Carvajal, Esquivel 1
Mauricio Carvajal (A91377)
Yuliana Esquivel (B02264)
M.Ed. Tamatha Rabb Andrews
IO-5510 British Literature
6 June 2014
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Principles
Have you ever been in a paradox in which your moral, principles were tested? Were you
able to betray your beliefs and principles? “Principles are something different: a set of values
that have to be adapted to circumstances but not compromised away"--George Packer.1 There
are many circumstances or situations that people have to overcome in order to know the quality
and reliability of their principles. Such principles came to be during the Norman Conquest of
1066 and the arrival of the Romantic Genre in which the principles of chivalry were established.
During this time, knights followed a code of conduct –chivalric principles or chevalerie, the
French term for horse soldier --- in which the knight endeavors to keep his promises, honors
and obeys his liege lord, and engages in feats of arms to demonstrate his bravery and skill.
These knightly virtues later incorporated religious virtues as knights honored God as a faithful
Christian. Over time, the chivalric code also included more virtuous ideals such as honor,
courtesy and courtly love— having perfect manners, giving delight to all through conversation
and to treat ladies with almost worshipful respect. Within this genre, the romantic hero is
characterized as having a sense of religious duty and seeks to conquer what is deemed evil
1
“George Packer: Quotes.” Good Reads. n.d. Web. 6 June 2014.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/49986.George_Packer
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through a quest. The hero searches for meaning throughout his adventure and is often ignorant
of his enemy. Furthermore, his quest has a supernatural element in which the knight must
show his strength and worthiness or return to his community in shame and loneliness. This
form of quest based upon three codes: knightly conduct, courtly love and Christian virtue test
all qualities of an Arthurian Knight including honor, duty, reputation, wit and pride. The
unknown poet of the 14th century literary romance poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
illustrates these codes of conduct in which Sir Gawain is repeatedly tested to see how honorable
a knight he is as he represents his liege lord, King Arthur, and the court of Camelot. The
alliterative poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight addresses the notion of principles which is
best seen through the poem’s unfolding dramatic action between Sir Gawain, the lady, and the
Green Knight as noted in the three hunts juxtaposed with the three temptations.
The Pearl Poet, as he is known, who wrote Sir Gawain and the Green Knight used two
different settings with two separate plots: the hunts and the bedroom scenes which have a
clear and obvious juxtaposition one with other. The first being the hunt of the deer in
conjunction with the first seduction scene. During the hunt of the deer, the hunters knew
exactly how to chase their prey by herding the deer into a valley which denied them any
possibility of escape. In this scene, the deer were taken by surprise, and there innocence as
well: “And the lord reveled in his own pleasure, / Hunting deer in meadows and woods: /
Before the sun sank down he´d killed / So many no one could count them” (1319-1322).2 In
the same manner the lady hunted Sir Gawain. As she entered his room and shut the door,
leaving him trapped and surprised, the lady took many measures to tempt Sir Gawain using her
charms and a game of giving kisses: “’If Gawain were as good as his name, with every / Courtly
virtue lining his heart, / He’d never have stayed so long with a lady / And left her unkissed’”
2
All quotes within this work, unless otherwise cited, are from the Pearl Poet’s Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
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(1297-1300). This situation tested Sir Gawain’s principles due to his loyalty to the lord Bertilak,
who had become his friend and also being the lady’s husband whom he should obey as his own
queen as he was a guest in their castle “’. . . I’m proud to be priced so high in your eyes, / For
you are my queen and I your servant / And your knight: may Christ repay you, lady’” (12771279). Sir Gawain’s character has been weakened by the lady’s game and he falls, ever so
slightly, in his principles – just as the deer fell from the onslaught of the hunters’ game. This
paradoxical juxtaposition between the hunt of the deer and the first test of Gawain’s principals
gives way to the second hunt and the knight’s second test of his honorable convictions.
The following paragraph presents an analysis about the hunting of the boar and the
temptations given by the lord and the lady to Sir Gawain. First, during the haunting of the boar,
the lord and the rest of the hunters were chasing the boar looking for the gloried moment to kill
him. But the boar was trying to safe its life running around and defeats itself, but it was not
enough. The hugest boar lost its life killed by the lord who has not mercy with him. These
hunting, the deer and the boar, were the starting points for a sensual game consisted on the
hunt of s eating animal by the lord and because of that Sir Gawain gave to him his love and
appreciation. In this relationship Sir Gawain was unable to escape because of his loyalty and
obedience toward his lord. As it is reflected in the following quotation-“There are the best /
games I have seen on seven winters.” It’s yours, Gawain”, said the lord:” Our agreement / lets
claim it as your own.” (1383-1384) On the other hand, Sir Gawain was being tested by the lady
and due to his own words, once he alleged “As best I can, I want to obey you; / this is my
duty, now and forever, / to serve you, lady, so help me God!.” (1546-1548). In the previous
Gawain speech to the lady, this gave her the weapons to test him, as she did it when, she
pushed and proved him trying to tempt him and see his purity which was her duty, the one
given by Lord Bertilak, she pretended love from Gawain. Nevertheless, Gawain gracefully
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evaded her and her seduction intentions with only a courtly kiss right after she went away.
Gawain once again was tested to see how honorable he is as knight. This part of the poem
unfold the drama action one again while lady Bertilak tented Sir Gawain to felt to his moral and
principles, and the lord hunted the boar, achieving the hunting of the boar and not having
success enough with the Gawain temptation. This sense, the paradoxical juxtaposition between
the hunt of the boar and the second test of Gawain’s principals gives way to the third hunt and
the knight’s third test of his honorable convictions.
The last test during the Gawain`s hosted in the lord`s castle is presented in the last
bedroom scene. During the third hunting the hunters followed the fox trail cautiously;
meanwhile lady Bertilak was looking for Gawain, she came to his room quietly and with lovely
words she tried to awake him to develop a new temptation. Both hunting were looking
precautious looking for a prey as is show in the next quotation: “The fox´s trail was found;
they followed it / close to the ground, keeping it warm”. (1699-1700) In which the hunters
realize the fox`s presence and its desires wake up. As well as the lady deny to lose her prey as
is mention in this quote: But the lady- for love! - refused herself sleep. / Not expecting to fail,
her purpose firm, / she rose from her bed, and quickly went to him.” (1733-1735) On the
castle, throughout this temptation the lady tried to involved sir Gawain in her seduction game
by playing with her words and offered him two gifts, first a red gold ring as a redemption of the
nights. But sir Gawain did not accept it because of the high value of it. Second, the lady gave to
him her belt, however, since these gifts were attesting of the sins between them, Gawain
refuses to them, yet he kept the belt. At this point Gawain had fallen into the lady´s temptation
by kissing her three times. On the other hand, the hunting of the fox was accomplished by
killing it. This is part of the last test that Sir Gawain, in which him proved his loyalty to himself.
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Certainly principles and proves among the characters are clearly evident. The behavior
of Sir Gawain shows his perfect manners in regards to his position as knight. Gawain keeps his
promise being faithful to his honor and obeying his lord. Even when Gawain was tempted he
found a way to avoid becoming romantically with lady Bertilak. Costa Rican reality is perfectly
addressed to be known as the opposite. People tend to still have a strong sense of honor and
loyalty to their promises and themselves. However, the power of society, the incidence of
collective pressure and the inherently sinful behavior that humans inherently possess affect
directly people self-esteem of becoming better and doing right action. As a matter of fact,
worldwide sense of honor has been disrupted which changes people´s way to react and how to
behave more appropriately, as prove of this is evident to see infidelity, dishonest acts, betrays.
This which, why not? Lead our current society.
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Works Cited
Mr. Benton’s English Classes. “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” Web.20 February 2014
<http://bentoneneglish.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/SGetext.pdf >.