Sir Gawain Versus Beowulf Essay

Sir Gawain V. Beowulf
Although written in different time periods, the two poems, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Beowulf show many similarities. Both of these poems share the same common ideas, such as the
type of qualities that heroes posses. Each of the two poems also has a main character that exhibits these qualities of bravery, honor and truth.
  In the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the main character, Sir Gawain continually showed bravery throughout the book. One of the first places we see his bravery is right at the beginning of the book, when he is dining in King Arthur's court. When the Green Knight entered the court, he presented a challenge to all of King Arthur's knights assuming that they would rise to the occasion. Instead, all of the knights sat in their seats dumbfounded, but the minute King Arthur was about to accept the challenge (since none of his knights would), Gawain bravely stood up and did what no other knight wanted to do, accept the challenge (and save the kingdom from anarchy). By doing this, Gawain not only showed his love for King Arthur, but also for his kingdom.
In the poem Beowulf, the main character, Beowulf is an incredible person who was willing to defeat anyone to keep his people safe. When Beowulf heard about the evil monster (Grendel) terrorizing King Hrothgar's town, he stepped up and agreed to fight Grendel without hesitation. By doing this, we see that Beowulf lacked no bravery and that he had a great love for human kind. Numerous times throughout Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain showed honor towards other people. One such example occurred at the beginning when Gawain accepts the Green Knight's challenge. By accepting the  challenge, he was not only saving King Arthur's life, but also saving King Arthur's reputation. When the Green Knight arrived at King Arthur's court, none of the knights stood up to accept the challenge. The Green Knight waited patiently for one of the King's knights to stand up,...