Sir Gawain and the Green Knight The Role of Women Essay Example For Students

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: The Role of Women Essay Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: The Role of Women In the fourteenth century, chivalry was in decline due to drastic social and economic changes. Although feudalism-along with chivalry-would eventually fall for other reasons, including a decrease in cheap human resources due to a drop in population caused by plague epidemics and the emergence of a mercantile middle class, the Gawain author perceived a loss of religious values as the cause of its decline. Gawain and the The poem warns that a loss of the religious values behind chivalry would lead to its ultimate destruction. Although superficially Sir Gawain and the Green Knight appears to be a romantic celebration of chivalry, it contains wide-ranging serious criticism of the system. The poet is showing Gawains reliance on chivalrys outside form and substance at the expense of the original values of the Christian religion from which it sprang. The first knights were monastic ones, vowing chastity, poverty and service to God, and undertaking crusades for the good of their faith. The divergence between this early model and the fourteenth century knight came with the rise of courtly love in which the knights were led to their great deeds by devotion to a mistress rather than God. The discrepancy between this and the churchs mistrust of women and desires of the flesh is obvious, and the poet uses women in the story to deliver this message. In contrast to reality at the time, women in the story are given great power: Mary, when properly worshiped, gives Gawain his power, Lady Bertilak operates alone in the bedroom and singlehandedly taints the chevalier, and Morgan the Fay instigates the entire plot, wielding enough power. The author is using them as a metaphor for other anti-social forces and dangers outside the control of feudalism and chivalry, drawing upon biblical and classical examples in his audiences minds of where femininity is linked with subversiveness. Lady Bertilak is clearly seen in the Biblical role of the temptress, the Eve who led Adam astrayin Gawain, she represents the traditional female archetypes of courtly love, disobedience, lust and death. Eves antithesis is the Virgin Mary, who is the only women who achieves motherhood while maintaining her chastity; she represents spiritual love, obedience, chastity, and life That Gawain is Marys Knight is made clear as he is robed for battle; the pentangle represents the five joys of Mary, and he has that queens image / Etched on the inside of his armored shield (648-649). As long as he is solely focused on his quest for the Green Knight, he derives his prowess and courage from his special relationship with Mary. On his journey to look for the Green Knight he is beset by a number of hardships, and is finally brought to the point of despair. Alone and freezing in the forest, he prays to Mary for shelter and a place to say mass on Christmas Eve. She answers his prayers and leads him to Bertilaks castle; however, his arrival at Bertilaks court throws him into a totally different world. Here, Gawain impresses courtiers of Bertilaks castle with his prowess in the field of courtly love rather than the feats of daring or his upholding of his honor, traits that would draw compliments in Arthurs court. Camelot is portrayed in its youth, long before it too is tainted by Lancelot and courtly love; Arthur is young, child-like (86) and the fine fellowship of Camelot was in its fair prime. The analogy is obvious: Arthurs court embodies chivalrys pure roots, where martial exploits were the primary subject of interest, whereas Bertilaks castle represents the low point of the degeneration the poet perceives chivalry to have undergone. Photosynthesis EssayThe Ladys association with courtly love also ties .