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The Value Of Honour
The importance of honor
Honour in shakespeare romeo and julliet
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Is Honor Worth Dying For? In Henry IV, Part One, one of the main points that we see Shakespeare trying to make is the idea of honor and the significance of it. We will be analyzing what honor meant during Shakespeare’s time, connecting and comparing it to what honor meant and represented in the play, and see if any of the characters fulfill honor according to that time. I will concentrate on four specific characters of the play; King Henry, Prince Harry, Hotspur and Falstaff. To each of these characters “honor” had a different meaning from each other, they all interpret it in a different way. I also want to take into consideration of what honor means now and which of these characters are the most honorable ones or one. During Shakespeare’s time in the Middle Ages, honor was something that only important people had; people of name, to them this was very important; it was like a way of life. According to Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages honor had a double meaning, one of these was “I would prefer to die honoured than to live without honour”. Many people today might still feel the same way, but back then we can see that people died for honor, either in war, love or anything else. We also see another meaning of honor during this time “but honour was also an office, a position, and the privileges that went with it, as at Rome where they spoke of the “career of honours”, cursus honorum, the hierarchy of high State offices”(Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages). Honor could have been represented by what you had, how you had of it and how you obtained it. Both of these meanings relate to the play Henry IV Part One. We see how King Henry feels guilty and immoral for taking the crown from Richard II, Prince Hal feels that honor is a virtue and ... ... middle of paper ... ... "Henry IV: From Satirist to Satiric Butt." Aeolian Harps: Essays in Literature in Honor of Maurice Browning Cramer. Ed. Donna G. Fricke and Douglas C. Fricke. Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green University Press, 1976. 81-93. Rpt. in Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Lynn M. Zott. Vol. 69. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Literature Resource Center. Web. 5 May 2014 "War in Shakespeare's Plays." Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Michelle Lee. Vol. 88. Detroit: Gale, 2005. Literature Resource Center. Web. 5 May 2014. Scheckner, Peter. "Roth's Falstaff: transgressive humor in Sabbath's Theater." The Midwest Quarterly 46.3 (2005): 220+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 4 May 2014. Shakespeare, William, Stephen Jay. Greenblatt, Walter Cohen, Jean E. Howard, Katharine Eisaman Maus, and Andrew Gurr. The Norton Shakespeare: Based on the Oxford Edition. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 1997. Print.
Prince Hal’s destiny is shaped for him by many forces: his association with the ne'er-do-well Falstaff, the expectations of his father, King Henry IV, and the constant comparison between himself and Hotspur. All three of these forces create in Hal a sense of honor that is an integral part of his education as the ideal king, and throughout the action of Henry IV, Part I, Hal is gaining a knowledge of honor that will shape him into the King that he will become. However, it seems that Hal ultimately chooses one form on honor over the other, although he must compare the honor of Falstaff and the conceptual honor of a chivalric hero before he comes to a final conclusion.
Honor is a trait few possess in the modern world. Cyrano de Bergerac, a play by Edmond Rostand set in France during the sixteen hundreds, discusses honor in it’s truest form. But honor is not simply a code or a way to describe a man, there are characteristics that make a honorable individual. The main character, Cyrano, lives what many in his city would call an honorable life. Rostand uses this character to explore what characteristics make a man of honor. Some of the prominent traits the author presents as honorable are possessing controlled wit, bravery on and off the battlefield, and the ability to love unceasingly.
Clark, W.G., and W. Aldis Wirhgt, eds. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Vol 2. USA: Nd. 2 vols.
What is honor? Honor coins an individual’s nature. A principle that exists on the purpose of perception, a martyr willing to conform and accomplish. In the case of Shakespeare's play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Brutus was the most honorable of men. A brother to Caesar, but a father to Rome, he persist and perish for the future of his child. The idea of ignorance, and the belief of a false faith, turns this noble man toward a vulgar grave, with virtuous notions.
Honor can be defined by how one holds them in the public eye. Others may say that honor is how you live your life when none can see your actions. However defined honor can play major roles in how a person will act in a given situation. The Crucible by Arthur Miller has excellent examples of how honor can manipulate people’s decisions in times of importance. John proctor holds his moral standpoint and does not falter into the temptations of selfishness, while Elizabeth would describe honor as how a person lives their lives. Some can even describe honor as what is most important in life; family. Giles believed that his life was the ultimate object he could sacrifice to maintain his family’s happiness. However honor can be defined, one thing is certain; Everyone has some degree of honor in their lives.
Shakespeare, William. Othello. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2009. Print
Shakespeare, William. Othello. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2009. Print
William Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar, has a heavy focus on honor. The characters in the play have a tendency to refer back to honor and the honor of Rome, but are they really as honorable as they say? Honor is a very abstract concept that is widely applicable in many situations, but what is it? To honor someone is to show them respect, and to be honorable is to act in a way that deserves respect and admiration. The characters of Julius Caesar, for the most part, are all seeking some form of honor, but do they achieve it? Three of the best examples of honor in Julius Caesar are Brutus, Cassius, and Portia. With varying levels of honor, these characters display the spectrum well.
Schlegel, August Wilhelm. Criticism on Shakespeare s Tragedies . A Course of Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature. London: AMS Press, Inc., 1965.
With so many words making up the content of plays, it is difficult for one, single word to make much of an impact. However, the word ‘honor’ does just that in the play Titus Andronicus. Honor means different things to different people, and this is quite evident in the tragedy that is Titus Andronicus. The definition of honor has changed throughout the history of man. The character for which the play is named, Titus, puts his honor and the honor of Rome before anything else. In the play, honor is used as justification for wrongful actions. There are murders that happen in the name of honor. Honor is also lost by some and taken from others. Although small in size, the word honor plays a large role in Titus Andronicus.
Cohen, Walter, J.E. Howard, K. Eisaman Maus. The Norton Shakespeare. Vol. 2 Stephen Greenblatt, General Editor. New York, London. 2008. ISBN 978-0-393-92991-1
Dutton, R., & Howard, J.E. (2003). A Companion to Shakespeare’s Works.(p. 9) Maiden, MA: Blackwell Pub.
Clark, W. G. and Wright, W. Aldis , ed. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Vol. 1. New York: Nelson-Doubleday
Shakespeare, William. The Norton Shakespeare. Edited Stephen Greenblatt et al. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997.
Scott, Mark W. Shakespearean Criticism: Volume 133, Excerpts from the Criticism of William Shakespeare's Plays and Poetry, from the First Published Appraisals to Current Evaluations. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1987. Print.