess is useless to him, making him realize that only
God’s grace has real value. However Christian its message, the narrative is pagan,
depending upon a belief in the magic of Merlin and Morgan le Fey.

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