Essay on Games in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight -- Sir Gawain Green

Games in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight   Ã‚  Ã‚   Many games are involved in the plot of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The Green Knight, Bercilak de Hautdesert, plays a "Christmas game" with Arthur's court at Camelot (line 283); Gawain's host's wife plays games with Gawain throughout the third section of the poem; Gawain's sees his arrangement of mutual trade with his host as a game (line 1380); and all of the events of the story are revealed as a game of Arthur's sister, Morgan Le Fay (lines 2456-2466). Throughout the telling of the story, the author plays a mental game with the reader or listener, as well.    The "Christmas game" that the Green Knight comes to play with Arthur's court at the instigation of Morgan Le Fay provides the structure with which the plot of the entire story is held together. At first, the court believes that the knight has come for "contest bare" (line 277); when he reveals his intent to exchange one blow for another, it seems that it would be an easy contest for an opponent to win, since no one expects the knight to survive having his head removed with his own axe. However, the knight picks up his severed head and leaves, revealing the seriousness of Gawain's promise to accept a return blow, Arthur downplays the importance of this promise, saying, "Now, sir, hang up your axe," and returning to the feast. (line 477) Arthur also downplays the importance of the contest before Gawain deals his blow to the knight, prophesying Gawain's eventual success:    Keep, cousin, said the king, what you cut with this day And if you rule it aright, then readily, I know, You shall stand the stroke it will strike after. (lines 371-374)    Although neither the reader nor Gawain is aware o... ...h century or today, is human and subject to failings, as well. Gawain learned his lesson from the Green Knight and communicated it to Arthur's court. I believe that the author hopes that his audience will take the message to heart, as well.    Works Cited: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Sixth Edition, Volume One. General Ed. M.H. Abrams. New York: Norton, 1993.    Works Consulted: Bennett, Michael J.   "The Historical Background" in A Companion to the Gawain-Poet, pp. 71-90.   Derek Brewer and Jonathan Gibson, editors.   Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1997. Putter, Ad.   An Introduction to the Gawain-poet.   New York: Addison Wesley Longman, 1996. Riddy, Felicity.   "Jewels in Pearl" in A Companion to the Gawain-Poet, pp. 142-55.   Derek Brewer and Jonathan Gibson, editors.   Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1997.

Moving To Foriegn Land Essay

The idea of leaving the life behind you had lived for 19 years and moving to another country and start your life from scratch never attracted me. Looking back 3 years ago before leaving my home country, Pakistan and moving to Singapore my life was very different. When my father first disclosed the news that we will be moving to Singapore I remember how excited everyone in my family was, except for me. I was living a life that I always wanted and loved, surrounded by most loving grandparents and relatives, growing up with my best friends, and studying in Fashion School. The fact that I had to leave everything behind and start up new, moving to unknown city, unfamiliar to the culture, unknown traditions, making new friends, inter cultural communication barriers, how will I fit in new school scared me. I always had this idea in my head that starting up new is impossible for me and I was not self-motivated for the change Moving from high-context culture to low-context culture is a big change. First thing I did after moving, I started comparing everything to how it is back home. Then I could not get in fashion school, which caused having low self-esteem in me. I was not very familiar to the culture as well, new places, new challenges and new people. All this led me to isolating myself and being pessimist about everything. After my family successfully convinced me to take a Diploma in Business I got admission in one of the private institute, few early weeks I was the shy and quite student in the class, there were a lot of things going on in my head and because I was not self-motivated I never initiated to talk to people or make friends. After a while I became friends with these 2 girls in my class (both belonged from different culture). Both of them were very helpful and understanding. From there I started being open and interacting with people from different other countries and culture. Dwyer (2013a, p. 117), defined culture as â€Å"shared views of people belonging from to that society†. Dwyer (2013b, p. 118) I realized, just like me most the students in my class were immigrants too and pretty much have been through the same difficulties and experience. They all were unknown to my culture (Language, religion, social culture etc.) as  I was unknown to theirs. All of them were away from their homeland and some of them were also living without their families. As time passed I started realising positive aspects of this experience. Growing up in a certain culture means you become customized to those beliefs, values and norms they appear very normal – everyday activities, behaviors, and you do not think about them as part of a culture. Singapore is a land of multi cultures, due to which I have made friends from different countries, with time I started soaking up culture references, trying different foods, learning different languages, known to different religions, celebrating different cultural and religious festivals, trying their clothes, sharing the customs and traditions. I found myself eager to learn about it and not only me but my class mates where equally interested in my culture. After a while I realized I started adopting the habits I never thought I would embrace. I got to know myself better because there were things I used to believe in which was just the cultural heritage of the society I grew up in and not my own beliefs. Furthermore, as I had an art background, studying business for the first time was also a new experience for me and had some difficulties in the beginning but with the help of my teachers I managed to clear my concepts. When a person has lived a part of their life in another country especially their teenage, it is a challenge moving to different country and starting from the scratch but now after spending 3 years in Singapore I have realised how it was one of the best decision of my life. What I wanted was to spend my whole life in a shell and never let myself think outside the box. I can say that I was the one making this process difficult for myself, it all depends on a person’s will. Since the day I got to know about moving I was being hard on myself and never let myself think positively about it. It certainly is difficult to start all over again when our lives already exists elsewhere but It depends on a person to overcome the change and make it comfortable. It is all a process of learning, expecting the unexpected and fighting through the challenges. . I never knew before that I could be flexible with the changes and see this as an opportunity one day. Through this transformation of experience, I can conclude that after moving from my homeland to Singapore, I may have faced difficulties in adjusting with the culture and other challenges in the beginning but looking at  positive side I have only learnt from it and came out of it as a better and mature person intellectually and more exposed toward the cultures. This experience helped me in learning so many new and different things, about myself, about other than my own culture which I never knew even existed, and that is one of the best parts about leaving your home country and moving to a foreign land. It has been a life-changing experience for me and I will never go back to how I was. And now I can say that I’m ready to face further challenges in my life. References: Dwyer, J 2013a, Communication for business and the professions: Strategies and skills, 5th ed., Pearson Australia. – 2013b, Communication for business and the professions: Strategies and skills, 5th ed., Pearson Australia.

Famous American Authors Ralph Waldo Emerson, Edgar Allan...

The period of the late eighteenth century and beginning of the nineteenth was cosidered the Romantic era in Europe and in America. This movement was a large scale rebellion against the Englightment period ideas where science and logic ruled the literary arts. Authors took several approaches on how to convey to the readers social and metaphysical opinions through the tone in a series of novels published. Tone is apparent in much of the American Romantic era writing including that of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgar Allan Poe. Ralph Waldo Emerson was a self proclaimed Transcendentalist believe that every man was infinitely good and pure goodness was possible. Emerson was also an Idealist, someone who trusted that man’s†¦show more content†¦This Transcendental idea as well as that it is essential for man to recognize the Spirit in natue were an underlying message Emerson was trying to convey in his radical essays. The radicialness of Emerson’s w ork prompted a movement, known as the Antitranscendentalism or Gothic movement. Nathanial Hawthorne was a promanent member of the American Antitranscendentalist movement and this was easily detectable in this works. Hawthorne’s use of allegory and symbolism in his literature was a common way of introducing metaphysical tone to a simple story, such as in The Scarlet Letter. Anti-Transcendentalism was characterized by the belief that nature is fully capable of horrible violence and man has the ability to be evil, which offers a lot of negative evidence towards Transcendentalism. Hawthorne’s use of literary techniques to transport ideals of Antitranscendentalism to his readers, and it also proved that every man could be corrupted and altered by society like in Young Goodman Brown. His works interrputed meanings showed the important of tolerance and understanding by society over differences in religious and intellectual planes. Another Antitranscendentalist of the Romantic era was Edgar Allan Poe, considered the first American Gothic writer. Poe was severly unhappy with American society and the injustices it caused, thus his strong dislike for the Transcendental ideals of Utopian ideals. Poe belonged to the section of authors who ackowledged the