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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is an interesting piece of literature. It is classified as a poem but seems to be more like a story. The characters in the story show a strong respect and faith in the christian/Catholic religion that is repeated through much of the first two fitts. It is clear in the story that this poem tells a tale parallel to that of King Arthur and the Knights of the round table.

The amount of detail throughout the poem is interesting in the fact that each action and main character is described in great detail, with every article of clothing and each of their features described to give the reader a sense of exactly what they look like. The Green Knight although we only encounter him once in the first two fitts is described to give the reader and exact sense of his demeanor as well as his looks. Much like a story the reader of the poem is left with a sense of wonder about who and what the Green Knight is and what will happen. The poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight seems like a poem that is meant to be told as a sort of campfire or children story to display a lesson while keeping whoever may be listening to want to hear more. I am left with a question of why write this story to tale in the form of a poem rather then a story? Was this sort of method common during the time period this piece was written to covey a story or message?

The Book of Genesis

The Genesis stood out to me the most from the creation stories. Specifically from chapter one to four. These stories stood out because in western culture and religion the Genesis is the most popular belief. In the first chapter it describes and accounts the act of  God creating the world and everything that exists  throughout seven days. Over the seven days God creates the various creatures and plants that exist on earth and the earth itself. After everything had been created God created a human. In this culture there is a belief in only one god rather then many as some of the other creations stories. This God controls and creates all life  rather then having various gods that each serve a different purpose. After god creates a human he keeps in constant contact and closely watches over for him. The human is provided for and God creates a garden for him to live in with everything he could need. Shortly after a woman is created and this leads to the downfall of the human. From this it could be taken that this society did not have a high view of woman and blamed them for societies issues. The downfall comes when the woman is tempted by a serpent, who is thought to be the most cunning of all beasts created by God. In the garden God had created for both the man and woman there was one tree which the were forbidden to eat fruit from. The serpent tempts the woman to eat from this tree regardless of God’s warning. After this moment comes a turning point in the Genesis. Before this God had been very nurturing but after eating from the tree he turns away from them. They are both cast out of the garden he had created to provide for them and curses them to “dust” which can be inferred as mortality. Through this story of creation some questions arise. One question is, why if god created and controls all does he not know they will be tempted to eat from the tree? If god created all then the serpent would have been created by him leading to the temptation of eating from the tree? Why even have the tree in the garden in the first place if it was forbidden? Shouldn’t God have known they would be tempted to the tree if he had created them? In parts 1-4 these questions do not have clear answers but it is clear that after this incident God seems to turn away from nurturing the humans and allow them to fend for themselves. The last question left is, why did God take the time to create any of this? What purpose does it all serve?