Pride In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

1094 Words5 Pages
Often times in literature, characters are exposed more for the sins they commit, than the heroic deeds they perform, or for their achievements. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the main character Gawain, although a very modest, but courageous character for accepting a terrifying challenge from the mysterious Green Knight, his bravery is soon forgotten as the poem goes on. Through symbolism and nature, the reader is provided that Sir Gawain, although has had faults, he is still seen as a hero. In the beginning of the poem, during a New Year’s Eve feast at King Arthur’s court, a mysterious green knight interrupts the festivities, by proposing a challenge to the King or any other brave man, that he will allow whomever accept the challenge to strike him with his own axe, on the condition that the challenger seek him out in exactly in year at the Green Chapel to accept a blow in return. When the King does not accept the challenge right away, the…show more content…
Why? This is due to the theory of the nature of man. The nature of man is what every person in the world seeks for, because it is in our “nature.” We all search for a warm shelter, food, love, lust. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain prayed for food and shelter on his journey to find the Green Knight, and when he looked up, there was Bertilak’s castle. He resisted the temptation of the Lord’s lady’s lust, but because he is still human, he could not push away the occasional greed that any person feels now and then, and kept the green girdle all to himself. That is why in the poem, the Green Knight draws blood from Gawain, causing him to have a wound, which signifies his culpability, as explained in “Gawain and the Image of the Wound.” This is also similar to Gawain wearing the girdle to represent his fault at the end of the

More about Pride In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

Open Document