Themes Of Honor In 'A Tale Of Two Cities'

​Sir Gawain, nephew to the well-known King Arthur of the Round Table, is regarded as the most elite and noble of all the knights in the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Yet, like anyone else in the world, Sir Gawain is far from perfect. Gawain, a courteous knight living a life dedicated to honor, courage, and self-preservation, is tested on his chivalrous code throughout his journey; a search for the Green Knight. Throughout the tests, Gawain’s actions reveal that even the best of men can be selfish and are subject to guilt and sin.

The study of honor in Renaissance cities presents an intriguing paradox. On the one hand, honor seemed ‘more dear than life itself’, and provided one of the essential values that shaped the daily lives of urban elites and ordinary city folk. For wealthy merchants and aspiring artisans, honor established a code of accepted conduct against which an individual’s actions were measured by his or her peers, subordinates and social superiors. Possessing honor helped to locate a person in the social hierarchy and endowed one with a sense of personal worth. The culture of honor, which originated with the medieval aristocracy, directed the everyday activities of urban-dwellers of virtually all social groups from at least the fourteenth century on.

Throughout the history of the world, honor has been an important part of life. In literature, as well, honor plays an important role in many plots and the development of almost any character. Shakespeare’s play Much Ado About Nothing is no exception. In this comedy about love and marriage, honor is revealed as the primary reason for many of the actions taken by several different characters. When Claudio breaks off his wedding with Hero, he does it because he believes she is not chastised as she claims to be and in being such, she would dishonor him as well as her father if the marriage were to proceed as planned. The play is an accurate depiction of the honor code and the different standards for men and women of the time in regards to

Honor - we often hear this word thrown around in daily conversation. Whether talking about respected members of the community or characters in novels and films, the word honor is used repeatedly. What does honor really mean, though? The answer to that question is certainly not simple, as the definition of honor differs from person to person. This idea of the various types of honor can be shown through comparing the protagonist, John Proctor, in the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, to Will Kane in the movie “High Noon”, directed by Frank Zinnemann. Proctor struggles with trying to find his definition of honor as it changes from being held accountable by society’s standards to his own private moral of truth.

Most humans create a facade which they hide behind. A person will create an identity that fits their expected role in their family, community, and society. All of these factors play into the human ideal because no one expectation of an ideal human matches another, but people still want to meet the expectations of the people around them. One common thread comes from even under the mask that all humans wear. Within The Odyssey by Homer, The Republic by Plato, and The Holy Bible, honor is able to play a role into a human’s life in many different ways; it is what pushes people into becoming the leader, teacher, and follower of what is believed in, and honor is what creates an ideal human.

In Milun, honor has a big place in the story. For example, Milun must go to the other country to fight the one knight who claims to be better than him to defend his honor. Although when he realizes he has been beat by him he shows respect for him because he has truly been beat. His son also shows respect when he sees his gray hair and recognizes that he had hurt an older man. This shows the good side of chivalry where the knights respected each other and good duels.

Throughout history, there have been different codes of ethics that are often more important to a society that the governing laws of the land. While laws are written standards that people are compelled to abide by for fear of punishment, these codes serve as guideline for how people should live their lives. Two such codes are comitatus as demonstrated in Beowulf and chivalry as depicted in Morte D’Arthur. When the characters in these stories live by the constructs of these social systems, the society flourishes. When characters stray from each social code, however, the entire society falls victim.

In Henry IV, Part One Shakespeare revels in the opportunity to suggest the idiosyncracy of character through his command of a wide range of both verse and prose. As a result the play is full of rich and different character parts (Wells 141). Two in particular, Falstaff and Hotspur, hold diverse beliefs concerning the main theme of the drama, honor. In Shakespeare’s time, honor was defined as the special virtues which distinguish those of the nobility in the exercise of their vocation–gallantry in combat with a worthy foe, adherence to the accepted code of arms, and individual loyalty to friends, family, and comrades in arms (Prior 14). Throughout the play, honor plays an important role in

When looking for a partner, employee, or just a friend, loyalty is an important attribute for them to have if you want a long trustworthy relationship. Many themes are displayed in the novel “tale of two cities”, loyalty being one of them. A few if not most of the characters in the novel display some sort of loyalty toward someone or thing. Miss pross for one, is very loyal towards the mannette family, and specifically lucie, or her “ladybird”. miss pross also demonstrates loyalty towards her country and her king in one point of the novel.

Throughout Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part One, multiple characters seem to have different variations on what the word “honour” (or “honor”) actually means and/or what it entails. The word itself can be traced back to the Old French word “honore” with a general association with high respect or great esteem; however, as time went on, the word “honour” can be associated with a variety of meanings in the form of both a noun and a verb (OED). Through the characters of Hotspur, the Prince of Wales, and Falstaff, we see how the theme of honour does not have a definite meaning, but rather meanings specific to each characters that, in turn, leads them to take particular actions throughout the play. We are first introduced to Henry Percy, also known as Hotspur, in the beginning of the play when King Henry IV is admiring all of the

In modern day society, the world has very strict cultural rules. In some places in the Pacific Ocean, it is considered rude to wear shoes inside of the house, and in the southern nation of the US it is considered rude to refer to an adult without the phrase, “ma’am” or “sir.” Issues of what is respectable or accepted have always existed since the first civilized culture. However, there is one form of respectable manners that have followed the people throughout the growth of the world. This form is the code of chivalry, first recognized in the Arthurian time of the knights.

In the 14th century, class distinction was of great importance. The class to which one belonged determined the clothes one was allowed to wear, the color of that clothing and even behavior. In Geoffrey Chaucer's General Prologue and The Canterbury Tales , we can find any number of characters with these behavior distinctions if we examine them. The Knight, for example, is described as a worthy man of "trouthe and honour, freedom and curtesie" (I, 46). He is of a noble rank, and therefore his behavior is one of good reputation (honour). Conversely, Both the descriptions of the Reeve and the Miller in the General Prologue are quite unflattering; their verbal cutting into each other's tales demonstrates the stereotypical "churlish"

In everybody’s life there is something that makes him strive for success. That something can be money, women, fame, or many other incentives.. To the medieval knights, victory renown and glory are the ambitions they strive for. Breaking a law in this code would be considered a disgrace, and would bring a dishonor that was worse than death itself. However, by applying the Code of Chivalry, the knights in the medieval time displayed certain character traits which would secure success and honor in both battle and morality. In the book Ivanhoe, by Sir Walter Scott, a knight named Ivanhoe illustrates this by devoting his attention to keeping the rules of the Code of Chivalry, which consisted of love of adventure, integrity, and loyalty to the

When one thinks about being ambitious, the morality of being honorable rarely comes to mind; however, as seen by the following two texts, ambition- the desire to to achieve something greater- and honorability-showing a sense of right and wrong- are two separate ideologies that can be easily intertwined with one another. Text A “Marc Antony's Funeral Oration” is a series of extracts from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar that revolves around the aftermath and conspiracy associated with the killing of Julius Caesar. Text B “Ambition” is a comic strip, composed by Greg and Mort Walker, that depicts a soldier’s plausible lifestyle choices following his leave of the military. These two texts share the theme of ambition and honorability but display such ideas in a paradoxical

Revenge is a prominent theme in the book A tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens that proves that revenge will only cause more destruction and chaos that justice could have avoided in the first place. Revenge can be justified when justice does not come at all. Through revenge however, it might be the only way to give the correct amount of punishment needed to the person who committed the wrong. Although justice and revenge are two different things it can vary in the mind of each person as to how much revenge is equal to how much justice. Therefore some people do not believe that justice could possibly be a product of revenge. Even though people who receive a negative connotation for seeking revenge typically do not care about that attention, it causes an upheaval of their friends that do not want to be associated with these people who act in this manner.