In the medieval period, a big aspect of the knight’s way of life was the whole concept of chivalry. In all, this concept of chivalry in Sir Gawain’s age was completely different from what the concept of chivalry means nowadays. In the medieval era, it was a set of rules that governed how a knight lived his life, most of which involved said knight pledging everything he did in each of his days in the advancement of church and to protect her, however, this is not true in our day in age. In our current time, chivalry is thought to be a set of rules that a man follows in an attempt to be courteous and kind to any woman he happens upon. This is often declared in online dating profiles and in online message boards by a man in an attempt to “woo” a lady with his charm and civility. The rules that the current day chivalric man abides by are more keenly seen as simply good manners that were instilled in him by his parents or any other authoritative figure in his life. This modern-day idea of chivalry includes ideas such as a man should always open any door for a woman and allow her inside first, that he should always offer her his umbrella if it should rain while they are out, going without one himself if needed, taking her hand to stabilize her as she walks as to not let her fall, and as seen in some cheesy sit-com episodes, if there is a puddle she can walk through, instead of walking around it, a man should always lay down his jacket into it so that she will not dirty her shoes or legs. However, if this were true romantic era chivalry, the man would not lay down his jacket for her to walk across, he would lay down his life in pursuit of eliminating the infidels from his country that are threatening the power of his true lady, The Church, all while screaming at the top of his lungs, “DEUS VULT!”. This modern interpretation of chivalry is noble, but it ultimately represents a secular change in our society. It goes from us laying down our lives for our church, to us laying down out jackets for our fair maidens. This is not a bad thing, however, since I do not think most people would want to lay down their lives for the church, due to the fact that there would not be many pertinent opportunities. The fact that the idea of chivalry changed from the medieval era to our current day shows that ideas that were common and popular in the past may not have left our society completely. They may have undergone dynamic changes due to the changes in our society and had adapted to fit the needs of our society better.