The words feminism and equality are a hot topic in today's society. The word feminism has acquired a bad connotation and has even spurred a second movement called meninism. Basically, meninism is the response of ignorant misogynists to a valid flaw in our society as a whole. Women are still oppressed every day, some worse than others, but we are shocked by the blatant inequality evident in medieval literature and don't even bat an eye when an actress is asked about her dress instead of her career. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, misogyny plays a large role and almost becomes a character in its own right. The culture of oppression of women from that era may seem dead, but rest assured it is alive and well today, just in a different form. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayThe women of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight appear to be treated with respect according to the code of chivalry, but these knights have no true respect for women as human beings but as another man's property. In today's society the parallel to this is when a woman has to tell a man she has a boyfriend to deny his advances, because men respect other men more than a woman's right to her own decisions. The same goes for the bedroom scenes with Sir Gawain and Lady Bertilak. Gawain denies his advances only on the principle of his belonging to Bertilak. Gawain further dehumanizes Lady Berilak by comparing her to Guinivere, who is depicted as nothing more than a trophy for Arthur to show off. He sees them both as objects to be admired and not as real people. Women have been blamed for man's shortcomings since the beginning of the human race all the way back to Adam and Eve. Everyone likes to put all the blame on Eve, but no one recognizes that she was deceived before convincing Adam to taste the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Sir Gawain has a long rant in which he condemns women and blames them for the downfall of not only himself, but also many powerful biblical characters. in sorrow, for so was Adam to one, when the world began, and Solomon to many others, and Samson the mighty: Delilah was his doom, and from then on David was deceived by Bathsheba, and endured many distresses” ( Greenblatt and Abrams) It begins with the example of Adam and Eve. The serpent tricked Eve just as Morgan Le Fay was pulling the strings of Lady Bertilak's marionette. These women then deceived their respective men so that they were not entirely flawless, but people seem to forget that men share an equal share of the blame. Sir Gawain then goes on to compare himself to Solomon and Sampson. This is where his argument really breaks down and we see that his outburst is caused by anger and hurt pride, not some kind of logical injustice committed against him. Sampson is a poor example of innocence because he knew from the beginning that he couldn't trust Delilah to do what she thought was right for her nation, yet somehow over time she was reduced to a spiteful woman who ruined lives of Sampson for no reason. . Sir Gawain then confronts David. This is absurd because David was almost entirely responsible for his own downfall. He saw Bathsheba bathing on the roof and chased her and took her to his house to have sex with her and a child was conceived. As if that wasn't enough, David then sent her husband, who had been a loyal subject of David, to the front lines of the battle in the hope that he would be killed. People blame Bathsheba for giving in to her lustful temptations, but I think David is..
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