The Character Analysis of Sir Gawain from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Uploaded by DISABLED USER on Oct 30, 2014
Ash Thomas
9/20/14
Brit Lit I
Pledged
A believable character has always been an extremely difficult task for any writer to create. A true needs to make readers want to learn more about him or her, to have the reader cry with the character and laugh with the character. The acts, words, appearance, and especially the very nature of a character have to be vivid and understandable to the audience. The audience needs to be able to connect to the character so that they can sympathize and empathize with him or her. Different Arthurian works that feature Sir Gawain describe him as noble, a chivalrous hero with virtuous attributes.
The youngest of the Round Table knights and the nephew of King Arthur, Gawain was also one of the King’s closest friends and an active contributor in various adventures that the group went on. Gawain switches spots in various tales of the Round Table, beginning as a main character, the protagonist, and later appearing mostly as a confidant or secondary supporting character, helping the hero on their quest.
Gawain's righteous behavior makes him a noble hero with honorable intentions, based on the author's and other character's opinions of him. But at the same time, this 'righteousness' shows his absence of desire for an occasional revolt and contribution to thought; such 'righteousness' was, perhaps, taught to medieval knights in order to create an army of obedient toy soldiers. Only through the portrayal of a natural fear can we recognize what is left of a human being that still exists, even though it hides, inside of this perfect Christian knight with bold actions and keen words.
The poem gives a very detailed description of Gawain’s appearance as he prepares to go on the quest to find the Green Knight so that the yearlong beheading game can be completed. Everything he befits not only himself in, but his horse as well, shows that he is not a poor knight. His helmet is encrusted with gems and embroidered with parrots and turtledoves, his shield has an image of the Virgin Mary on the inside and an endless knot, or the pentangle on the outside of it. The pentangle is a symbol of Gawain’s five virtues, another outward appearance of his character. The near paragraph that the author uses to describe only Gawain’s shield suggests that the knight deserves heavy protection that the shield can provide. The “token of truth,” or...