Essential Question: Does Chivalry Still Exist
Literary Analysis
from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
College and Career Readiness Standard: Cite strong thorough
textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says
explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
The romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was probably
written around 1375, at a time when the old ideals of knightly
conduct—courage, loyalty and courtesy—were beginning to
erode.
In a well-written essay analyze the ideas of chivalric honor and
heroism that the author presents. Consider what the poem
reveals about aristocratic life.
Aristocratic Life and ChivalryBritish Literature- Ramsay High School
L. Davis
Essential Question: Does Chivalry Still Exist
Critical Response
from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
College and Career Readiness Standard: Use technology,
including the internet to produce individual writing products,
taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other
information.
Many romances from England and France are based on the
Arthurian legends. In medieval Japan, romances developed
around tales of the samurai—a warrior class--who, like
medieval knight were bound by a code of honor to their lords.
Using any web enabled device, research romance stories from
other cultures. In an analytical paragraph compare and
contrast the characteristics of the different stories. Evaluate
how each story explores the ideas of the quest made by a
person of honor.
Aristocratic Life and ChivalryBritish Literature- Ramsay High School
L. Davis
Essential Question: Does Chivalry Still Exist
Content Connection
from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
College and Career Readiness Standard: Determine an author’s
point of view or purpose by evaluating the writer’s tone or
attitude.
The attitude a writer takes toward the reader, a subject or a
character is considered to be the author’s tone. Tone is
conveyed through the writer’s choice of words and details.
As a group, find passages in the text which help to determine
the author’s tone. Complete a dialectical journal entry for each
passage of text then write a response detailing what tone the
author uses.
Aristocratic Life and ChivalryBritish Literature- Ramsay High School
L. Davis
Essential Question: Does Chivalry Still Exist
Extending and Evaluating
from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
College and Career Readiness Standard: To conduct a historical
investigation.
The fact that Gawain keeps his appointment with a deadly enemy
indicates that he is a man or honor. Personal honor is only one element
of the chivalric code that medieval knights like Gawain lived by. It has
been argued that in modern times the idea of chivalry is dead.
Assignment: Use the school’s library to answer the following questions
about the code of chivalry. You might want to begin your research by
looking at Richard Barber’s The Knight and Chivalry,
 Why was a chivalric code needed?
 What oaths or contracts bound knights to their kings?
 What were the main features of the code of chivalry?
Compile your responses and create a report on “Living the Chivalric
Life”.
Aristocratic Life and ChivalryBritish Literature- Ramsay High School
L. Davis
Essential Question: Does Chivalry Still Exist
Aristocratic Life and ChivalryBritish Literature- Ramsay High School
L. Davis