Sir Gawain And The Green Knight Chivalry Analysis

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People in general have a set of beliefs or values that were either instilled by their parents or they acquired them as an individual grew and matured. They use these values and try to follow them in times of need or when a difficult decision must be made. However, what happens when one set of values you abide by conflicts with another? This is what happens in the chivalric romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, as the protagonist himself is supposed to follow his code of chivalry. I believe chivalry is a set of values and beliefs that must be upheld in order to help the greater good and not just to be used to promote one’s self worth. However, I personally believe Sir Gawain does not embody the values that follow chivalry as he is instead …show more content…
For example, as Sir Gawain is resting in his chambers Lady Bertilak enters and seduces him. Later on, Lady Bertilak offers Gawain her girdle, as a token of their affair. However, Gawain only accepted it because she said it was magical and Gawain thought,” it might just be the jewel for the jeopardy he faced and save him from the strike in his challenge at the chapel”(766). This is a display of a human flaw that conflicts with one of the values that comes with the code of chivalry, courage. Gawain insinuates traits of cowardliness in his thoughts because he only accepts the girdle not to follow the code of courtly love, but only to save his only life. So in reality Gawain is not abiding to his codes, courtly love or chivalry, but he is motivated by another emotion which is fear. Sir Gawain also lies to Lord Bertilak about receiving the girdle and only,” kisses him three times with as much emotion as a man can muster”(768). Gawain chooses not to tell Lord Bertilak of the girdle received by his wife, not because of his promise to Lady Bertilak, but because he is fearful he might be thrown out of the castle and stripped of his magical prize from his possession. Gawain lying to Lord Bertilak not only goes against one of the values that comes with chivalry, which is honesty, but it also shows how far he is willing to go to protect
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