Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
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Writing and Literary Study Spring 2010 the Chivalrous Sir Gawain If
Ahmed 1 Sarin Taslima Ahmed College Writing II: Writing and Literary Study Spring 2010 The Chivalrous Sir Gawain If a man does not open the door for a woman, she may think chivalry is dead or forget that it ever existed at all. Today's woman is not a damsel in distress, but rather stands on equal ground with her masculine counterpart. She has no need to acknowledge that there was ever a time when men lived and died for the sake of honor. However, around 1066 a.d. to 1485 a.d., that was exactly what European knights, and those around the world, did (Achlin). Of these brave soldiers, the most famous were the Knights of the Round Table, subjects of Camelot and King Arthur. Perhaps the most acclaimed knights are dubbed Sir Lancelot and Sir Gawain. Lancelot is still known as the greatest of all knights, the perfect knight, but based on Gawain's actions in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by the Pearl Poet and those of Lancelot in The Once and Future King by T.H. White, I've come to the conclusion that Gawain is a greater model of chivalry than Lancelot. Following the code of chivalry, Gawain is faithful to God, his King, and he is respectful to women. Lancelot is very talented, but he does not feel the need to follow the laws of knighthood, and ends up disregarding King Arthur, Queen Guinevere and even God because of it. "Two virtues above all else were held to mark the good knight and bring him honor. -
Arthurian Legend
Nugent: English 11 Fall What do you know about King Arthur, Camelot and the Knights of the Round Table? Do you know about any Knights? If so, who? If you know anything about King Arthur, why did you learn about King Arthur? If you don’t know anything, what can you guess King Arthur, Camelot, or Knights. A LEGEND is a story told about extraordinary deeds that has been told and retold for generations among a group of people. Legends are thought to have a historical basis, but may also contain elements of magic and myth. MYTH: a story that a particular culture believes to be true, using the supernatural to interpret natural events & to explain the nature of the universe and humanity. An ARCHETYPE is a reoccurring character type, setting, or action that is recognizable across literature and cultures that elicits a certain feeling or reaction from the reader. GOOD EVIL • The Hero • Doppelganger • The Mother The Sage • The Monster • The Scapegoat or sacrificial • The Trickster lamb • Outlaw/destroyer • The Star-crossed lovers • The Rebel • The Orphan • The Tyrant • The Fool • The Hag/Witch/Shaman • The Sadist A ROMANCE is an imaginative story concerned with noble heroes, chivalric codes of honor, passionate love, daring deeds, & supernatural events. Writers of romances tend to idealize their heroes as well as the eras in which the heroes live. Romances typically include these MOTIFS: adventure, quests, wicked adversaries, & magic. Motif: an idea, object, place, or statement that appears frequently throughout a piece of writing, which helps contribute to the work’s overall theme 1. -
Was Gawain a Gamer? Gus Forester East Tennessee State University
East Tennessee State University Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University Undergraduate Honors Theses Student Works 12-2014 Was Gawain a Gamer? Gus Forester East Tennessee State University Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.etsu.edu/honors Part of the Continental Philosophy Commons, and the Literature in English, British Isles Commons Recommended Citation Forester, Gus, "Was Gawain a Gamer?" (2014). Undergraduate Honors Theses. Paper 249. https://dc.etsu.edu/honors/249 This Honors Thesis - Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Works at Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Undergraduate Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Forester 1 Department of Literature and Language East Tennessee State University Was Gawain a Gamer? Gus Forester An Honors Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the English Honors-in-Discipline Program _________________________________________ Dr. Thomas Crofts, Thesis Director 12/4/2014 _________________________________________ Dr. Mark Holland, Faculty Advisor _________________________________________ Dr. Leslie MacAvoy, Faculty Advisor Forester 2 Introduction The experience of playing a game can be summarized with three key elements. The first element is the actions performed by the player. The second element is the player’s hope that precedes his actions, that is to say the player’s belief that such actions are possible within the game world. The third and most interesting element is that which precedes the player’s hope: the player’s encounter with the superplayer. This encounter can come in either the metaphorical sense of the player’s discovering what is possible as he plots his actions or in the literal sense of watching someone show that it is possible, but it must, by definition, be a memorable experience. -
Distressing Damsels: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight As a Loathly Lady Tale
Distressing Damsels: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight as a Loathly Lady Tale By Lauren Chochinov A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Manitoba In partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of English University of Manitoba Winnipeg, Manitoba Copyright © 2010 by Lauren Chochinov i Abstract At the end of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, when Bertilak de Hautdesert reveals Morgan le Fay’s involvement in Gawain’s quest, the Pearl Poet introduces a difficult problem for scholars and students of the text. Morgan appears out of nowhere, and it is difficult to understand the poet’s intentions for including her so late in his narrative. The premise for this thesis is that the loathly lady motif helps explain Morgan’s appearance and Gawain’s symbolic importance in the poem. Through a study of the loathly lady motif, I argue it is possible that the Pearl Poet was using certain aspects of the motif to inform his story. Chapter one of this thesis will focus on the origins of the loathly lady motif and the literary origins of Morgan le Fay. In order to understand the connotations of the loathly lady stories, it is important to study both the Irish tales and the later English versions of the motif. My study of Morgan will trace her beginnings as a pagan healer goddess to her later variations in French and Middle English literature. The second chapter will discuss the influential women in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and their specific importance to the text. -
The Shared Motto of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Edward Ill's Order of the Garter David Urbach
Historical Perspectives: Santa Clara University Undergraduate Journal of History, Series II Volume 15 Article 11 2010 The rC own and the Garter: the Shared Motto of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Edward Ill's Order of the Garter David Urbach Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarcommons.scu.edu/historical-perspectives Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Urbach, David (2010) "The rC own and the Garter: the Shared Motto of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Edward Ill's Order of the Garter," Historical Perspectives: Santa Clara University Undergraduate Journal of History, Series II: Vol. 15 , Article 11. Available at: http://scholarcommons.scu.edu/historical-perspectives/vol15/iss1/11 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Historical Perspectives: Santa Clara University Undergraduate Journal of History, Series II by an authorized editor of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Urbach: The Crown and the Garter The Crown and the Garter 103 The Crown and the Garter: the Shared Motto of Sir Gawan and the Green Knight and Edward Ill's Order of the Garter David Urbach "The king is home at Camelot / Among his many lords, all splendid men- / All the trusted brothers of the Round Table" (In. 37-9). So it is that we are introduced to the court of King Arthur in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, perhaps the most famous of the Middle English verse romances. It is also one of the most perplexing for scholars. -
An Analysis of Sexual Agency and Seduction in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Advised by Dr. Theodore Leinbaugh The Performativity of Temptation: An Analysis of Sexual Agency and Seduction in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight By Jordan Lynn Stinnett Honors Thesis Department of English and Comparative Literature University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill 2018 Approved: __________________________________________ Abstract In my analysis of the medieval romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, I focus on the paradoxical representation of female sexuality exhibited in the temptation scenes. I argue that Lady Bertilak’s sexuality is a unique synthesis of Christian and Celtic archetypes whose very construction lends her the ability to rearticulate her own sexual agency. It is only by reconciling these two theological frameworks that we can understand how she is duly empowered and disempowered by her own seduction of Gawain. Through the Christian “Eve-as-temptress” motif, the Lady’s feminine desire is cast as duplicitous and threatening to the morality of man. However, her embodiment of the Celtic sovereignty-goddess motif leads to the reclamation of her sexual power. Ultimately, the temptation scenes provide the Lady with the literary space necessary to redefine her feminine agency and reconstruct the binary paradigms of masculinity and femininity. II TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………….1 CHAPTER ONE: THE GENESIS OF TEMPTATION…………………...……………………6 CHAPTER TWO: THE SOVEREIGNTY OF TEMPTATION……………………………….23 CONCLUSION THE PERFORMATIVITY OF TEMPTATION……………..…………….38 WORKS CITED…………………………………………………………………..42 III 4 INTRODUCTION Operating under the guise of temptation, gender relations and sexual power drive the plot of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Guided by Morgan le Fay’s plans to test his honor, Lady Bertilak seduces Gawain in a series of episodes commonly referred to as the “temptation scenes”. -
King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table Stephen Colbourn
Intermediate Level Points for Understanding Answer Key King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table Stephen Colbourn 1 1 Uther’s army sat outside the castle and waited for the defenders to run out of food. 2 Merlin changed the shape of Uther, so that Uther looked like Gorlois. 2 Arthur’s parents were Uther and Igraine. But Uther promised to give his baby to Merlin, so Merlin took the baby, Arthur, to live with Sir Ector. 2 Arthur became King of England by drawing the sword from the stone. 3 The Sword of Right was a symbol that Arthur was king. The Sword of Might was a battle sword. 2 Arthur knew that he must return the sword when he saw the lake again. 4 Lancelot is the Champion Knight of Camelot because he is the bravest knight who fights on behalf of King Arthur. 2 Merlin and Nimuë spoke to each other by magic or telepathy. 5 Nimuë and Morgana wanted Merlin’s magic powers. 2 Merlin means that Arthur must rule by himself and not rely on Merlin’s magic or prophesies. 6 a The Green Knight challenges the Knights of the Round Table to strike him with his own axe. b Sir Gawain makes a bargain with the Green Knight. Gawain agrees to strike at the Green Knight first. Then after one year, go the castle of the Green Knight where he will strike at Gawain. This is a terrible bargain as the Green Knight does not die. c The Green Knights’ lady gives Gawain a small green ribbon. -
The Matter of Britain
The Matter of Britain The Mythological and Philosophical Significance of the British Legends by John J. Davenport Department of Philosophy Fordham University [email protected] In honor of Stephen R. Donaldson Originally composed in 1997 for relatives and friends from the UK, this work has been shared with others since. I make it available to all for any pleasure and insight it may bring. last revised November, 2004 Contents Introduction : The Mystery Part I: The Cycle of Britain 1. Historical Context 2. Archetypal Background 3. Brutus and the Founding of Britain 4. The Paradigmatic Language of Myth and Legend 5. The Development of Arthurian Legend 6. The British Cycle Part II: Themes of the British Legend 7. Spenser's Paean to Arthur 8. The Arthurian Vision 9. The Island Kingdom 10. Impregnable Wierd and the Human Will 11. The Tragic Poignance of Humanity 12. Poignance and the Mark of Mortality 13. The Phenomenology of Poignance Conclusion: Resentiment or Eucatastrophe -- 1 -- The Matter of Britain Introduction Oh England my Lionheart I'm in your garden fading fast in your arms The soldiers soften, the war is over. The air raid shelters are blooming clover; Flapping umbrellas fill the lanes, My London Bridge in rain again... This first stanza of Kate Bush's song, “Lionheart,” evokes a legendary image of ‘Britain' only to relate it to modern imagery, specifically the legacy of World War II. The nostalgic mood, as we learn in the last stanza, reflects a dying soldier’s last vision of the spirit of his country—the desires and symbols native to this land for which he would give his life. -
Sparknotes on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” Sparknotes
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Plot Overview DURING A NEW YEAR’S EVE FEAST at King Arthur’s court, a strange figure, referred to only as the Green Knight, pays the court an unexpected visit. He challenges the group’s leader or any other brave representative to a game. The Green Knight says that he will allow whomever accepts the challenge to strike him with his own axe, on the condition that the challenger find him in exactly one year to receive a blow in return. Stunned, Arthur hesitates to respond, but when the Green Knight mocks Arthur’s silence, the king steps forward to take the challenge. As soon as Arthur grips the Green Knight’s axe, Sir Gawain leaps up and asks to take the challenge himself. He takes hold of the axe and, in one deadly blow, cuts off the knight’s head. To the amazement of the court, the now-headless Green Knight picks up his severed head. Before riding away, the head reiterates the terms of the pact, reminding the young Gawain to seek him in a year and a day at the Green Chapel. After the Green Knight leaves, the company goes back to its festival, but Gawain is uneasy. Time passes, and autumn arrives. On the Day of All Saints, Gawain prepares to leave Camelot and find the Green Knight. He puts on his best armor, mounts his horse, Gringolet, and starts off toward North Wales, traveling through the wilderness of northwest Britain. Gawain encounters all sorts of beasts, suffers from hunger and cold, and grows more desperate as the days pass. -
From Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Medieval Romance from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight RL 1 Cite textual evidence Romance by the Gawain Poet Translated by John Gardner to support inferences drawn KEYWORD: HML12-228 from the text. RL 3 Analyze VIDEO TRAILER the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story. RL 5 Analyze how Meet the Author an author’s choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text contribute to its includes a dozen rough illustrations of overall structure. SL 1c Propel the four poems, though it is impossible conversations by responding to questions that probe reasoning to verify who created the images for this and evidence. L 2b Spell correctly. manuscript. Because Pearl is the most technically brilliant of the four poems, the did you know? Gawain Poet is sometimes also called the Pearl Poet. • The first modern edition of Sir Gawain A Man for All Seasons The Gawain and the Green Knight Poet’s works reveal that he was widely was translated by read in French and Latin and had some J. R. R. Tolkien, a respected scholar of knowledge of law and theology. Although Old and Middle he was familiar with many details of English as well as the medieval aristocratic life, his descriptions author of The Lord of The Gawain Poet’s rich imagination and metaphors also show a love of the the Rings. and skill with language have earned him countryside and rural life. recognition as one of the greatest medieval The Ideal Knight In the person of Sir English poets. -
Ben Mccabe. Gawain Thesis
Ben McCabe Sir Gawain and Scholasticism Department of English The University of Sydney !2 Introduction Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is perhaps today the best-known and widely-read Middle English romance, even if it is most often known and read in modern translation. The appeal of the poem lies in the anonymous poet’s skill in creating the poem’s Romance world, that mixes magical effect with the performance of the chivalric ideal, and the playful laxity of courteous morality with the earnestness of the Christian ethic. The conventions of the Arthurian tradition and characterizations are recast with disarming originality, drawing the reader into the texts complexities in a way that can be compared to the confused perceptions of Gawain himself. The richness SGGK1 offers modern readers many ways into the poem’s ideas, but I will argue in this thesis that the thought-world in which the poet lived should not be left behind in modern approaches to the romance. My focus will be on a central question of the poem—the problem of facing death—contextualized in a discussion of medieval ways of thinking about the ethical dilemmas that the poem creates for its central character, Sir Gawain. In the following thesis, I will offer a reading of the Middle English romance of SGGK2 that contextualises the poem within the framework of Scholastic thought, focusing in particular on the influence of the Scholastic discussions of moral philosophy, in order to better understand the poem’s treatment of moral indeterminacy. In the opening preface I outline my reasons for adopting this approach, while also acknowledging that such a methodology is not entirely new in the scholarship surrounding SGGK. -
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Its Allusions to French Prose Romances
GAWAIN’S FAMILY AND FRIENDS: SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT AND ITS ALLUSIONS TO FRENCH PROSE ROMANCES EDWARD DONALD KENNEDY The work is more than the text, for the text only takes on life when it is realized, and furthermore the realization is by no means independent of the individual disposition of the reader — though this in turn is acted upon by the different patterns of the text. The convergence of text and reader brings the literary work into existence, and this convergence can never be precisely pinpointed, but must always remain virtual, as it is not to be identified either with the reality of the text or with the individual disposition of the reader .... As the reader uses the various perspectives offered him by the text in order to relate the patterns … to one another, he sets the work in motion, and this very process results ultimately in the awakening of responses within himself …. A literary text must therefore be conceived in such a way that it will engage the reader’s imagination in the task of working things out for himself, for reading is only a pleasure when it is active and creative …. [T]he written text imposes certain limits on its unwritten implications in order to prevent these from becoming too blurred and hazy, but at the same time these implications, worked out by the reader’s imagination, set the given situation against a background which endows it with far greater significance than it might have seemed to possess on its own.1 Although Wolfgang Iser refers in the passage above to the way readers respond to a novel, what he says could be applicable to the way a medieval audience would have responded to an Arthurian romance that was read to them.