Code of Chivalry: Exploring its Significance in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Gawain seems to create the perfect image of a knight by following the code of chivalry honorably. When the Green Knight enters Arthur's court unannounced and challenges them to game, nobody volunteers to partake except for Gawain. When the next year comes Sir Gawain leaves for the green chapel ready to die. Throughout the story Sir Gawain faces many obstacles involving temptation, which he withstood affably but, by taking the green girdle Sir Gawain's desire of self preservation reveals his greatest vice.

Temptation often comes in unexpected forms. When Sir Gawain loses all hope of finding the green chapel, he falls on the ground crying and calling out to god. The lord's house ends up being a sign that god was listening. The lord and ladies welcome Gawain with open arms and treat him as a king instead of a knight. The Lord says he'll go out all day and hunt for Gawain as long as he gets something in return, to which Gawain agrees.

On the first day the lord hunts a deer, while Sir Gawain fights off the temptation of the lady, who has taken interest in him. Being a courteous man, Sir Gawain resists the temptation of the lord's wife while still making sure she has her honor. By the third day Sir Gawain has resisted his temptation of laying with the lady of the house and has followed the code of chivalry virtuously, but it was starting to get hard for Gawain to keep turning away the beautiful woman. On the third and final day, she guilefully walks into his chamber wearing nothing but jewelry and a green girdle: "Her face and her fair throat freely displayed; her bosom all but bare and her back as well" (page 45, line 1740). This was her third attempt at bedding Sir Gawain, which he refused again.

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The Lady giving up on copulation with the knight offers him a ring that "was worth king's wealth" (page 47,line 1820), which he refuses stating that he has nothing he can give to her in return. The lady then offers Gawain something he cannot resist, a green girdle that offers him immunity, the only condition was that he could not tell the lord he has it, the knight agrees to the terms and takes the girdle. Sir Gawain's desire to live ultimately corrupts his duties as a follower of the code. Upon arrival to the green chapel, green girdle in hand, Gawain prepares to meet his maker. When he approaches the green knight, that year and a day felt too short.

The green knight, ready to finish the game takes the axe and swings it, only for Sir Gawain to flinch and stumble backwards in fear. "You are not Gawain the glorious" (page 58,line 2270) because a real knight would never cower away from protecting his name. Sir Gawain knowing what must happen to him tells the Green Knight to swing his axe again, and this time he will not move, so he swings his axe a second time, but the Knight only produces a small blemish on Gawain's face.

The Green Knight notices the green girdle around Sir Gawain's waist and tells him that his wife has that exact same girdle. He then goes on to tell Gawain that he goes by the name of Bertilak and that Sir Gawain's whole journey was meant to assay Arthur's court; "She guided me in this guise to your glorious hall, to assay, if such it were, the surfeit of pride that is rumored of the retinue of the round table" (page 62,line 2456). As a reminder that Gawain did not follow the code and gave into his temptation of living, he wears that green girdle around his arm. Sir Gawain's pilgrimage can be considered one of realization of his own weaknesses and carnal desires.

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