Sir Gawain and The Green Knight
In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, courtly love is used to test the loyalty and faith of Sir Gawain. One definition of courtly love was a "code of behavior that defined the relationship between aristocratic lovers in Western Europe during the Middle Ages. Influenced by contemporary chivalric ideals..." (Encarta Encyclopedia). Although courtly love was a part of chivalry, it also helped to define it. Since this was during the time of the Crusades, strict adherence to Christian morals was required of a knight. Chivalry was the code of conduct by which knights were supposedly guided. In addition to military prowess and valor and loyalty to God and the knight's feudal lord, it called for courtesy toward enemies and generosity toward the sick and oppressed, widows, and other disadvantaged people (Encarta). Incorporated in the ideal of chivalry was courtly love, which was romantic devotion for a sexually unattainable woman, usually another man's wife. It was a way of defining adultery in a time when marriages were primarily arranged for profit or military advantage. Courtly love was a strong element in the Arthurian legends, which Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a part. The Arthurian legends also had very strong moral
We can see this as the seduction progresses. It seemed that as long as Gawain is facing dangers that grow out of his agreement with the Green Knight, which does not test his opposing loyalties in love, his spiritual faith is clear and unwavering. It is evident that Sir Gawain has a special relationship with Mary. She is virtuous and untainted by sexuality, chaste, but also a mother. Since courtly love is in itself a sinful act, it is the part of chivalry that represents the pagan, or evil side, and the loyalty and faith and trust in God, and or a Lord, represents the Christian influences surfacing. Lady Bercilak was an archetypical of courtly love and a biblical temptress. Morgan is the instigator of the event with which the story begins and is given supernatural powers that can cause Lord Bercilak to defy death. Nevertheless, I don't think the author intended to present women as powerful, but rather these women embody an allegory for the dangers and anti-social forces outside the control of feudalism and chivalry. The basic struggle that Gawain has in this story is that between good and evil. This is evident in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by the Gawain's act of putting his trust in a pagan charm and not in the Virgin Mary. When the dilemma of whether or not to give Lord Bercilak the Green Girdle arises, Gawain, an ideal knight who remains fallibly human, is torn between the codes of courtly love and the other ethics of chivalry. This may, in fact, be the primary cause for this work. I believe the function of courtly love in understanding Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, is to demonstrate the need for change in the fabric of the social order, and how putting your trust in objects that are of magic or of the devil will only bring about destruction, not to mention the blatant statement that woman are inherently evil and can not be trusted. Bibliography Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia - 2000. At the time, society encouraged knights to become involved "platonically" with married women, but with the rise of the Catholic Church, these ideals were being challenged.
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