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Sir Gawain's Struggles

Decent Essays

In the world of Arthurian legend, the characters are governed by courtesy and courtly custom. The most principled of these characters is Sir Gawain. Gawain is the knight of the Pentangle and so holds himself to the highest standards of courtesy and chivalry. However, when Gawain goes on a journey to fulfill a bargain with the Green Knight, he finds himself in situations where he is forced to choose between his principles to uphold, violating his code of honor. This, the challenge to maintain all of the principles of the Pentangle, is Gawain’s most important challenge, it forces him to redefine who he is as a person. Gawain’s most significant challenge is his struggle to uphold all of the principles of the Pentangle at once, which manifests …show more content…

Throughout the story, Gawain is most concerned with maintaining his code of honor. The narrator mentions that Gawain is “ever faithful in five things,” referring to the five tenets of the Pentangle (45). Gawain is constantly checking himself for any mistakes, fearing that he is failing “to observe the forms of courtesy” (70). He uses the standard set by the Pentangle to define who he is as a person, and the code of the Pentangle is what he considers most important. However, his fear of death caused him to break his code, and even though no one else faults him for his breach of conduct, Gawain claims that he is forever attached to his sin, claiming “man can conceal sin but not dissever from it” (114). Instead of his honor, Gawain’s supposed sin now defines him. This challenge is the most important to Gawain’s character because it reveals the conflict between his standard for himself and his basic will to live. Gawain expects himself to be perfect, but he’s human, and so he must make

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