“Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

“Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”

A Medieval Romance and a tale

of chivalry

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

•Author is known as 1) The Gawain Poet or 2) The Pearl Poet

•Composed around 1370

Themes in SGGK

•temptation and testing

•hunting and seduction

•games

•time and seasons

•nature and chivalry

Symbolism in SGGK

•the color green

•the green knight

•girdle

•pentangle

•numbers

•wounds

Read handout entitled “A Look at the Symbolism of the Pentangle in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.”

Record what the five points of the pentangle represent.

Use the handout entitled “A Look at the Symbolism of the Pentangle in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.”

Record what the five knightly virtues are..

• It introduces the main idea of your essay. A good opening paragraph captures the interest of your reader and tells why your topic is important.
• The main idea of the essay is stated in a single sentence called the thesis statement. You must limit your entire essay to the topic you have introduced in your thesis statement.
• Provide some background information about your topic. You can use interesting facts, quotations, or definitions of important terms you will use later in the essay.

• What are supporting paragraphs?Supporting paragraphs make up the main body of your essay.
• What do they do?They develop the main idea of your essay.
• How do I write them?

1. List the points that develop the main idea of your essay.2. Place each supporting point in its own paragraph.3. Develop each supporting point with facts, details, and examples.

• What does it do?It summarizes or restates the main idea of the essay. You want to leave the reader with a sense that your essay is complete.
• How do I write one?1. Restate the strongest points of your essay that support your main idea. 2. Conclude your essay by restating the main idea in different words.

• Always write about literature in the present tense
• Always write about history in the past tense
• Be sure you do not change tenses in your writing

• Use transitions to give writing a smooth flow
• Use to connect one idea to the next
• Avoid transitions like first, second, third, etc.
• Use them between and within paragraphs
• Make sure transitions are being used properly

• Simple
• Compound
• Complex
• Vary your sentence structure, and use introductory phrases and clauses for interest.

• Avoid words like good, bad, things, a lot
• Avoid use of clichés
• Use a thesaurus to find more interesting words
• Avoid using the same words over and over

• Avoid ending sentences with a preposition.

Example: In order to uphold the code of chivalry, Gawain must honor the agreement he and the Green Knight agreed upon.

Remedy: In order to uphold the code of chivalry, Gawain must honor the agreement upon which he and the Green Knight agreed.

• You, I, me, we, etc.
• Quite simply, do NOT use these in your essays!!!

• What is a comma splice?

an error caused by joining two independent clauses (sentences) with only a comma

Example: Sir Gawain is not only a knight of the Round Table but is King Arthur’s nephew as well, he fights the infamous Green Knight.

SEMICOLON:

Sir Gawain is not only a knight of the Round Table but is King Arthur’s nephew as well; he fights the infamous Green Knight.

COORDINATING CONJUNCTION:

Sir Gawain is not only a knight of the Round Table but is King Arthur’s nephew as well, and he fights the infamous Green Knight.

• An antecedent is the word, phrase, or clause to which a pronoun refers, understood by the context.

Although Gawain is considered to be one of the most noble knights of the Round Table, they occasionally fall short of meeting the expectations of the chivalric code.

Correct

Although Gawain is considered to be one of the most noble knights of the Round Table, he occasionally falls short of meeting the expectations of the chivalric code.

• Only use a commas with a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, so) when connecting two complete sentences.
• Example:

Gawain, a courteous knight of the Round Table, accepts the Green Knight’s challenge, and he stays true to the covenant upon which the two agreed.

Example.

Gawain accepts the terms of the Green Knight’s game. However, the young knight must wait a year and a day to search for the mysterious, headless man.

• Do NOT rely on spell check. The computer does not know the difference between “there” and “their.”
• Print a copy of your final draft, and proofread it with a pen. You WILL catch more errors doing this rather than proofing on a screen.
• Read your paper aloud to yourself. You will usually “HEAR” your mistakes.