Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

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cultural and moral heritage. Both in the poet's use of alliterative verse and in his characterization of Gawain, it is apparent that Gawain has much in common with the Anglo-Saxon hero, such as Beowulf. The strange, hostile world he encounters upon leaving Camelot, the many tests he endures, the crafty machinations of the Green Knight, and the sexual temptations that can so easily overcome a man - impress us with the realization that Gawain is an honorable fellow, subject to weakness and ambiguity. The thematic lines between the poems are of a general nature, rather than that of an integrally connected poem-sequence, and can be summarized as having applicability to the overall moral and spiritual well-being of a man, perhaps a knight, living in a courtly environment toward the end of the fourteenth century. Given this social and political climate, it is not surprising that a poet, sensitive to the spirit of the times, should write for his aristocratic audience poetry that ...

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