Is Gawain a faultless knight? Daayoung Lee 12th Grade

During the medieval ages, there was a set of rules and customs the knights referred to as the Code of Chivalry. Leon Gautier condensed the Chivalric Code into the ten commandments of the Code of Chivalry that was expected of the knights to follow. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, one of the greatest classics, by the Pearl Poet, edited and translated by James Winny, provides an adventurous account of Sir Gawain, and his journey to find the Green knight. Green Knight challenged the knights in Camelot into his little, mysterious game: one of the knights could chop off his head and a year and a day after he could return the blow he got. When none of the noble knights stood up to this challenge, Sir Gawain takes this challenge into his own hands. He decapitates the Green Knight’s head and sets out on his journey to fulfill his duty as a true knight and receive the promised blow on his neck. Throughout the quest as Sir Gawain’s sense of chivalry is tested, he falls short in proving himself a faultless knight because he valued his life but succeeds in proving himself an honorable one.

Gawain tried to follow through the feudal duties as well as God’s law but risked his loyalty for self-protection. According to the ten commandments of...