Honor In Plays Essays - Cultural Depictions Of Julius Caesar

Honor In Plays Many tragic heroes had honor which was either their downfall or their positive trait. In Shakespeare's Henry IV Part 1, Hotspur, a hot tempered traitor, makes honor his first priority for him and his family . Although the king praised him, he led a rebellion against him. In Julius Caesar Brutus, a honor driven conspirator, believes too much in honor and uses nor as a way to justify his action. He is admired by the Roman people, but was easily manipulated into joining a conspiracy and immediately took as the leader to killing Caesar. Both of these characters are very similar in how they perceived and lived their lives. Shakespeare creates Brutus and Hotspur as characters whose principle concern is for themselves and honor which ironically causes them to make unprincipled decisions which eventually causes their downfall. Hotspur lives his life by the code of honor. Henry IV, the king at that time, honors and respects Hotspur more than his own son. When Hotspur does not give the prisoners that he had captured to the king, it is treason because he defies against the king. Hotspur says that he did not want to hand over the prisoners because his army had just fought a hard battle and were very proud of what they had done. When the servant came looking very clean and trimly dressed, they felt that if they gives the prisoners to him then Hotspur and his army would be giving away everything they had worked and fought for. Hotspur feels that the king attacks his honor when he orders those prisoner be sent to him. The king becomes angry because Hotspur had time to think about his decision and Hotspur still had not given the soldiers to him. The king says, " Send us your prisoners, or you will hear of it" (Henry IV Part 1, I, iii, 126). Brutus also believes that honor is what makes a man. He says, " For let the gods so speed me as I love the name of honor more than I fear death" (Julius Caesar, I, ii, 95-96). He thinks that killing Caesar is his duty because it will be for the good of all Romans. When the other conspirators come over to Brutus's house, Cassius tells everyone that they should make an oath to follow through with the plan to kill Caesar. Brutus disagrees and says that only people with evil intentions take oaths and that they are doing what is the right and just. When Brutus makes his speech after the killing of Caesar he says, " Believe me for mine honor, and have respect to mine honor that you may believe " (Julius Caesar, III, ii, 15-18). But killing your friend and colleague is not honorable, so consequently Brutus is not as honorable as he believes himself to be. Honor in both of these characters is what makes them act and think they way they do. Hotspur believes that he has been betrayed and wants to kill the king. Brutus wants to kill the king also because he feels that it will be for the good of all Romans. They do not think decisions through and eventually honor overrules other factors when they make decisions. When time comes for Hotspur and Brutus to make decisions, they turn out to be bad decisions which aren't thought through. Furthermore, Hotspur is a very poor decision maker. He decides to defy the king's orders, and by doing so commits treason in which some people can be executed. Hotspur decides that his family deserves more than they have already received for taking Richard out of the throne, but he does not take into account that Henry is the king and has a lot of power. Although the king respects and honors Hotspur more than his own son, he defies the king's authority and decides to take the side of his own family. When all of the conspirators gather together, Hotspur just ridicules some of the other conspirators at a time when cooperation is a necessity. He is very hot tempered and bases his decisions on his anger. What makes Hotspur a bad leader is that he is easily manipulated by Worcester, his uncle. Worcester makes all of the plans for the conspiracy and manipulates Hotspur into taking control of the operation. Equally, Brutus is also a poor decision maker. First of all, he decides to assassinate the king and in making that faulty decision, he makes other flawed decisions. He decides that