The Green Knight And King Arthur Essay

The Green Knight And King Arthur Essay, Research Paper Becca Koff American Lit. Prof. Coale February 21, 2000 The Green Night and Le Morte d’Arthur Many British literature writers of the Middle Ages wrote about reality of the Middle Ages including the social, political, and economical styles of writing. During the Middle Ages, chivalry was a big aspect of every day life. Chivalry, a word not rarely used in modern times anymore in the same fashion it was before, is defined as, “the code of life that defined the qualities of knighthood, such as honor, courage, loyalty, and willingness to defined the weak and protect women.” (English & Western Literature Text) The Middle Ages were known to be the times of knights, kings, and queens and fighting for their country for

pride for the king. Loyalty was a major part of chivalry and thus was a part of many stories about the King Arthur era. One story in particular, “Le Morte d’Arthur” compiled by Sir Thomas Malory, shows many characters throughout who appear to be loyal to the king and queen of their country. Loyalty is shown through many instances from the beginning of the story to the end. All three knights, namely, Sir Torre, Sir Pellinore, and Sir Gawain, all reveal their loyalty through different actions and emotions. But in the introduction, before Arthur becomes King, King Uther was sick. In this instance, Merlin, the advisor, summons the Kings noblemen to take care of him. They did as they were told and did not back out because they loved their king and felt loyal to him unto his

dying day. Unfortunately, King Uther dies and his son, Arthur comes into the picture. When the news of the great stone in the rock came to everyone the noblemen wanted to win the prize and to become king of the land. One of them was Sir Kay, the brother of Arthur, the song of Sir Ector, whom asked Arthur to retrieve his sword since it had been misplaced or so he told him. “In order not to disappoint his brother, he rode on to St. Paul’s, determined to get for him the sword which was lodged in the stone.” (p.118) This states that Arthur did not want to back out since he was doing the deed for his brother out of pure loyalty for him. He tugged the sword without trouble and successfully was made king with some trouble from others who wanted to be king. The others who tried but

failed, did not believe that someone so young could succeed the throne instead of them. They did not have any loyalty towards Arthur at first, which put off the crowning for a while but not until Arthur successfully again retrieved the sword out of the stone did the others bow down to him. They were finally going to become loyal to their real king; King Arthur. “The nobles, knowing in their hearts that the commoners were right, all knelt before Arthur and begged for forgiveness for having delayed his succession for so long.” (p.120) This quote tells the reader that the nobles begged for their forgiveness by kneeling down before him in search of becoming loyal again. In the second part of this story, it describes many adventures of Gawain, Torre, and Pellinore in which they

unveil their loyalty or un-loyalty towards the king. In the very beginning of this section, Merlin, and King Arthur are talking about marriage for Arthur. Merlin states that the woman Arthur sets eyes on already has someone to love. But he states that he would do anything to please Arthur even to go to King Lodegreaunce, the father of the woman, and tell him that Arthur is in love with her. “However, profice me with a royal escort and I will go to King Lodegreaunce and tell him that you are in love with Gwynevere and would like to marry her.” This shows Merlin’s loyalty towards Arthur because he would go against anything already set to make Arthur happy. He is being a loyal friend and advisor. Thus Merlin successfully does the deed and Arthur and Gwynevere are happily