Physical Tempation Versus Chivalrous Ideals In the Time of Sir Gawain
In the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the principles of the chivalrous treatment of women are dealt with in the case of Sir Gawain and his adventures involving the Green Knight. ... Commonly seen as the most noble of the Arthurian knights, Sir Gawain is repeatedly tempted to violate chivalrous ideals by the lady of the house of Bertilak during his brief stay at the castle. The lady’s temptation of Sir Gawain introduces the concept of “courtly love”: that is, the behavior in which a knight should do his best to entertain, flirt with, and even kiss a lady of the court while abandoning all thoughts of any other physical interaction between them. The specific issue of the way in which a chivalrous knight should interact with a woman is directly dealt with in this part of the poem, and calls into question the balance between chivalry and (inevitable) human folly as Sir Gawain does his best to repel the increasingly seductive advances of the lady of the house. ... Gawain’s troubles with the lady begin with his acceptance of Bertilak’s proposal of a game involving the exchange of winnings in one’s conquests of the day (Lines 1106-07). By accepting the challenge, Gawain inadvertently allows himself to be alone with the lady while her husband is out hunting.