Sir Gawain V. Beowulf

Although written in different time periods, the two poems, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Beowulf show many similarities. Both of these poems share the same common ideas, such as the type of qualities that heroes posses. Each of the two poems also has a main character that exhibits these qualities of bravery, honor and truth.

In the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the main character, Sir Gawain continually showed bravery throughout the book. One of the first places we see his bravery is right at the beginning of the book, when he is dining in King Arthur's court. When the Green Knight entered the court, he presented a challenge to all of King Arthur's knights assuming that they would rise to the occasion. Instead, all of the knights sat in their seats dumbfounded, but the minute King Arthur was about to accept the challenge (since none of his knights would), Gawain bravely stood up and did what no other knight wanted to do, accept the challenge (and save the kingdom from anarchy). By doing this, Gawain not only showed his love for King Arthur, but also for his kingdom.

In the poem Beowulf, the main character, Beowulf is an incredible person who was willing to defeat anyone to keep his people safe. When Beowulf heard about the evil monster (Grendel) terrorizing King Hrothgar's town, he stepped up and agreed to fight Grendel without hesitation. By doing this, we see that Beowulf lacked no bravery and that he had a great love for human kind.

Numerous times throughout Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain showed honor towards other people. One such example occurred at the beginning when Gawain accepts the Green Knight's challenge. By accepting the challenge, he was not only saving King Arthur's life, but also saving King Arthur's reputation. When the Green Knight arrived at King Arthur's court, none of the knights stood up to accept the challenge. The Green Knight waited patiently for one of the King's knights to stand up, however when he received no response, he started to insult King Arthur by saying that he had wimpy knights. By accepting the challenge, Gawain was protecting the King's reputation and was proving the Green Knight wrong.

Beowulf showed honor quite often throughout the poem. An example of this occurred when King Hygelac passed away and Beowulf was offered the Geatish throne. Since Beowulf was not the rightful successor of the throne, Beowulf decided to wait on taking the throne until King Hygelac's son died. By doing this we see that Beowulf honored the King, his son and their property.

Sir Gawain does not pass his test in honesty completely, however, his does not fail it either. While on his way to the Green Knight's Chapel, Sir Gawain stopped off at a palace for lodging. It was here that Gawain was tested for his honesty. While staying at the palace, Gawain was placed in an awkward position when he found out that his host's wife had feelings for him. Gawain, however, was strong and did not fall for her attempts to seduce him. In the end however, his host's wife offered him a sash, which he accepted since she had fooled him into thinking that it had the power to protect him from any harm. When it was time for Gawain to leave the palace, he did not mention to his host about the sash even though he was supposed to, and in the end Gawain ended up facing the consequences of not telling by being nicked on the back of his neck.

Beowulf showed honesty throughout the poem, however one place where it can be seen undoubtedly occurs when Beowulf promises to help King Hrothgar with his problems with Grendel. Before fighting Grendel, Beowulf told the King that he would fight the monster without any weapons. When Beowulf came face to face with the monster, he kept both of his promises to the king. Not only did he kill Grendel, but he also did it without the need for weapons or armor.

Both Sir Gawain and Beowulf exhibited many of the same qualities that made them worthy of the title, hero. Not only did both characters show off their great qualities, but they also showed how much they cared for other people. They both helped people when people needed them, and treated them with great respect. Although the two poems may have been written in completely different times, they both shared more similarities than differences.