Courage is a trait everybody desires to have, but often times, fear interferes to prevent people from being courageous. In The Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Crane shows through the character of Henry, the internal battle between desiring to become a real hero, his journey to finding manhood, and cowardice being a constant conflict. First of all, Henry's view of death is that it is the only way to become a true hero. When he pictured a hero, they were men who died for a courageous cause. As Henry began to think about death and the way it was a step into becoming heroic, his views on battle began to change. It was not that death itself was pleasing, but, "It was perhaps that they dreaded to be killed in insignificant ways" (Crane 101). It …show more content…
Him obtaining a wound courageously is what made them respect Henry, and he knew that if they were aware that it was all an accident between regiment soldiers, he would no longer be viewed as a hero. What scared Henry was dying and being forgotten or dying a death not worthy of being heroic. He wanted to be known for his sacrifice and prove to the world that his individual life was worth celebration, and dying a significant death or being wounded in a courageous war effort was the way to do that, in Henry's eyes. In the same way that death needed to be purposeful, it needed to have substance in order to create Henry into a hero. "He finally concluded that the only way to prove himself was to go into the blaze, and then figuratively to watch his legs to discover their merits and faults ... To gain it, he must have blaze, blood, and danger, even as a chemist requires this, that, and the other" (Crane 115). Like a chemist needs to meet certain requirements in order to be a chemist, Henry knew that in order to be the hero he always wanted to be, his death must be filled with the necessary aspects, such as a blazing fire, blood, and danger. Without risk, his death could not have been heroic. Henry experienced many dead corpses and bloody wounds and saw the ways the world simply passed over them and …show more content…
Henry's view of masculinity relied heavily on the opinions of people around him. He viewed "real men" to be ones full of strength and courage, and hoped to one day be seen as that man by others. When speaking of Henry, it was said, "In the shade of its flourishing growth he stood with braced and self-confident legs, and since nothing could now be discovered he did not shrink from an encounter with the eyes of judges, and allowed no thoughts of his own to keep him from an attitude of manfulness. He had performed his mistakes in the dark, so he was still a man" (Crane 179). This reveals a lot about Henry's outlook on manhood because it is made clear that his view of his own masculinity was based on what others thought him to be. If no one was there to see his faults, then to Henry, it made no difference. Henry did not find his self-worth in himself, but in the approval of other people and the desire he had to become a hero and prove once and for all that he deserved to be viewed as great. In the same way that Henry's view of being a hero is based on a idealized view that he has in his mind, becoming a real man is also something that is an external thing. At one point in the novel, "he saves himself from humiliation and tells a small white lie so that his dignity is preserved" (Truman). Henry realizes the correlation
Even though Henry never expressed his fears to Tom Wilson or Jim Conklin. the audience could tell by the expressions on his face that he was scared. While he was writing a letter to his parents he wrote about how he is going to fight for the first time and he wants to make the proud. After Henry runs away from the first battle. He feels embarrassed because he didn't have a wound.
Henry's flaws were very similar to those of Pip and the Greek heroes. Arrogance was a flaw that many Greek mortal heroes, especially Odysseus and Oedipus, had. When Henry realized that none of his fellow soldiers were aware that he had run from the first battle, he regained his self-pride and self-confidence. Before long, he had convinced himself that he was "chosen of the gods and doomed to greatness." At first, Pip believed that status and wealth determined the "goodness" of a person. Henry had similar illusions. He believed that a war hero was a person who could manage to escape every tight situation he got into, and also a godly figure people looked up to and were fascinated by. His other illusions were that the only the best could survive against the hideous "dragons" of war, and that the enemy was a machine that never tired or lost will to fight.
The first time Henry's flaw gets him in trouble is in chapter 10 and when he gets his chance to go into battle he flees. He at first thinks the war is boring but he soon learns that war is very frightening. When Henry flees he also shows insecurity when he tries to make up an excuse for why he wasn't with the rest of the regiment. Henry thinks very poorly of himself at this point and really anyone would run from a war, I don't think he was ready.
For example, Henry’s actions in the second battle convey his initial cowardice. In response to the enemy coming back to fight, Henry “ran like blind man” (Crane 57). Henry’s actions illustrate his cowardice since he is afraid to stay and fight and flees instead. However, as Henry matures throughout the novel, he learns to control his fears and show courage through his fighting. For instance, in the battle after Henry rejoins the regiment, Henry “had not deemed it possible that his army could that day succeed, and from this he felt the ability to fight harder” (Crane 133). Henry portrays bravery in this battle, since he still fights with all of his strength, when he believes the enemy would win. Henry’s change from cowardice to bravery is conveyed through his act of running away from battle, to fighting courageously in
Rather than a sense of patriotism, it is clear to the reader that Henry's goals seem a little different, he wants praise and adulation. "On the way to Washington, the regiment was fed and caressed for station after station until the youth beloved that he must be a hero."
middle of paper ... ... to royalty. Additionally the relationship between Henry and his nobles are friendly and caring. The last persuasive technique Henry exploits is the word 'man hood,' deliberately to suggest manliness could only be earned by achieving honour in battle.
Not only was the war bloody and violent but also the soldier's had to deal with bad weather, poor clothing and malnutrition. This particular setting is important to "the red badge of courage" because the book is about courage and bravery. To fight in these harsh conditions you must be courageous and brave. Many times Henry wanted to back out and he did once he found courage in himself and he fought till the very end. Without Henry's courage he would not of been able to overcome this
At the beginning, Henry Fleming has an undeveloped identity because his inexperience limits his understanding of heroism, manhood, and courage. For example, on the way to war, “The regiment was fed and caressed at station after station until the youth [Henry] had believed that he must be a hero” (Crane 13). Since he has yet to fight in war, Henry believes a hero is defined by what others think of him and not what he actually does. The most heroic thing he has done so far is enlist, but even that was with ulterior motives; he assumes fighting in the war will bring him glory, yet another object of others’ opinions. At this point, what he thinks of himself is much less important than how the public perceives him. As a result of not understanding
Having read of marches, sieges, conflicts, and the exploits of Greek warriors, and, as well, longing to see such, Henry enlisted into the Union army, against the wishes of his mother. Before his departure, Mrs. Fleming warned Henry, "...you must never do no shirking, child, on my account. If so be a time comes when yeh have to be kilt or do a mean thing, why, Henry, don't think of anything `cept what's right..." Henry carried with himself this counsel throughout his enlistment, resulting in his questioning himself on his bravery. As a sign of Henry's maturation, he began to analyze his character whilst marching, while receiving comments from his brethren of courage in the face of all adversity, as well as their fears ...
But in Henry’s own mind he describes himself as “the mirror of all Christian kings” and also a “true lover of the holly church. In the beginning of the play Henry is set up to be the ideal of a Christian King. Interestingly, Shakespeare highlights this as an important characteristic as this occurs earlier in the play. Therefore readers are tricked to respect and agree with Henry’s decisions later on in the play.
In chapter nine, Henry shows his brave character once again. In Paula, Henry was installed in a roadside trench. Some of the men were hungry so Henry volunteered to go and fetch some cold macaroni from the other side of the trench. The major advised him against it and said, “You better wait until the shelling is over.” Henry replied, “They want to eat.” (53) As Henry and the others came back to the dugout, shelling began and bombs burst around them. Then the blast furnace door swung open and Henry was badly injured. This incident showed his selfless courage and bravery. He did not have to do it, yet he went and got the food anyway. Henry risked his life for the others, and that is another true sign of bravery.
Through high moral character Henry established credibility with the audience through creating a setting that aroused feelings in the people at the convention in order to convince them they had to fight for more than just peace. The goal Henry had when he spoke about war was to be honest with the crowd and point out that they needed to do something now or they would loose not just what he loved, but what they also loved. Henry said “If we wish to be free, if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending...and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained, we must fight!”. In this quote the tactic of ethics is apparent in that Henry wanted to achieve a personal level of connection with the audience and establish his credibility. By relating losing the war it also meant the lose of their feelings of comfort and contentm...
In the first part of the novel, Henry is a youth that is very inexperienced. His motives were impure. He was a very selfish and self-serving character. He enters the war not for the basis of serving his country, but for the attainment of glory and prestige. Henry wants to be a hero. This represents the natural human characteristic of selfishness. Humans have a want and a need to satisfy themselves. This was Henry's main motive throughout the first part of the novel. On more than one occasion Henry is resolved to that natural selfishness of human beings. After Henry realizes that the attainment of glory and heroism has a price on it. That price is by wounds or worse yet, death. Henry then becomes self-serving in the fact that he wants to survive for himself, not the Union army. There is many a time when Henry wants to justify his natural fear of death. He is at a point where he is questioning deserting the battle; in order to justify this, he asks Jim, the tall soldier, if he would run. Jim declared that he'd thought about it. Surely, thought Henry, if his companion ran, it would be alright if he himself ran. During the battle, when Henry actually did take flight, he justified this selfish deed—selfish in the fact that it did not help his regiment hold the Rebs—by natural instinct. He proclaimed to himself that if a squirrel took flight when a rock was thrown at it, it was alright that he ran when his life was on the line.
‘Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more’, one of the most celebrated openings to, arguably, the most famous passage within the entire Henry V Shakespeare play. Through this opening we can tell that Henry is a character of perseverance and fortitude as he drives his troops into war. Shakespeare’s presentation of Henry is without doubt one of a hero and protagonist as he is presented as a man with a degree of intelligence and allure with motives that are not focused on a lust for power, like most kings, but to his obligations and responsibilities as an exalted rank. It is also apparent from Henry’s unquestionably rousing speeches that Shakespeare intends for us to view Henry as a hero, or, at the very least, as an estimable king.
The Red Badge of Courage, by it’s very title, is infested with color imagery and color symbols. While Crane uses color to describe, he also allows it to stand for whole concepts. Gray, for example, describes both the literal image of a dead soldier and Henry Fleming’s vision of the sleeping soldiers as corpses and comes to stand for the idea of death. In the same way, red describes both the soldiers’ physical wounds and Henry’s mental vision of battle. In the process, it gains a symbolic meaning which Crane will put an icon like the ‘red badge of courage’. Stephen Crane uses color in his descriptions of the physical and the non-physical and allows color to take on meanings ranging from the literal to the figurative.