To Be Or Not To Be... A Knight Essays - Literature, Cephalophores

To Be Or Not To Be... A Knight To Be or Not To Be?. A knight To be or not to be? a Knight truly is the question presented through this story, which is a tale of Gawains trials and tribulations on his journey to the Green Chapel. First, before acknowledging Gawain as being or not being a knight, one must first know what a knight is. In reference to the Pentangle a knight or Gawain must be: ? first, he was faultless in his five senses, Nor found ever to fail in his five fingers, And all his fealty was fixed upon the five wounds That Christ got on the cross, as the creed tells; ? That all his force was founded on the five joys That the high Queen of heaven had in her child. ? The fifth of the five fives followed by the knight Were beneficence boundless and brotherly love And pure mind and manners, that none might impeach, And compassion most precious-these peerless five Were forged and made fast in him, foremost of men. (Ll. 640-655) This excerpt from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight demonstrates on what a knight should be when looked upon from the Pentangle mode of being a knight. What pertain to the Natural/Real Realm would be the five senses and five fingers. The five senses part is used to gain knowledge of the world and worldly wage. The five fingers are the deeds that are done. What pertain to the Religious, Spiritual, Christian Realm would be the faith in the five wounds of Christ would be Fealty and Force. Fealty is the faithfulness in the five wounds of Christ. Force or the force in battle is inspired by the five joys of Mary. What pertain to the Chivalric Realm are Beneficence, Brotherly Love & Truth, Pure Mind, Manners, and Pite. Beneficence pertains to the generosity that the knight bestows. Brotherly Love & Truth pertains to the fellowship and truth in which the knight bestows. Pure Mind pertains to the chastity that the knight shows through his encounters with women and their temptations. Manners per tains to the courtesy that the knight shows to the people that he comes upon. Pite, or piety, pertains to the compassion that the knight shows when he encounters different situations. (GP) The narrator defines Gawain as being: ? in good works, as gold unalloyed, devoid of all villainy, with virtues adorned in sight. (Ll. 633-635) This basically states that he was a model of a good guy. He kept himself out of trouble, we know this by reason of the narrator stating that Gawain was the Devoid of all villainy. This statement says that Gawain is lacking in any sort of evil. It seems to be that the Green Knight symbolically represents a villainous being that crashes in on a party to play a medieval Russian Roulette. In doing so causes an upheaval among the Knights of the Round Table. The Green Knight storms in and asks someone to chop his head off. At this part of the story it seems quite questionable as to his reasons for doing so. Gawain responds to the beheading game challenge in a humble, yet heroic sense. After the Green Knight barges into King Arthur's court and criticizes the Knights of the Round Table saying, Where is now your arrogance and your awesome deeds? for all cower and quake?(l. 87, 91) The Green Knight is now saying that the Knights of the Round Table are cowards. He is calling them out. The only one to accept the challenge is Arthur strictly to show that he is not a coward. Just as Arthur is about to decapitate the Green Knight Gawain speaks up and says, I beseech, before all here, that this melee may be mine. (l. 115-116) Here Gawain is speaking up and telling Arthur that if anyone will do this that it will be him. Gawain shows a great deal of courage in accepting this challenge for the reason that no one else, aside from Arthur, would except the challenge. Gawain finds hospitality and shelter at the castle of Bercilak, unbeknownst to Gawain, the Green Knight. Bercilak made an agreement that whatever I win in the woods I will give you at eve, and all you have earned you must

The eNotes Blog Your Major Isnt All thatMajor

Your Major Isnt All thatMajor Yippee! You’re going to COLLEGE! You’re probably getting hours and hours of sleep because you don’t spend any time at all mulling over all the new, unknown, big, scary things that come bundled up in that word ‘college.’ No, you haven’t started thinking about your future or your career or what all that means for your next four years. You haven’t started thinking about leaving home (if you are), either, or leaving your friends. You’re dandy. You’re just great. You are so excited. Genuinely amped. Ready to go. You feel like you just want to give everyone high fives. Except, that’s not true at all. That’s actually laughable. I know, you know, we all know that you are also (and I am definitely understating this): scared out of your wits. You’ve got the heebie-jeebies- those annoying willies. Your stomach is essentially a butterfly conservatory. You spend a lot of your free time exclaiming things like: â€Å"WHAT IS GOING ON?† Or†¦ â€Å"HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHAT I WANT TO DO WHEN I GROW UP?† But mostly†¦ â€Å"AHHHHHH.† Yep. Guess what? You’re normal. This is normal. College is a huge adjustment. Somehow, though, all of us college-goers come out alive, smiling, and never wanting to leave. So be soothed. This will be the best time of your life. Now, I know my words of wisdom won’t actually be heeded at the moment, so I won’t keep spouting nostalgic, reflective, awesome statements about college. What I will do is give you some tips on how to gain appropriate perspective on your undergraduate education. We’re going to talk about (dun dun dunnnn†¦): YOUR MAJOR. Hear me when I say: YOU WANT TO READ THIS. It’s okay to change it. Multiple times. Some of you know exactly what you want to study, maybe what career path you want to go down. You’re pretty sure you’ve got it all figured out. If you’re nodding your head right now, this piece of wisdom is for you: you may be surprised. Some of you will keep on that initial path. You’ll start taking classes in your particular major, you’ll enjoy it, you’ll sit in the front row, hang out with your professors in office hours, and you’ll just keep on keepin’ on until you graduate. Some of you, though, will find that you don’t actually like what you thought you would. You’re bored, you’re confused, you’re sleeping (and snoring) in class, and you just aren’t that into it. For you guys, and for those who start off college undeclared, I implore you to feel comfortable and at ease trying new things until something fits. You do it when you shop, you can do it when you study. You wouldn’t buy an extremely expensive outfit without trying it on first, would you? So why buy an education (which is, you know, sort of pricey) without trying some stuff out first? Think about it. Some of you might be worried about what â€Å"other people† will think. I want to tell you that no one will judge you if you change it up a bit. They will actually praise you for caring about the education you are getting (who’s the cool kid on campus now?). As long as you monitor your units, requirements, etc. throughout your college career, you should have no problem. Have no fear, you are not alone! Counselors can help you with this process, too! It doesn’t define your career. Oh my goodness, what did she just say? THAT IS BLASPHEMOUS! I have a lot of friends who want to be doctors. They’ve taken their pre-requisites for medical school, sure, but do you know how many of them are actually majoring in things like physiological sciences, biology, biochemistry, neuroscience, etc.? Practically none. Many have picked majors like history and English. The same goes for some of my friends who chose to go to law school. Your major matters because hopefully it reflects your interests. Hopefully, you are studying something you really want to be studying. That may or may not lead to a career in that field. You may even (like my aspiring-doctor-buds) get the chance to study two subjects (Wow!). I changed my major three times (almost four†¦no shame), am currently studying psychology, and don’t intend to be a psychologist. Nuts, right? Your options are endless. The main point is†¦ Don’t let yourself be scared by the constricting appearance of a word like ‘major.’ It’s not going to constrict you unless you want it to and you let it. With enough determination you can always pull strings here and there and maneuver stealthily through your undergraduate experience to create whatever experience you want. Honestly. Just look at college as a time to figure out what really makes you tick- what you really want to spend time learning about. Maybe you will be inspired to continue that study later on in life, and maybe you won’t. There’s nothing wrong with either of these situations. So take the leap, step into the unknown, jump into the ocean, let your spirit fly! (That got excessive fairly quickly†¦my bad.) Point is: try new things, explore a little bit. You’ll be better than fine. I promise. Okay, okay†¦ I pinky promise.