Heroes appear in all the books we read. They might be obvious, like the ones slaying dragons or fighting in battles, or they might not be that obvious. They might just be heroes because of the things the do, the small things they do. At first we might not think they are heroes, but it doesn’t matter how small they thing that they do is, they are still heroes and the stories revolve around what they do. All heroes, obvious or not obvious, are bound by a code of honor and loyalty. This is specially true when talking about medieval heroes. These heroes had to have honor, and do everything they could to maintain that honor and if it was ever lost they had to regain it. There loyalty, was probably the most important part, though. They swore loyalty to a king, a lord, someone who was above them. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Song of Mio Cid, both present these virtues and the core theme of their stories. Despite de fact that Sir Gawain and El Cid were geographically separated, their loyalty and their honor was the most important thing to them.
The first comparison that exist between these two stories is the amount of loyalty that both Sir Gawain and Cid el Campeador present. Sir Gawain shows extreme loyalty to King Arthur when the Green Knight arrives at the dinner and challenges the King to a “game”, Sir Gawain is the only one of all the Knight to come forth and accept the challenge in order to protect the king. Sir Gawain is already loyal to his king, but by accepting this challenge he will prove is ultimate loyalty to the king. El Cid Campeador is already loyal to the king, but after he is banned by Alfonso (king of Castile and Leon) because El Cid was planning to overthrow Sancho, another nobleman, and Alfonso thought he would do the same to him. El Cid felt that he needed to prove his loyalty to Alfonso, so he created an army and he set about conquering the moorish territories of Spain and to present them to the King. After he conquered Valencia, Alfonso Pardoned him and he was able to return.
The most important virtue that knights had to have was honor. Most epic poems are about knight who go on adventures to prove their loyalty to their king or to regain their honor. Sir Gawain’s honor is challenged when the lady of the castle plays more games with him and she offers him gifts that then he is suppose the exchange with his host. These gift present a challenge for him, since he can’t tell the host how he received those gifts or he will lose his knightly honor. El Cid Campeador’s honor is also challenged in his story, although they are very different, the two challenges include women. After El Cid is forgiven by Alfonso, the King offers El Cid to marry off his daughter to the princes of Carrion. These Princes decide to leave their wives by the side of the road. When El Cid hears about this he feels like his honor has been lost and asks the King to find the Princes and cancel the weddings. Once this happens is honor is restored.
It is interesting to see how both challenges to their honor, are because of the women in their life. Sir Gawain is afraid to lose it, if he tells the host who gave him the presents, and El Cid does everything in his power to regain his honor.
Both of these examples, although different, they represent the importance of loyalty and honor for the knights and even more importantly they represent how these virtues were important both in England and in Spain.
