Sir Gawain in Transition Essays -- Sir Gawain Papers

Sir Gawain in Transition Sir Gawain has vie a significant role in Arthurian legends since the Middle Ages. His start-off major appearance in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight depicts Gawain as a strugglerior rather than a womanizing gymnastic horse like others from King Arthurs court. Even in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain focuses on his involution with the green knight rather than the advances of Bercilaks wife. During Gawains berate to Bercilaks castle, his wife makes three specific advances to entice Gawain into an adulteress relationship. Although Gawain faces certain demolition with the Green Knight, he declines any sexual involvement with Bercilaks wife. Gawains character remain faithful to his warrior image by rushing into battle with the green knight rather than prolonging his stay at Bercilaks castle. Although he exhibits this obsession with battle in many stories, Gawains role changes drastically between his appearance in The married couple of Sir Gawain and brothel keeper Ragnell and his later appearance in Howard Pyles The Story of King Arthur and His Knights. Although these stories charter similar plots, Gawains character undergoess a dramatic transformation. In The Wedding of Sir Gawain and shuttlecock Ragnell Gawain reveals his loyalty to King Arthur by agreeing the marry the Loathly lady subsequently she saves the kings life. This not the first appearance of the loathly lady in chivalrous literature. In Chaucers Canterbury Tales, the Knights Tale reiterates the familiar folklore motif that concerns the transformation of the ugly beldam into a beautiful woman after a man has pose himself under her sovereynte and incorporates the theme of A Riddle Asked and Answered (Wilhelm 467). ... ...en he learns to love the women he marries, Gawain argues with his new wife and then mutters so be it when confronted with her choice. Gawain refuses to learn from his mistakes in Pyles story. In both Pyles story and The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell, Gawain does not battle as he does with the green knight instead, he marries and enters the marital war zone rather than those fought on the battlefield. BibliographyLupack, Alan, ed. Modern Arthurian Literature. New York adorn Publishing, Inc., 1992. Vasta, Edward. Chaucer, Gower, and the Unknown Minstrel The Literary Liberation of the Loathly Lady. Exemplaria. 395-419.Wilhelm, James J., ed. The fancy of Arthur. New York Garland Publishing, Inc., 1994. Web Text version of The Marriage of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell is at http//rodent.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/ragnell.htm