For this week’s blog, I’ll be writing on the recent reading we had to do for the story Sir Gawain And The Green Knight translated by J.R.R. Tolkien. This week we had to read part one of the story which introduced us to the story and the main plot.
In the beginning of the story, we’re told a legend about the origins of the kingdom of England, which traces its origins from the cities of Troy and Rome. After we are told the legend, we are introduced to the legendary King Arthur, who was said to have ruled England around the 5th to 6th centuries, along with his most chivalrous knights of the round table who are all gathered within King Arthur’s court to celebrate Christmas. While celebrating and feasting, a mysterious man beaming with green light barges into the court with his stead. When asked by King Arthur if he was looking for combat, he denied this and instead says he wants to play a Christmas game with the fearless knights of the round table. For the game, the king or one of his knights will chop off the Green Knight’s head off and keep the axe. In return, they must find the Green Knight and allow him to chop that person’s head off a year from then. After being insulted and challenged, King Arthur accepts the challenge and proceeds to pick up the axe until his yet to be proven nephew, Gawain, askes to play the game instead. King Arthur, after some debate, allows him to do it and Gawain proceeds to chop the Green Knight’s head off.
One of the main aspects of the first part of the story which stood out to me was the idea of honor and how important it was for people during the time. We first see the importance of honor when the Green Knight questions King Arthur’s own honor. Instead of ignoring the Green Knight who he knew little of, King Arthur’s chooses to accept the challenge to maintain his honor. After this, we again see the importance of honor when Gawain comes to King Arthur, pleading to be the challenger. He does this since he has little honor besides being the nephew of the King, and wishes to prove his honor. All of theses scenes shows how important honor was for the King, knights, and nobles who depended on this system of honor at the time.
