Knighthood In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

A great example of the knighthood is the title or the status of a knight. The “man” that gets to be known as a knight is someone that will serve his sovereign or lord as a mounted soldier in armor. The ideal Christian knight as defined by Sir Gawain and the Green Knight would have to live up to the code of “chivalry”. Although…“throughout Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Knights, more specifically, of the Round Table, are depicted as the heroic, noble, almost god-like protectors of Camelot.” (bukisa, 2008). Sir Gawain is highly religious.
In the medieval times Part of a knight’s duty was to defend and love the Church and to have complete trust in God. Sir Gawain from the very beginning shows his loyalty to his king by taking the Green Knight's
challenge in the name of King Arthur. He accepted the challenge and delivered the blow to the Green Knight, knowing that in a year and a day later he will also be receiving that same blow.
If Sir Gawain wouldn’t of accepted the challenge, the honor of King Arthur and his kingdom would be question, and mocked by the Green Knight. When the time came for Sir Gawain to go out and follow through with his deal with the Green Knight, he does not live up to the integrity and honesty portion of being a good knight. Although on his way to the mysterious Green Chapel he encounters wolves and dragons, bulls and bears, boars and giants. Sleeping in his armor and having frequent nightmares. As the winter grew colder, he nearly freezes to death. On Christmas Eve. Gawain prays to the Virgin Mary that he might find a place to attend Christmas mass. After repenting his sins and crossing himself three time he looked up and sees a beautiful castle. Gawain is warmly invited into the castle and will meet the lord. The lord takes Gawain to a rich chamber, where he feeds Gawain sumptuous food and wine, and introduces Gawain to two women. When Gawain wanted to continue on his way with only three days left, the lord told him that the Green Chapel was only two miles away, and he was welcomed to stay those three days. The lord proposed a game of sorts, Gawain would stay in bed and in the castle while the lord went out hunting with his
men. At the end of each day they would exchange whatever they have won that day. At the end of the day the host greats Gawain and hands him over his hunt of the day, and Sir Gawain did the same, giving the lord a kiss, the kiss he got from the lord’s wife. They agree to play again the next day. That night, the host brings home the boar’s head on a stick and exchanges it with Gawain for the two kisses. On the third day the host hunts a fox, Gawain is offered a green girdle, that possesses the ability to keep the man who wears it safe from death. At the end of the day, he gives the three kisses to his host but fails to mention the lady’s gift. When Gawain goes and meets with the Green Knight, he welcomes Gawain warmly and compliments him on his punctuality, then tells him he will repay him for his own beheading a year ago. The first time the Knight lifts and swings his axe Gawain flinches and the Knight stops. The second time Gawain tells him he will not flinch, he swings, and Gawain flinches again. They both get mad and the Green Knight swings but does nothing but a scratch on Gawain’s neck. It is revealed that the Green Knight is the host of the castle where Gawain was staying. Gawain has failed to show his knighthood by saying the truth about his gift’s, to save his own life.