Chivalric Manhood In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

Gender is the eternal topic of human beings.As one of the core concepts of gender,manhood is a long-established cultural and literary proposition.Since the second half of the 20^th century,manhood has received increasing attention from the academic community and has become an important branch of gender studies.However,judging from the existing researches,there is still a large space for it.Scholars have paid close attention to power but ignored the inner virtues contained in it,resulting in the disconnection of masculinity and manhood.This dissertation,taking the medieval text Sir Gawain and the Green Knight as an example,explores the value orientation,judging criteria and humanistic connotations of chivalric manhood reflected in this work.Hopefully,this research may inspire more people's cognition and researches in this proposition.This thesis is divided into five parts.Beginning with the predicament of men's studies and the value of manhood study on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,introduction gives a literature review on this work and introduces the term“Chivalric Manhood”briefly.The first chapter analyzes Gawain's performance in Camelot,the wild and Hautdesert,and discusses his identification and practice of the positive aspects of bravery,loyalty and courtesy,the core of chivalric manhood.The second chapter focuses on Gawain's introspection on the negative factors of chivalric manhood:by studying Gawain's different reactions towards death,the magic green girdle,and Lady Bertilak distinctively,his rejection to the unreasonable factors of the chivalric manhood,such as taking death as the only criterion of courage,neglecting individual will,and disregarding human moral,is explained.The third chapter explores the humanistic connotations of this work in its writing of manhood:through the examination of Gawain's,the Green Knight's,and King Arthur's attitudes towards Gawain's withdrawal in front of death,unique humanistic thinking that this work has made on the issues of mistake-making,life cherishing,and individual independence is investigated.The conclusion of this thesis points out that,first,manhood is not the accomplice of gender politics at all times but a concept that attaches greater importance to the inner virtues of man.Second,we should not only inherit the positive aspects of manhood but also reflect on and discard its negative elements.Last but not least,scholars should strive to discover the humanistic ideas of literary works in the writing of manhood,and their academic and social values in the study of manhood and gender issues.In this way,can we enlighten the way for the healthy growth of men.