Quiros & Esquivel 1
Manuel Quiros (A94950)
Jose Mauricio Esquivel (B02011 )
M.Ed. Tamatha Rabb Andrews
IO-5510 British Literature
23 May 2013
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight:
Sir Gawain and his Path to Preserve Respect and Reputation
“O! I have lost my reputation. I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what
remains is bestial.” ---William Shakespeare.1 Reputation is the opinions or ideas people
hold abou us, and as Shakespeare points, these opinions will remain even after we die,
are "immortal". Reputation is closely linked to respect, in the sense that respect conveys
ideas, opinions and feelings of admiration towards the respected person. Throughout
history values have marked the path of men in different societies, including the time of
King Arthur and the Round Table. Becoming an Arthurian Knight and be given the title of
"Sir" carried a lot of responsibility, attitudes and values which embodied-both individually
and as a whole, the characteristics of "Courty Love"; characteristics such as the respect for
the King and women and the importance of not bringing any kind of dishonor upon them,
the Honor God deserves from faithful Christians and providing protection to weaknesses
and the poor. With attached meaning and relation to being an Arthurian knight we find
different values, of which we have a clear representation of their importance in the work
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, where respect and reputation marked the destiny of the
former, by having to follow the implicit rules of courty love, as well as the social graces Sir
Gawain represented, which gave him the reputation of being generous, supportive of
charity, his mind was pure just like his manners and compassion was one of his virtues.
1
The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase, Saying, and Quotation.
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The alliterative romance poem-- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight addresses the notion of
respect and reputation which marks the destiny of Sir Gawain that is best seen through
the novel’s direct and indirect characterization of Gawain at Author's court, with Lady
Bertilak, and with the Green Knight.
The Green Knight is pictured at the court as an individual who threats the
reputation and respect earned by the Round Table and its knights along time, which forces
Sir Gawain to intercede in order to defend not only the Round Table's reputation, but his
own and his kings' as well. Courtly love marks the path and doings of Sir Gawain; the King
may not be brought with dishonor and to accomplish with this, it is his knights' task to
avoid it. The Green Knight shows up, menacing and threatening the Reputation of the
Round Table, and dishonor was being given to King Arthur since none of the knights
showed to be brave enough to defend it, and the majesty himself was being pushed to
dirt his hands up, until Sir Gawain proved to be a righteous knight worthy of his king's
admiration and stood to take the challenge of the Green Knight. “Let me come to counsel
you, here in your noble court. It seems wrong –everyone knows how wrong—when a
challenge like this rings through your hall to take it yourself, though your spirit longs for
battle.” (346-351).2 And thus Gawain faced the challenge convinced he was honoring the
most important thing in his life, his king, "My only worth is you, my royal uncle, all my
virtue is through you" (356-357) he was moved by the importance of honor, to preserve
the reputation of the Round Table and his king, and to give worth and respect to his own
existence. By accepting this challenge, Gawain not only preserves the reputation of the
Round Table, but also his own: “In truth it is Gawain who offers this stroke, and agrees,
no matter what happens, to accept a stroke from you, in exactly a year, with whatever
All quotes within this literary essay, unless otherwise cited, are from the Pearl Poet’s Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight.
2
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weapon you choose—from you, and only from you!” (380-385). He shows to be a
respectable and fearless knight, not affriad even to death when it comes respect; and if he
died, his name would be remembered with glory, honor but mainly respect and reputation.
For a knight, it was quite important to keep his word and promises, not keeping it, was a
reason for being ashamed and hishonored: “Find the green chapel, come to take what you
have given, a quick and proper greeting for a New Year´s Day. Many men know the
knight of the green chapel: seek me, and nothing can keep you from me. Then come! Or
be called a coward forever” (451-456). Gawain accepts to go and seek the green knight in
a year, in order to keep his promise of receiving a stroke, even though he knew he was
going to die, but his knight´s reputation was over his own life, for he knew the
consequences of failing his word. With these three main ideas, the topic of respect and
reputation is developed in the first scenario of the poem: the Round Table, represented by
Gawain the knight.