Gawain and Binary Opposition As a contemporary American reader, it is all right to assume that the first scene in which the particular character is involved drastically shapes our opinion of characters in a particular novel or poem. Immediately we jump to conclusions about what is right and what is wrong, who is the good guy and who is the bad guy. In fact, once we get an initial impression from a character, it is …showed first 75 words of 2701 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2701 total…exact opposite of what you want. This is the case with Gawain. He does not think he needs to further develop as a human once becoming a knight. The author assures us that development is a continuous process that must be built upon with each subsequent experience. Works Cited Bressler, Charles. Literary Criticism. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1998. "Sir Gawain and The Green Knight." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. New York: Norton and Company, 1993, 200-54.