Sir Gawains code of chivalry essay

Sir Gawains code of chivalry essay Heroism, morality and fearless of Sir Gawain The poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, tells us about exciting adventures of Sir Gawain who was the fearless knight of King Arthur. During reading this poem, we can notice how his character changes. This serious alternation is mostly spiritual, and it goes like a red thread through the entire poem. Sir Gawain acts like a great knight when he takes the challenge to fight with the Green Knight as a part of his chivalry code. He sees how the Green Knight mocks King Arthur, so he is ready to stand up for his uncle to show him his loyalty. Gawain didnt know then that his honor and chivalry code will be tested during his journey to meet with the Green Knight, but later he came to the point that hes just a human and he can make mistakes like all other human. The chivalry code of the knight is his bravery, loyalty, fearlessness, courtesy and courage â€" all things that are expected of real knights. During his journey, the knight stayed fearless and courageous, because he knew these are the most important features of the noble knight. Gawain was brave when he took a challenge when no one else did. He cut off the head of Green Knight and kept his word to return in one year. As we can see, he was brave enough to go to the journey alone instead of asking other knights for help. Sir Gawain is brave and courageous, but in the same way he has high moral values, so he is a courteous person. Testing of the knights morality When Sir Gawain arrives to castle where the Green Knight lives, we see the testing of his morality. He and the castles host made an agreement to exchange anything each of them gets when the Green Knight is out for hunt. Gawain agrees this, because he doesnt know the host and the Green Knight are the same person. The hosts wife makes provocative things to seduce Sir Gawain, but he wants to follow the moral code and tries to resist his temptation. Gawain hide the truth about the woman and didnt tell the host about his wifes acting. He also hide the fact about the woman gave him the girdle secretly. Instead, Sir Gawain decided to keep it as a secret and didnt tell to anyone. We can see that he makes a mistake not only by repeating on kisses of the hosts wife, but also being dishonest about all that happened. Though, this man still keeps a part of morality because he didnt sleep with that woman. He wanted to be courteous, thats why it was really hard for him to be rude with a woman, so he accepted her seduction in some way and resulted in treachery. We understand that he could rebuff the woman rudely, and she wouldnt complain to anyone, but he chose the way of courtesy, partly accepting her trick of seduction. We know that the host made a plan with his wife about seducing Sir Gawain. The poet tells us that even the best knights cannot be perfect all time, and their high morals can be damaged. The knight put himself into the actions that would lead to a disaster, so he failed the code of chivalry eventually. In this poem, Gawain goes through different trials for checking his courage, bravery, courtesy, fearlessness, and honor, but after all, he failed his morality test. He is really ashamed about failing the code of chivalry, and he feels repentance about his acting. Thats why the knight was fully forgiven for his infidelity, and he was left with a hope and faith despite all wrong things he did. As a result, Gawain understands that any knight cant be perfect without making any mistakes and failing their strive to uphold the honor.