The Importance of Honor in Richard II The tension-charged exchange between Bolingbroke and Mowbray in the first scenes of Richard II provides exciting action for the audience, and gives a glimpse into trial by combat and the importance of honor in Shakespeare's plays. Trial by combat, or a judicial duel was a traditional way to settle disputes in England and Europe for many generations. People dueled to defend their own honor, and to prove personal claims against the honor of others. Honor.
Shakespeare, intending for his plays to be performed as well as published, included the idea of trial by combat in many of his works. During his time, men valued their honor. Based on their friendships and alliances, English men upheld that honor through combat. Because audiences enjoyed the action of one character fighting another, the writer included several duels in his literary works. Shakespeare’s play Much Ado About Nothing reflects the history, philosophy, and offenses marked with a duel;
Duels "This is the excellence of Court: take away the ladies, duels and the ballets and I would not want to live there." - A. d'Aubigne, Baron de Foeneste, Il, 17 Duels and the act of dueling is something that has characterized not only the imagination of historians and modern warfare enthusiasts, but also the minds of writers and readers of literature for years. The numerous literary variations on the theme of dueling are enough of an indication of its importance, and the fascination with
highlight the Vikings’ brutality – a brutality, judging by Fahdlan’s amazement, unlike any he had encountered previously. Other presumably normal events in Scandinavian culture leave Fahdlan in either exasperation or surprise. When he witnesses the holmgang, he tries to stop it, and goes so far as to call it “madness”. He is introduced to mead, which he initially declines due to his Muslim faith, until he finds out it is based on honey, not wheat. This leads to another humorous moment when the Fahdlan
The Norse had a structure to their society. They had kings and priests, Jarls and lords, freemen and slaves (thralls). Before the formal organization of the Scandinavian countries, the Norse were considered a single people that consisted of family clans. Nordic society was set and organized with a deliberate means to the ends. With the Kings and royal families at the very top of the class structure, Norse social stratification was layered like most other culture of the World. Kings were generally