Western Civilization Movie Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Western Civilization Movie - Term Paper Example Secondly, because of the first issue, there were not many written works in wide circulation and therefore not many people who were fully educated enough to both enjoy reading as a past-time or to serve as scribes to create more manuscripts. Within the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the story opens at a point where Gawain is a young knight in the service of the legendary King Arthur and thus addresses the historical existence of this figure. However, the narrative story is not considered a reliable source of information because there are few existent facts to support it and there is sufficient evidence to suggest that the Gawain author borrowed from older legends, such as the legend of Cuchulain (Brewer, 1992), to create his story. Despite this, the story still has numerous merits that help us understand more about life in medieval times such as the important elements of being a knight and the latent criticism of the male-ordered ‘civility’ represented by King Arthur and his knights as they turned their backs on nature and the natural element in man. At the beginning of the story, Gawain comes to the realization that he is the only knight capable of accepting the challenge of the Green Knight who has come bursting into Arthur’s court issuing a New Year’s Day challenge. This is because he feels he is the least valuable knight in the court and therefore the one most expendable should he fail to win the challenge. â€Å"I am the weakest, the most wanting in wisdom, I know, and my life, if lost, would be least missed, truly† (I.16.354-355). This reveals the context of defining the true knight in which humility is seen to be prized over bravery regardless if it is true. According to Garbis, the concept of the reluctant hero is an important element of the Arthurian tradition. â€Å"Some kind of shock occurs that makes one aware of the self† (Garbis, 2002). However, it often goes unnoticed that the Green Knight is clearly a supernatural figure that