Sir Gawain sets off on his journey in order to gain honor. The knights praise his intentions and his courage, and when he gets halfway through his journey, he begins to question why he went. This is pretty much the plot of a lot of stories, except the main characters in the majority of the stories are small, weak characters whereas Sir Gawain is definitely not portrayed as being weak. To me, the ending is what separates this story from the rest. He caves to the temptation and takes what is basically a girdle out of hopes that it would protect him, and he pays the consequences. Usually, the hero wins and goes away unscathed and without consequences. I like that Gawain doesn't try to fight his consequence and that the other knights join him in his punishment.
I commented on Wendy and Nate's posts.
I commented on Wendy and Nate's posts.
I like that as well Natalie! The writer of this poem does not make Sir Gawain out to be this perfect man. Instead, he portrayed as a normal human man.
ReplyDeleteDespite being rightly portrayed as human, I would argue that in the story and tale of a knight, the knight must be high and mighty. When I look back at Beowulf, for example, he was a great warrior in his own right and backed down from no challenge without a second thought. Gawain is rather timid, and very dishonorable by keeping the cloth for his own purposes. I'd say the characteristics of Beowulf need to be given to Gawain to make for a more interesting encounter between him and the green knight, but that's just me.
ReplyDeleteI agree for sure! Echoing what you said, usually the hero gets out unscathed but I like that he faced consequences making him seem much more real than many other poetic hero's.
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