ENGLISH MISC Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Essential Question: Is honor worth dying for?

Document Content and Description Below

Surry Central High ENGLISH MISC Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Essential Question: Is honor worth dying for? Whether honor is worth dying for is a question a good medieval knight would ha... ve no trouble answering. The code of chivalry made it plain that it was his duty to defend—if necessary, with his life—his church, king, and country. Today, blind obedience is often looked upon with suspicion. Many people cannot accept the belief that an abstract concept is worth dying for. Background In the person of Sir Gawain—a nephew of the legendary King Arthur—the Gawain Poet portrays the ideals medieval knights would have striven to meet. Although real knights were far from perfect, legendary knights such as Sir Gawain dutifully obeyed a code of chivalry that represented a combination of Christian and military ideals, including faith, modesty, loyalty, courtesy, bravery, and honor. Perhaps the most important virtue for a knight in the age of chivalry was what the Gawain Poet calls trawthe, a Middle English word translated variously as “truth,” “devotion,” and “fidelity.” Trawthe meant not only keeping one’s word but also remaining faithful to the vows taken at the ceremony of knighthood, which included both secular and religious chivalric responsibilities. Chivalry Chivalry reached its height in the 12th and 13th centuries. At age 7, boys from the nobility became pages in the castles of nobles; at 14, they became squires, serving knights and learning military skills and horsemanship; at 21, they were knighted. A chivalrous knight owed loyalty to God, to his lord, and to a lady to whom he had sworn his love (a platonic love). A knight’s prowess was evaluated on the battlefield or in tournaments. Questions of chivalric love sometimes were decided by courts of love presided over by noblewomen. [Show More]

Last updated: 1 year ago

Preview 1 out of 3 pages