economic changes. Feudalism along with chivalry will fall for many reasons, but the

author of Gawain blames the fall on the loss of religious values within the knights. The

author uses women in the story as the main instrument to reinforce feudalism, for

example: Lady Bertilak and The Virgin Mary are used to contrast the good and evil that a

knight has to face; courtly and spiritual love. With this, women are weakening the

religious values behind chivalry with their temptations towards sin, and the author warns

the audience that the loss of religious values behind chivalry will lead to its ultimate

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a romantic celebration of chivalry. The

original thoughts of chivalry were Christian values such as poverty, chastity, service to

God, and all crusades that were taken by knights were to prove their faith in God. But as

time went on to the 14th century, knights began to lead their great deeds by devotion to a

mistress rather than their God. Men began to gain desire for the flesh of another, rather

then for the protection of their souls. The author shows that

between spiritual and courtly love is now apparent in Gawain for he is "concerned for his

Arthur's court not as a failure, but as a fully reinstated Knight of Honor. Yet his refusal to

sin from a beautiful lady who is half naked in front of him, yet to say no would be

Some common words found in the essay are:
Lady Bertilak, Virgin Mary, Green Knight, Mary Gawain's, Bertilak Gawain, , Castle Gawain, Gawain Mary, Characters Bible, Lord Bertilak, lady bertilak, green knight, courtly love, virgin mary, religious values, host castle, bertilak virgin mary, owe oath, lord bertilak, bertilak virgin, spiritual love, discourteous host castle, loss religious values, lady bertilak virgin, religious values chivalry,
Approximate Word count = 1428
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)