Other views of Sir Gawain in Sir Gawain and The Green Knight :: Essays Papers

Other views of Sir Gawain in Sir Gawain and The parkland entitleBelow are quotations selected from a number of sources which address the character of Sir Gawain --------------------------------------------------------------------------------In the earliest Arthurian stories, Sir Gawain was the greatest of the Knights of the Round Table. He was famed for his g eachantry at arms and, above all(prenominal), for his discretion. ... Here Gawain is the perfect knight he is so recognized by the various characters in the account and, for all his modesty, implicitly in his view of himself. To the others his greatest qualities are his knightly courtesy and his success in battle. To Gawain these are important, nonwithstanding he seems to set an tied(p) higher value on his courage and integrity, the two central pillars of his manhood. The story is concerned with the conflict between his conception of himself and the reality. He is not quite an so brave or so honorable as he thought he was, but he is still real brave, very honorable. He cannot quite see this, but the reader can. The character of Sir Gawain is comparatively fixed by tradition he cannot act very differently from the way he does. In consequence, his character is static--is, indeed, less interesting than that of his adversary, the Green Knight. But it is for other qualities than character interest that Sir Gawain and The Green Knight is valued. (G. B. Pace, 35) FromClark, Donald, et al. position Literature A College Anthology. new-made York The Macmillian Company, 1960. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------We are placed on the situation of mortality itself, and can thus, with the Green Knight, forgive Gawain for his single act of cowardliness what he did was done not out of sensual lust but for love of life--the less, then, to blame. In the context of this affectionate sympathy, Gawains own violent displeasure at the revelation of his fault must itself be viewed with amusement, as stir up of his human fallibility. (Marie Borroff, Introduction) FromBorroff, Marie. Sir Gawain and The Green Knight A New Verse Translation. New York W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1967. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Gawain is, naturally, more fully drawn than any other character. Not only when do we observe him ourselves, we are told how he impressed other muckle in the story and how he himself thought and felt. We see him behaving, as all expect him to do, with exquisite courtesy but we also see what is not apparent to the other characters, that such behavior does not always go on easily to him.