Sr Gawain and the Green Knight vs. Canterbury Tales

Marietta Shaw

English Lit. I

Doc. Nancy Kearns

June 7, 2011

The Canterbury Tales vs. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

The Canterbury Tales vs. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight have different focuses and values they portrayed. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight it focuses on nobility and the court, the chivalric code, and courtly love. In The Canterbury Tales it focuses on the people rather than the tales. They are somewhat similar because in The Canterbury Tales they had representation of social class and three estates those who pray, those who fight, and those who work. A common courtesy they both share is culture of chivalry and courtliness, nobles suppose to be honorable and Christian and the knights are expected to demonstrate “courtly love” towards an idealized woman. Though written in the same era, these two story poems are different in just about every way: in genre, style, and medium.

First of all, “courtly love” was the issue of treatment of ladies. “A knight was to treat his beloved as he would a lord in the sense that he served her and did brave deeds to earn her approval.” They may appear courteous, innocent, and submissive to God, to their husbands, and other men in the story. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight it states, “When you will, with my wife, who sit by your side, and talk with you at table, the better to cheer our guest.”(David, Simpson 185) The women would do just as there husband would ask. Just like how they did Sir Gawain it seemed to be a test of faith just to see if he was devoted to God. “And Gawain, said the good host agree now to this whatever I win in the woods I will give you at eve, and all you have earned you must offer to me;” (David, Simpson 185) To these people, God worked in mysterious ways, so it was not hard for someone to turn away from God.

The poetic medium Chaucer used to create the humorous mood found in The Canterbury Tales is rhyme. Gawain author used a more traditional medium to create a...