The True Virtues of a Hero From Old Age to New Age

The Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Periods shape the view of a gallant from day one till now. From the tales of Beowulf, Le Morte d’ Arthur, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, an epic hero’s persona becomes the ideal image of an admirable character. Regardless of all the faults encountered, with certain characteristics such as honor, courage, loyalty, and honesty, an epic hero can mean so much to an individual. Just as the old ages, not every individual can have the full combination of a hero. As years past and time changes, these virtues still remain the same. Till this day, anyone with courage, loyalty, and honesty, deserves to be honored. Those individuals are the ones that young children look up to the most; those are the true heroes of†¦show more content†¦And inscribed on his tomb, men say, is this legend: Here lies Arthur, the once and future king† (403-406). Arthur set the true example of a hero for his people with his strengths and his courageous hea rt. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a rather different tale. Sir Gawain was able to chop the Green Knight’s head off with an agreement; Sir Gawain would get his own head chopped off in twelve months and a day. The Green Knight knew under all these conditions, Sir Gawain was going to have to meet their agreement. Once twelve months and a day came up, Sir Gawain rode off to the green castle to see the Green Knight and to do his time doing of getting his head chopped off. Instead, he encounters a king and decides to get into another agreement with him. This time, instead of following through like the Green Knight’s agreement, Sir Gawain becomes dishonest with the king. For his punishment, the king decides to teach him a lesson. The king strikes three times, for every time Sir Gawain was supposed to trade for what he had. Sir Gawain knowing what he did was wrong; he admits his wrong doing to the king, who turns out to be the Green Knight. The Green Knight doesn’t chop off Sir Gawain’s head and tells him that he paid for his fault by admitting his dishonesty and offering his head to the ax. From what the Green Knight puts Sir GawainShow MoreRelated Beowulf Society Essay1717 Words   |  7 PagesBecause the poem was performed orally mainly between the eighth and tenth centuries, but dealt with subject matter of centuries earlier, it is difficult to decipher and separate the cultural context involved in the poem from one century to the next. The poem was probably unrecognizable from its original state after two hundred years of oral tradition that would have changed its content drastically. 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