Gawain & Parsifal: The Road to Purity

Abstract

The road to purity for a knight of the Round Table is a long one with different approaches to an outcome. Sir Gawain’s self-guilt and Sir Percival’s (Parsifal’s) naivete ultimately lead these knights to purity.The monomyth, a term coined by Joseph Campbell, shows a circular pattern for all heroes. They must first struggle through arduous tasks or journeys, find their downfalls, and reemerge with a new knowledge of their errors. Both Gawain and Parsifal subject themselves to the monomyth in order to reach purity. Each knight goes through the cycle in separate ways. In each of the following tales, the knights exhibit the notions of humility and repentance, two attributes leading to the final goal of purity. Purity is quite prevalent in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight of the anonymous Pearl Poet and The Tale of the Sangreal from Le Morte D’Arthur of Sir Thomas Malory. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the audience sees Gawain’s guilt three times when he confesses to the Priest, the Green Knight, and finally Arthur. In the Tale of the Sangreal, Parsifal’s naivete during the Grail Quest precipitates three encounters with the Devil in various forms: a stallion, a serpent, and a seductress. My thesis states that Gawain reaches purity via self-guilt and repentance, whereas Parsifal reaches purity via naivete and repentance.