Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

The poem "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" tells the story of Sir Gawain as he journeys to meet his supposed death at the hands of the titular Green Knight, having promised to appear a year and a day following their first meeting. Gawain's journey from King Arthur's court, across England, and finally to the Green Chapel serves to demonstrate and comment upon the chivalric code professed and practiced in King Arthur's court, because it sees Gawain enacting the kinds of deeds the narrator lauds at the beginning of the poem and that the Green Knight mocks Arthur's court for failing to live up to. The chivalric code of Arthur's court relies nearly entirely on appearance, and the narration includes extended sequences describing the act of dressing and clothing itself. The arrival of the Green Knight may be read as an effort to intentionally...
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