Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - Essay Example

In their chivalric tradition, secluded away behind the thick stone walls of Camelot, King Arthur and his knights can be seen as turning their backs on nature and the natural element in man while Gawain goes out to be reintroduced to it. In its exploration of these ideas, the story is squarely placed within the tradition of the chivalric knight. Chivalry is expressed from the beginning of the story when Gawain realizes he is the only knight truly capable of accepting the Green Knight's challenge.

All of the other knights have been in the King's service long enough to have more value to him than simply just another fighting arm. Gawain hasn't been a knight for very long, so he is the least valuable and most expendable. “I am the weakest, the most wanting in wisdom, I know, and my life, if lost, would be least missed, truly” (I.16.354-355). Within this statement, Gawain reveals the humility knights are supposed to express in their speech and behavior even if they don't really believe it to be true.

According to Michelle Garbis, the concept of the reluctant hero is an important element of the Arthurian tradition: “Some kind of shock occurs that makes one aware of the self” (2002). . Chivalry is also the driving force behind much of the action that takes place at the Bercilak home. A specific pattern of life is established during the three days that Gawain stays with Lord Bercilak and his wife, awaiting his trial at the Green Temple. On each of these three days, the Lord goes out hunting and the Lady attempts to seduce Gawain.

The two men have an agreement that they will exchange what they caught at the end of the day: "Let us make a bargain that whatever I win in the woods be yours, And any achievement you chance on here, you exchange for it" (II.45.1105-1107). During the first two days, Gawain sheepishly gives over the two kisses he and the lady have exchanged during the day to the huntsman who turns over his great numbers of killed animals, demonstrating proper loyalty and honesty to his host. At the same time, though, he is forced to break part of the chivalric code in not completely and immediately acceding to the wishes of a lady (Price, 1997).

In making his decision to somewhat dishonor the wishes of the lady in order to adhere to his agreement with the lord, Gawain is demonstrating the effects of Christianity as it settled over the land and its emphasis on morality. This adherence to the Christian element of chivalry is broken to some degree on the third day when Gawain accepts a green girdle from the lady that he believes will protect his life against the Green Knight and fails to exchange it with the lord in the evening. The lady tells him, “the man that binds his body with this belt of green, as long as he laps it closely about him, no hero under heaven can hack him to pieces, for he cannot be killed by any cunning on earth” (II.74.1851-1854).

Gawain breaks his code of honesty in order