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Sir Gawain And The Green Knight Comparison Essay

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In both John Milton’s Paradise Lost and the anonymous work Sir Gawain and the Green Knight temptation is used as a vital tool, contributing conflict to the plot. The means, purpose, and consequences of temptation lead the protagonists to different conclusions. The stories follow a parallel, diverging only when one protagonists fails and the other succeeds. With the idea that God gave mortals freedom and therefore they have the ability to choose in mind, it is arguable that the tale of Adam and Eve could have resulted in the same storybook conclusion as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The many parallels between the two stories indicate that with this God-given ability of choice, both stories could end in tragedy, such as Paradise Lost, or in …show more content…
As Sir Gawain must possess specific qualities, God sets one rule upon the pair and they fail to obey it, easily succumbing to the temptation of Satan. On the other hand, Sir Gawain goes out of his way and uses his cunning and wit to make sure that he obeys the values of the pentangle. The characters have the option to choose if they shall follow these rules or not, as they possess the God-given right to freedom of choice. Due to this right, it is impossible to blame the character’s wrongdoings on a higher figure. A parallel between the two works is seen in the symbol of the girdle in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which he receives as a token of luck from the Lady Bertilak, similar to the forbidden fruit in Paradise Lost. The girdle, if forcefully removed from Lady Bertilak, would serve as a fatal downfall to Sir Gawain’s knighthood because it violates his chivalric code. Therefore, in accepting the girdle from the tempting Lady, Sir Gawain fails one of the many tests he is given throughout the poem. For the time being, however, the girdle became “the symbol of his falling away, however momentarily, from the

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