Elizabethan Honour Meaning Of Honour

1837 Words4 Pages

Stuff in red bold was added after 3:05 I saw the disdain creep into your faces as soon as you saw what I was wearing. The wrinkled shirt and the tattled shorts are the way I chose to represent myself, and unsurprisingly they had an impact on the way you viewed me, before I had even begun. What you must realise though, is not the fact that you were all quick to judge, as that is intrinsic to the human psyche, but that I was able to mould your interpretation of my character to my liking through the representation of my outer self. Good morning colleagues, I’m honoured to have the chance to speak to you all about the topic of: "All representations of people and politics are acts of manipulation". As I’ve already demonstrated, it is quite clear …show more content…

Honour within the Elizabethan era primarily stood for the reputation of a person, and it offered respect and admiration. Shakespeare undoubtedly chose to position the responder to depict his own perception on honour due to the prevalence of it throughout his political landscape and its impacts on everyday life. The notion of honour, is first established within the guilt-ridden King Henry IV, who wears a figurative bloody crown as a result of his deposition of his cousin, Richard II. King Henry IV kicks off the play with an attempt to clear his conscience while maintaining the illusion of a clear one to his subordinates. He says to the Lord of Lancaster and the Earl of Westmoreland: “To chase these pagans in those holy fields / over whose acres walked those blessed feet / which fourteen hundred years ago were nailed / for our advantage on the bitter cross.” in Act 1, Scene 1. There are two red herrings Shakespeare throws out to produce the illusion of a stable conscience and an honourable heart to his subjects and these are the use of blank verse to signify nobility and thus power, and the use of the pluralistic language found within ‘our advantage’. The King shies away from the singular ‘I’ so as not to draw attention to the plague ravaging his conscience, and Shakespeare through this shines light on the gratuity of an act such as a Holy

Open Document