Honors Dominate and Transform People in the Warrior Society

Introduction

In the play “King Henry IV” William Shakespeare has brilliantly used the idea of “Honor” in part 1. Honor has been a detailed and much discussed theme. Thus the meaning of honor is simple for most and it is linked with the idea of high respect and dignity. Shakespeare has used Honor, where its meaning has never been cleared. It varied form characters to characters. It meant differently to every individuals. The most important symbols, generally speaking, are the characters themselves, and what they represent is simply the set of ideas and traits with which they are involved. The main characters of the play were, King Henry IV, Hotspur, Falstaff and Price Harry with shoeing their personal values and goals. Just because of the different approaches to the outlook of honor, all these characters seemed unable for understanding the actions, desire and pursuit of, honor (Weil, pp 45).

Discussion and Analysis

Widely recognized as the greatest English playwright, William Shakespeare created plays that have provided the measure of dramatic excellence for centuries. Henry IV, Part I in particular contributed considerably to Shakespeare's fame. It has been successful in production from the date of its first performance until the present. The play is widely regarded as among the best of Shakespeare's history plays.

Shakespeare's artistic embellishment is evident in Henry IV, Part I in a number of ways. One of the most important is his creation of a structural symmetry lacking in the original, factual material that leaves a spectator with a clear impression of the opposing forces involved in Henry's struggle to keep his crown. Shakespeare was also one of the first dramatists to integrate comic subplots into otherwise serious plays as a way to entertain his heterogeneous audience and to unify his plays' themes.

Honor Form Different Character

To Hotspur, honor is connected to achieving glory on the battlefield and defending one's reputation at all cost. His view of honor is medieval as he interprets it as something tangible rather than abstract. The first time the term honor is used in the play, it is related to Hotspur's courage on the battlefield after he has captured the prisoners or the "honorable spoil" (I.i.74). Later, he is referred to by Douglas as "the king of honor" (IV.i.10). Early in the novel, Hotspur is convinced that the king disgraced honor and is set on redeeming it by rebelling against the king. He thought "it were an easy leap to pluck bright honor from the pale-faced moon, or dive into the bottom of the deep, where fathom-line could never touch the group, and pluck up drowned honor by the locks" (I.iii.199-203). Though Hotspur was correct in his assumption that the king was not fulfilling his duties as he should, he was overstepping his boundaries in decided that it was his responsibility to right the wrong. Hotspur's flaw becomes his commitment to honor and he develops into a symbol of irrational honor. So obsessed he is with it that ...