Before we can compare and contrast the Christian ideals in both of these works, it is necessary first to get some basic background on the plots of the story. In Beowulf, the land of King Hrothgar has been plagued by the vicious attacks of a demon called Grendel. The demon has attacked the kingdom, murderin

The first part of Beowulf starts with a recounting similar to the Bible story of Genesis. Grendel, when introduced, is given one of the ultimate stigmas in the Christian lexicon by being referred to as one of “…Cain’s clan, whom the Creator had outlawed / and condemned as outcasts. For the killing of Abel / the Eternal Lord had exacted a price…” (35). Grendel is cast as a descendant of the evil Cain who murdered his own brother. For that, Cain was outcast by God; Grendel too is an outcast. Grendel is “waging his lonely war” because he is not with God. The worst part of evil is that one is alone and without the joy of God. As John Milton says in the beginning of his work, Paradise Lost, in describing the devil; “…for now he thought both of lost happiness and lasting pain…in utter darkness, and their portion set as far removed from God and the light of Heav’n…” (1819). Evil is explained, and justified in its apparently contradictory coexistence with an omnipotent God, by the belief that evil is not the opposite of good, but instead the absence of good [see: Augustine’s Confessions]. People seen as evil are thought to be “lacking good” or “lacking God’s light”.

The most basic concept that is encountered in the poem is chivalry. Chivalry, at its core, is the code of the medieval knight, requiring gentlemen to be honorable, generous, courteous to ladies, and loyal to their king. Similar to Beowulf, the story of Sir Gawain is linked to loyalty to a king or lord. The Green Knight brazenly strides into the banquet hall of King Arthur and throws out a challenge. He goes further to taunt the court and the king:

In the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the entrance of a Green Knight interrupts the New Years’ celebrations of Camelot. The knight challenges anyone in the court to a beheading game. Alfred David and E. Talbot Donaldson, editors for the Norton Anthology of English Literature, defined the beheading game in the introduction to Sir Gawain, “in which a supernatural challenger offers to let his head be cut off in exchange for a return blow” (156). Gawain, nephew of King Arthur, accepts the challenge and beheads the knight. The knight then picks up his head and vows that in a year and one day, Gawain shall meet him for his return blow. Gawain, after staying with a country lord, meets the Green Knight at his church and rather imperfectly, in a non-chivalric manner, accepts the return blow of the Green Knight.

Beowulf. Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. M.H. Abrams, et al. 7th Ed. Vol. 1. New York. Norton. P. 32-99.

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