Both the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf, and the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight describe a heroic ideal proved in the battle. The first, Beowulf, is dated back as far as the 8th century ad. Sir Gawain and the Green knight was created five centuries later, in 14th Century, when the Alliterative revival in English literature turned back to the ideals and literary forms of Anglo-Saxon poems. Sir Gawain and the Green knight is very much alike Beowulf in the verse form and narrative style, it has similar conflict and it also celebrates the victory of fearless and brave heroes. But despite all similarities of these two literary masterpieces, they are different. Time changes ideals. Different time periods and societies have different ideals and values, and these two poems serve as a perfect example of this fact.

The epic of Beowulf is the highest achievement of Old English literature that inherits the Germanic heroic tradition. Like most European legends of that time it confronts its hero, Beowulf, with evil. The evil is represented in a poem by a supernatural creature, Grendel. Beowulf comes from a land far away to rescue a civili

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is one of the English medieval romances, celebrating chivalry and the knightly virtues - high ideals of the time of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. This was a time when disputes were settled by ordeals. The main conflict in the poem is an ordeal, that is the personal combat between two knights. The hero, Sir Gawain, is King Arthur's cousin and one of the Knights of the Round Table. He takes an honor to face the challenge of the Green Knight, who calls Arthur's knights bragging boasts and big words, fainting with fear, when no fight is offered. The Green Knight is not a supernatural creature (even though some fantastic elements are present, which is natural for romantic poem). Confrontation that Sir Gawain accepts is human-to-human ordeal to prove that accusations are false. The readiness to take an ordeal proves his courage, and his blow shows his enormous strength. But his courage and knightly honor are highly confirmed mostly by keeping his word to the Green Knight. Sir Gawain makes a difficult journey to keep his faith and accept the return blow. He knows that he came to face his doom and nevertheless arrives. He says, "By Christ, it's Satan who struck me with this meeting, I feel it! He's sent me here to destroy me" (Jovanovich B., p89, 34 -35). Sir Gawain is not perfect and he commits certain actions that are natural for human, but improper for a knight to take. He does not live up to the expectations in chiva

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Approximate Word count = 992
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)