Honor: Honor And Honor

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Mankind has always had codes of conduct. Every culture has a certain idea of how to behave, and typically the word for that behavior, when you boil down all of the chivalric knights and seppuku practicing samurai, you will meet the crystalline core: being that of “honor.” In its traditional definition concerning human demeanor, it is defined as such: an honorable individual is loyal, trustworthy, honest; in a word, honor is commanded by integrity. In the feudal world, it was necessary to have men of honor and integrity on your side. It is a classic example in the cultures of peerages. In such a time, honor is gold. The Bard himself, William Shakespeare, lived in an era where his country teetered on the edge of two extremes. In his history …show more content…

Hotspur is stubborn, brash, dense and courageous. All of these characteristics define Hotspur’s view of honor, one of personal integrity while fighting for glory thought noble, King Henry will say he is nothing short of the “theme of honor’s tongue.” Pretty high praise levied towards a soon-to-be traitor, heck, he even wishes Hotspur were his son in the stead of Hal. Hotspur’s innate concept of honor leads him to the conclusion he will win even more honor should he become involved in a conspiracy against the usurping Henry, his true colors show themselves when he states of the king: “If he fall in, good night-or sink or swim. Send danger from the east unto the west, So honour cross it from the north to south, And let them grapple. O the blood more stirs To rouse a lion than to start [flush from cover] a hare.” Hotspur believes honor at it’s pique in the sweaty and bloody quenched battlefields of war. He enjoys fighting more than copulating with his wife. In the end, his impetuous nature is his undoing, when he is slain by the cheeky Prince Hal, who will come to be known in later years as Henry V, demonstrating a calculated lust for glory and power, while also being a far more well-rounded individual in the Shakespearean canon of

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