Drew Hoffman
10/8/14
Mrs. Andersen
AP Literature The Role of the Knight In medieval literature the knight is used to portray the lessons that people learn. The knight’s flaw in his moral code which the author capitalized on was to show the reader what to do or not to do ethically or morally. Whether the knight is flawless or imperfect the knight learns an important lesson, therefore teaching the reader a lesson as well. While known as ruthless warriors who fought for their kingdom and raped and pillaged during religious conquests, there were many images of a knight that are often forgotten or ignored. Knights followed a code known as chivalry, which were the rules and behaviors that governed a knight’s actions. The expectation of the medieval knight was to be flawless, following every one of the rules of chivalry. The knight was a person of high moral character, but had one (or very rarely two) flaws that followed them. But as often as they had been perfect, the world around them was not. The middle ages were a very troublesome time for the human race. Wars were being waged all around, and people were dying of disease as quickly as the rats could spread them. During these times the knights had to risk their lives to defend their kingdom, keep themselves safe from the disease all around them, and maintain their moral standing. The knight was one of the most prestigious titles a man could earn. To acquire knighthood a man had to be courageous, loyal, chivalrous, and willing to die to defend his kingdom and the people in it. Sir Gawain was the model portrait of a knight living in the middle ages. He was loyal, chivalrous, courageous, and only had one flaw: his love for his own life. Everyone during the middle ages may not have loved the quality of their life, but certainly did not want to die. On the other hand, knights were expected to die for anything the lord of the castle deemed important enough to die for. Sir Gawain lacked this trait, as did the common people of the Middle Ages. This is what separated a distinguished knight from common man because the common people did not have as high standards as the knight did. The author in the story wants people to see that the standards that knights live by are not as far-fetched as the common people thought they were. That even though it may be hard to find something so important worth dying for, finding that one thing will make you a person of higher morals in the end. This allows man to compare himself to the virtues of the knight, which will in turn push the common people to try and follow the moral code that knights follow. The author of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight wanted to teach the readers of this story the lesson of good strong principles and how if you have a bad