Heroes in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Joseph...

Heroes in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Joseph Campbell Many would agree that although there are many stories about heroes, they all seem similar in some way. Joseph Campbell wrote many books about this theory of a hero cycle that every hero story follows. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, this pattern is clearly exemplified and it shows the numerous steps in Joseph Campbells idea of the hero cycle. The first step in Campbells hero cycle is the call. This is when the hero of the story is drawn into some type of journey, challenge, or adventure. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, this step occurs after the Green Knight enters the castle and requests a challenge, and no one but King Arthur will accept it. Then, Sir†¦show more content†¦The Green Knight agrees if Gawain will come to wherever he thinks the Green Knight will be. Of course, Gawain has no clue where he would find him, so the Green Knight says that he will tell him if Gawain can hit him square on the neck. Then Sir Gawain strikes him directly on his neck, and the Green Knights head rolls off. The Green Knight proceeds to pick up his head and leave, while bleeding terribly from the neck as if he were unharmed. Before he leaves, he tells Sir Gawain to come to the Green Chapel when they agreed. So then a year passes before Gawain comes across his second trial. It occurs while Gawain stays in the castle of a hospitable lord before he is to meet again with the Green Knight. During his stay, the lord and Sir Gawain agree to exchange what each has won during the day (Ponsor 128). For three days the lord brings back what he has hunted, and Gawain gives him the kisses he has received from the lady of the castle. However, he also received a magical green scarf from the lady on the third day, but fails to exchange it for it is a token of good luck. When Sir Gawain finally meets with the Green Knight, he prepares to be struck with a scythe, but the Green Knight ends up only giving him a minor scratch on the neck. This is because the knight was testing his honor, and he scratched him because he did not maintain his honor on that third day. He was supposed to hand overShow MoreRelatedLiterary Analysis Of Sir Gawain And The Green Knight1200 Words   |  5 Pagesfictional writing, cultural values of certain time periods have been expressed and implemented through the depiction of the heroes’ experiences on their journeys and the knowledge they gain by the quest’s end. For example, in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a chivalric romance written in the Late Middle Ages, Gawain epitomizes a knight with the characteristics that knights from the Late Middle Ages were expected to possess according to the requirements outlined in the rules of chivalry, such asRead MoreComparing Beowulf And Sir Gawain And The Green Knight Essay1555 Words   |  7 PagesAges, Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, both reflect attributes of loyalty, specifically the testing of one’s loyalty and the consequences of di sloyalty, which reflect the behavior and values shared by the Anglo-Saxons and the people of the Late Medieval era. When analyzing loyalty in both of these works one will see that one’s own self-worth turns loyalty into selfishness to save oneself rather than risking one’s life for the sake of the community. Joseph Campbell outlined archetypesRead MoreBeowulf And Sir Gawain And The Green Knight Essay2373 Words   |  10 Pagescase in the works Beowulf from the Anglo-Saxon period and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight from the Late Middle Ages. Both heroes Beowulf and Sir Gawain represent certain customs for their respective communities; however, the three hundred and fifty years between these two works contribute to the contrasting views in the definition of the aforementioned standards. Through a thorough examination of the Monomyth, a pattern identified in Joseph Campbell’s Hero with a Thousand Faces, a paradigm shift ofRead MoreHeroes : The Green Knight And Oed ipus1156 Words   |  5 Pagesday. 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Nevertheless, they were shaped in accordance with the archetypal structure tha t permeates all literary works--that of the Monomyth, a concept first developed by Joseph Campbell in his monumental work TheRead MoreThe Heroes Of Beowulf And Sir Gawain And The Green Knight Essay2116 Words   |  9 Pagespossess, as suggested by Joseph Campbell in his monumental work The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Such narrative poems as Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight represent what the Anglo-Saxons and the Middle English saw as both acceptable and non-acceptable demeanor. Both works possess the same values and beliefs while others, distinctly oppose, something that can be clearly observed through the careful archetypal study of the heroes of Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. In Beowulf, the