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From: Nancy Denney
Date: 9/30/2009
Time: 4:40:34 PM
Remote Name: 24.196.138.253
There are 2 different ways that courtesy is defined. The first way is from the woman. She is basically telling Gawain that if he is as noble and has manners of the court then he will be with her since she is throwing herself to him and that would be the “right” thing to do. And Gawain he thinks of courtesy as not as action but more of virtue if that makes any sense. Like the example that we had in class. His shield isn't of his coat of arms but that of a picture of Mary and a five pointed star. When they are having a discussion when the woman enters the room and sits on his bed. They are both going back and forth trying to correct one another as to how they see who Gawain is. She wants him to have her and he doesn't want that at all. At the end of the poem Gawain wears the sash as a sign of his shame, dishonesty, and in his eyes dishonor that he can wear on him and remember what happened. I think that this was a way that Gawain could deal with what he had done and what happened. But when he returned back to King Arthur's court the people saw the sash as something completely different. They were displaying it but didn't really grasp why they were doing it. I think they wore the sash to honor Gawain. I think that if Gawain sees himself as not good enough and isn't worth much in ways of honor and nobility. Everyone around him seems to see him as an upright person but thats not necessarily how he sees or feels about himself. We see that he thinks less of himself in all parts of the poem. In the beginning when he takes the challenge away from King Arthur to when he is talking to the woman, to the end when he is talking to the Green knight.