Honor Duty Loyalty

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Recommended: Analyse the character of oedipus in oedipus the king

In each of the five plays that we have studied throughout this semester: Oedipus the King, Black Watch, Life is a Dream, Noises Off, The Caretaker there were various characters that used the themes of loyalty, honor and duty to guide their actions in order to maintain a positive reputation and righteous self-image. For each of the five plays that we have discussed there is at least one example of characters using loyalty, honor and duty to maintain a righteous self-image, a positive reputation or both.
In Oedipus the King acts of duty, which focuses on servicing others occurs throughout the play with a variety of characters. Though there are various examples that represent this theme, none of them are more pivotal in the play than the task that the character Oedipus willingly accepts. This task involves determining who is responsible for the death of the former king, in order to end the plague that has been placed upon the kingdom of Thebes. The pursuit of this task leads Oedipus to find out that he is responsible for the death of the former king, and has participated in acts of incest with his mother. The realization of these acts lead Oedipus into psychological torment, in which he decides to blind himself. In brief, Oedipus uses the act of saving Thebes to maintain a righteous self-image.
Honor is another theme that is used by characters to maintain a righteous self-image in Oedipus the King. Though there are various acts within this play that can be considered as an illustration of honor, the example that best fits this theme is when Oedipus accepts his fate of exile from the kingdom of Thebes. The reasoning behind consideration of this act to be one of the most honorable is due to the point that prior to Oedipus finding out...

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...f honor, that also be considered prejudice are also used to maintain a righteous self-image in The Caretaker. The character responsible for all of these acts throughout the play is Davies. In the beginning of the play he observes that there are people of a different race that live in the apartment is staying in, and he complains about having to share a bathroom with them. This act of prejudice suggests that this form of honor that Davies uses is done to maintain a righteous self-image.
In summary, each of the five plays that we have studied throughout this semester have examples of characters using the themes of loyalty, honor and duty to maintain either a positive reputation, a righteous self-image or both. The reason for this being prevalent among all five plays is to show the audience that the image we want for ourselves has a direct correlation with our actions.

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