Examples Of Archetypes In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

With every corner we turn in today’s culture, we become more and more aware of the archetypes that surround us. Archetypes are the works of a typical character, situation, setting, or symbol that can be found in fantasy and reality. An example would be the renowned medieval story Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Pearl Poet. The author permeates the story with situational, symbolic, and character archetypes that illustrate the profound life of Sir Gawain. Sir Gawain was apprehensive of his journey at first, but as time passes, he began to make choices that unveils to the audience the true flawed knight that he was. During Sir Gawain’s journey, he is met with countless types of situational archetypes that involved conflict, character†¦show more content†¦This sense of regret doesn’t stop Sir Gawain from carrying on from his task, because he then follows with the theme of the story, and that was to stay chivalrous and prideful even if it cost him his lif e. On his journey Sir gawain comes across a great deal of character archetypes. These would include trickster, the â€Å"lord†(The Green Knight), and the supernatural aid (God). These character archetypes ultimately found their place into the stories theme,conflict, and contribution to Sir Gawain’s character development. The first character archetype would be the Green Knight who serves as the trickster/mentor. The reason why the Green Knight’s the trickster is because he discusses himself as the lord to try and trick Sir Gawain into committing adultery with his wife, but he also serves as a mentor because in the end the Green Knight teaches Sir Gawain the theme of the story. We can conclude with this because Sir Gawain states, â€Å"I shall look upon it...and remind myself of the fault and faintness of the flesh.† (Weston )This statement ultimately shows that all of the Green Knight’s tricks soon serve as a moral to Sir Gawain, teaching him to hum ble himself everytime he looks upon his scar. This also shows a small resolution towards Sir Gawain’s conflict,because everyone time he looks at thatShow MoreRelatedArchetypes In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight829 Words   |  4 PagesArchetypes can be found in most literary work, especially in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight most characters or objects served to aid in the development of the hero by being either a situational, character, color, or a symbol archetype. The poem begins with a challenge being presented to the knights of the Round Table by the Green Knight. 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