Sir Gawain as the Perfect Knight
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Sir Gawain was known as a noble and honest man who was willing to give his life to protect King Arthur. Lying at the heart of the later medieval worlds understanding of their culture is chivalry and courtly. In modern times we tend to associate this attributes to medieval society, but they were, in reality, reserved mostly for literature and the extremely wealthy classes. Chivalry and courtly, in Sir Gawain as the Perfect Knight, reveals more about their functions than any historical reality. The author uses chivalry and courtly to show the differences in romance and reality. The courtly Sir Gawain is submitted to the unexpected. Not to the tests he expects but to the ones he does not expect. Gawains knightly chivalry was brought in his symbolic shield. The shield was used to summarized Gawains character and his moral values. The general color of the shield was described as shining gules. Gules is also known as red and it symbolized both valor and courage. The pentangle was the most important design painted on the shield in gold. Not being considered a symbol of the occult as it is now, but the painted pentangle was designed to remind man of things they are devoted to. Inside the shield was garnished with a picture of the Virgin Mary to make sure that Gawain never loses heart. There were five points on the pentangle and each one represented a set of Gawains virtues. The five points were; his five senses; his five fingers; his fidelity, founded on the five wounds of Christ on the cross; strengthened by the five joys of Mary; and the five knightly virtues. The five virtues of knights were friendship, generosity, chastity, courtesy, and piety.
Gawain was a Knight of King Arthurs Round Table. The Round Table was where Arthur and his knights congregated. Just as the name suggests, it has no head, implying that everyone that sites there is equal. Symbolic reasoning of the Round Table came to represent the chivalric order associated with Arthurs court. Chivalric orders are societies and fellowships of knights founded in imitation of the military orders of the Crusades. The main theme of the poem of Sir Gawain was temptation. This was his greatest challenge because he is not afraid of it. The humiliation the Green Knight imposed on the King from his badgering, Gawain stepped in and saved his uncle from it. The Green Knight challenged any knight to strike him with his axe. King Arthur, Gawains uncle, was about to accept the challenge until Gawain steps in and takes the challenge for him. He then beheads the Green Knight. Gawain was then giving a test involving the lady of the Green Knights castle, Lady Bertilak. There were three hunts associated with the temptations made at him by her. The first temptation was corresponding with hunting involving a deer. Since it was something he needed, the deer was being hunted because it was a means of a diet. Lady Bertilak was like the hunter. She pictured Sir Gawain as an animal she was hunting. She was interested in a sexual relationship rather than a loving or emotional relationship. The purpose of making him her trophy was what she was trying to pursue. Then Gawain was more like a deer. He tried ignoring her at first,