Topic > Review of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight"

In "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", a knight's loyalty is tested by a giant green man. The knight in this tale has had many encounters that distracted him from maintaining the code of chivalry. The knight, Sir Gawain, the king's nephew, might have handled some of his retaliations differently. One episode in history that made it difficult for Sir Gawain to abide by the code of chivalry was his encounters with Bertilak's wife. It all began on Christmas Day, when Gawain prayed for a place to hear mass and looked up to see a glittering castle in the distance. The lord of the castle welcomed Gawain and invited him to stay with him and his lady for a few days. The lord proposed that he would go hunting every day while Gawain remained at the castle. At the end of the day they will exchange what they have won. “So lie down in your room and laze to your heart's content while I wander about my estate and, as our terms dictate, we will exchange our trophies when the hunt returns” (line 189). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Additionally, over the course of Sir Gawain's time in the castle, his wife kisses Gawain on three separate occasions. Gawain, however, resists and for the first two days only accepts kisses, which he gives to the lord at the end of each day in exchange for what the lord has earned in the hunt. On the third day Gawain continues to resist the lady, but she pushes him to accept another gift. “For the man who goes into battle with this green lace, as long as he keeps it wrapped around him, no man under heaven can hurt him, anyone who tries, for anything in the world, however mysterious, can kill him” (line 223 - 226). And she pressed the sash to him and begged him to take it, and Gawain did, and she gave him the gift with great pleasure and begged him, for her sake, not to say a word and to keep it hidden from her lord. And he said he would” (line 232-235). Furthermore, when the lord returns at the end of the third day, Gawain gives him a kiss but does not reveal the gift of the sash. On New Year's Day Gawain meets the Green Knight who wears the green sash. When the Green Knight swung his ax the third time, although it did not cut off Sir Gawain's head, it cut his neck causing him to bleed. Even after the third blow he revealed himself as Bertilak de Hautdesert, the Lord of Sir Gawain. «That sash you wear next to the scabbard belongs to me; My wife gave it to you, as I should know. I also know about your kisses, all your words and my wife's advances, because I organized them myself. It was I who sent her to test you” (line 336-340). “But you missed something, sir; you were less than loyal; but since it was not because of the sash itself or lust, but because you loved your life, I blame you the less” (lines 344-346). Therefore, this is an incident that made it difficult for Sir Gawain to stick to the code of chivalry, although he was strong and survived..