Essay Study Guide

| C. Occasional day by day, east to west motion of the planets relative to the stars

Courtly love was the idea that love worshipped from afar was superlative, and that only noble people were worthy of love. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sir Gawain is seduced by the wife of the Lord of the Manor three days in a row and expresses chivalry by being loyal to the Lord of the

Dante’s purpose for writing Inferno is to warn humanity about all of the sins they commit and the effect that they will eventually have. Contrapasso contributes to Dante’s purpose because it helps portray Dante’s view on the ethics of various sins. This helps the reader to reflect on the cultural and political state of Italy at the time. God renders justice through imagery and power in Dante’s Inferno. Dante’s major theme in Inferno is the perfection of God’s justice. God’s justice moved Him to create Hell, “The inscription above this gate--ending with the famous warning to "abandon all hope"-- establishes Dante's hell as a creation not of evil and the devil but rather of his Christian God, here expressed in terms of the Trinity: Father (Divine Power), Son (Highest Wisdom), and Holy Spirit (Primal Love).” (Dante’s World), In Dante’s world, Hell is the holding pen for all sinners. However, all sins are not equal in the eyes of God. Early in Inferno, the relationship between God’s justice

The Inferno is a tale of cautionary advice. In each circle, Dante the pilgrim speaks to one of the shades that reside there and the readers learn how and why the damned have become the damned. As Dante learns from the mistakes of the damned, so do the readers. And as Dante feels the impacts of human suffering, so do the readers. Virgil constantly encourages Dante the pilgrim to learn why the shades are in Hell and what were their transgressions while on Earth. This work’s purpose is to educate the reader. The work’s assertions on the nature of human suffering are mostly admonition, with each shade teaching Dante the pilgrim and by extension the reader not to make the same mistakes. Dante views his journey through hell as a learning experience and that is why he made it out alive.

The Green Knight tempted him and brought out the true nature of Sir Gawain: an

Thesis Statement: The hunting scenes in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight serve as parallels for the scenes of Lady Bertilak’s seduction of Sir Gawain and work to show Gawain’s character progression.

While the initial judgments of the main character Beowulf were that he was seen as the hero of the fictional epic poem “Beowulf” by an anonymous writer, this assertion may be skewed with the information of the reasonings alluded by the narrator as to why this character vanquished the monsters. The evidence of Beowulf showing that his actions of slaying the monsters were for the prominence of the title shows that Beowulf cannot be portrayed as a true hero for he did not have the selfless characteristics a warrior at this timeline would usually be seen possessing.

By portraying Gawain as noble and honorable, the poet is able to shock the reader with actions that are uncharacteristic of a chivalrous knight. The first of these conflicting actions is obvious in the temptation of Gawain by his host's lady. This lady, the huntress, seeks to pursue Gawain in order to fool him into actions that contrast the knightly ideal. She will do anything to accomplish these actions in him, even through sexual temptations. With another man's wife pursuing him, Gawain must be courtly to the lady, but at the same time must deny her advances. This unavoidable conflict creates a fear within Gawain. Upon discovering that the lovely lady was approaching him in bed, Gawain lays a sleep, in order to "try her intent" (1199). This action reveals Gawain's fear that his host's lady is pursuing him. This unavoidable fear causes his failure of courtliness, for Gawain would have claimed a kiss from the lady, but did not. The lady ridicules him for this, even though, the situation was unavoidable. Gawain must abide by his morals and abstain from immoral thoughts, while at the same time being a courteous guest. Moreover, Gawain is forced to make a choice between courtesy and adultery, either of which would result in the dishonor of the lady ,his host, or Gawain himself. By choosing to return each of the following kisses received, Gawain is able

Dante then learns that these souls are here suffering for their gluttony on earth. Gluttony goes against one of the seven most important Christian virtues of temperance. Gluttony typically is associated with greed or an excess of eating, which is why these souls are forced to

Throughout the poem, Beowulf, is characterized by his acts of heroism in the Anglo-Saxon society. He not only possesses the values of strength and bravery, but as well exhibits the theme of the “Germanic-Code” which include loyalty, chivalry, and self-respect. But it seems that his values of heroism leans

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a classic example of the behaviors of a medieval knight and how the code of chivalry works within the courts and towards women. When Sir Gawain visits Bertiak’s castle, he respectfully treats the elderly woman and Bertiak’s beautiful young wife with the same level of dignity. “To the elder in homage he humbly bows; the lovelier he salutes with a light embrace. They welcome him warmly, and straightaway he asks to be received as their servant, if they so desire” (lines 973-976). The treatment of women is an essential part of the code of chivalry. If Sir Gawain had only given attention to the pretty young woman, then he would not have been abiding by the knight’s code of honor. He also keeps the code of chivalry intact when he says “Lover have I none, nor will have, yet awhile” (line 1790). Sir Gawain says this to Bertiak’s attractive wife, when she tries seducing him in the bedroom, which proved Sir Gawain’s loyalty to Bertiak, upholding his chivalric code. Honorable Sir Gawain demonstrates the knightly code of chivalry throughout the poem.

In this story, Sir Gawain is a very respected knight of King Arthur’s and volunteers to take the Green Knight's challenge in King Arthur’s place. The Green Knight's challenge was for anyone to come forward and cut his head off with his own ax. In one year and one day the Green Knight would return the favor. Already Sir Gawain is showing to be a respected and noble knight who follows the code well. It is getting close to the time when Sir Gawain needs to meet up with the Green Knight to honor his challenge. Then, Sir Gawain stumbles upon a castle, and the lord there lets him stay for a couple of nights. The lord of the manor goes hunting every day and at the end of the day, him and Sir Gawain will trade what they have won. The lady of the manor tries to get into bed with Sir Gawain every morning, but he resists because he knows it's wrong and dishonest. Then she offers him a gold ring, which he also doesn't take. “I cannot accept these gifts, for I have nothing to give in return” (Sir Gawain 204). The queen is tempting Sir Gawain to take these gifts and he follows the code and rejects them respectfully, as a knight should. The queen gives him a kiss, and that is what he shares with the king at the end of every day, as he was instructed and promised to do. Next, Sir Gawain gets offered a green sash that is given to him by the queen that

The first sin that Dante describes is heresy. The penalty in the medieval era for heresy was often "public humiliation, imprisonment" or "to suffer death by burning." (Cantor). The punishment for the "arch heretics and those who followed them" was that they be "ensepulchered" and to have some "heated more, some less." (Alighieri). These red-hot sepulchers served as a punishment for the heretics, causing burns. The archheretics firmly believed that everything died with the body therefore there was no soul. So, they were punished with the hot and crowded pokers, but they were also punished with their beliefs and they were allowed to feel what it’s like to die eternally and lie and wait until the apocalypse. This punishment is one in that was more focused on inflicting a physical and bodily pain rather than a mental one.

     Sir Gawain is very courteous in all he does especially while in the company of the king. He is tempted daily by the king's wife. The lady would be aggressive for Gawain's love yet still giving all control of the situation to Gawain for him to make the mistakes. The lady