Courtesy and politeness in "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight"
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Date
2014
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Adam Mickiewicz University
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Abstract
A close reading of three selected passages of the Middle English alliterative romance Sir Gawain
and the Green Knight provides a detailed picture of fictional and fairy-tale manifestations of
courtly and polite behaviour in Middle English, a period that imported many new terms of courtesy
and politeness from French. In the three passages Sir Gawain is visited in his bedchamber by
the lady of the house, who tries to seduce him and thus puts him in a severe dilemma of having to
be courteous to the lady and at the same time loyal to his host and to the code of chivalry. The
analysis shows how Sir Gawain and the lady of the house engage in a discursive struggle of the
true implications of courteous behaviour. It also shows how the two characters use nominal and
pronominal terms of address to negotiate their respective positions of power, dominance and
submission towards each other. And, finally, an analysis of requests reveals how the lady carefully
selects appropriate strategies to reflect the severity of the imposition of her requests and her
momentary standing in their discursive struggle.
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Keywords
historical pragmatics, Middle English, politeness, courtesy, Middle English romance, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, terms of address
Citation
Studia Anglica Posnaniensia, vol. 49.3 (2014), pp. 5-28
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ISBN
ISSN
0081-6272