Gawains Moral Superiority Revealed in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight :: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Gawains Moral Superiority Revealed in Sir Gawain and the Green KnightIn the last-place scenes of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawains encounter with Sir Bertilak allows Gawain to perceive his own flaws, manifested in his acceptance of the Green Girdle. The courts reaction to his personal guilt highlights the disconnect amidst him and the other knights of the Round Table. Gawains behavior throughout the poem has been most noteworthy his understanding of his sin, one that many of us would dismiss since it was propelled by his revere of life, enhances his stature as a paragon of chivalry. When Gawain shows up at the Green Knights chapel, his mere presence provides comfort to his host, who greets him Sir so sweet, you honour the trysts you owe. by chance the green gallant had been expecting Gawain, as representative of the crumbling House of Arthur, to be derelict in his duties. Gawain lives up to his good name. Similarly, he resisted the unbearable temptations of Lady Bertilak o n legion(predicate) occasions, providing a mere kiss, in accordance with the code of chivalry.Yet, Gawain did err in accepting the girdle that much cannot be denied. We, the reader, can forgive him since he repents fully, til now going so far as to impose penance (of wearing the girdle eternally as a mark of his fall) on himself. It takes a lenient rebuke by the Green Knight to crack Gawains faade of confident valor. His conscience compels him to break down when confronted by his host as to his indiscretion. However, this happened nevertheless when the host had revealed himself to be the same as the Green Knight. We realize that Gawain had previously perceived in Sir Bertilak an equal in knighthood thus his ease in deceiving him in the exchange of winnings game. When Gawain realizes he was the subject of a test, he sees Bertilak/Green Knight in a different light. The Green Knight now becomes Gawains confessor and in doing so assumes a fatherly role.We see that Bertilak perceives Gawains fault, his love of life, and irrespective of it, loves Gawain. Despite having sinned, Bertilak sees in Gawain a first-rate knight, far superior to his peers in Camelot, who, faced with the spectre of death, grew silent with cowardice, as the honor of the King lay unguarded.