Falstaff's Definition Of Honor

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What is honor? The seemingly simply question is not accompanied by an equally simplistic answer. In accordance with the Oxford English Dictionary, honor is “great respect, esteem, or reverence received, gained, or enjoyed by a person or thing…” and is associated with “…glory, renown fame[,] reputation, [and] a good name” (Murray). Within Shakespeare’s play, The First Part of Henry the Fourth, the character Falstaff, who is portrayed as being dishonorable, is the one who questions and analyzes honor in order to better understand this word. By identifying the meaning of honor from King Henry IV and Hotspur’s point of view, Falstaff begins to question honor’s physical value and concludes that honor is simply a word. From Falstaff’s analysis of …show more content…
Falstaff strives to determine why honor is so important to the people around him, even though it is leading to needless bloodshed and conflict. Falstaff questions the physical returns that honor has to offer in relation to the impending war. He continues with a series of questions, “…Can / honor set to a leg? No. Or an arm? No. Or take away the / grief of a wound? No. Honor hath no skill in surgery, then? / No…” (5.1.130-133). Falstaff’s questioning of honor displays its inability to protect the combatants. Falstaff, the seemingly dishonorable character, cares about the welfare of those he is leading. In contrast, Hotspur, the “…theme of honor’s tongue…,” seems to have no regard for his soldiers, which shows poor leadership skills (1.1.80). Even when Hotspur only has a fraction of the forces he was supposed to have, he wants to fight. Hotspur expects his men to fight for “honor” even though honor cannot physically protect any of them. However, Falstaff does not believe that honor is a valid reason to fight a civil war. This contrast shows that Falstaff, despite being dishonorable, possesses positive qualities such as empathy and leadership skills. Even though Falstaff wants nothing to do with honor, he is the one who should gain respect by caring for his men. Hotspur, despite being honorable, possesses negative qualities such as being …show more content…
A word. What is in that word “honor”? / What is that “honor”? Air...” (5.1.133-134). Honor is merely an intangible word. Therefore, it is not permanent, and its meaning can be altered. Honor can have a different meanings for different people, which allows people to twist honor in a way to support their own viewpoints. King Henry IV and Hotspur believed that honor could be gained by fighting. For example, King Henry IV fought to obtain the throne illegally in order to gain what he desired, and he was honorable is his own eyes. Hotspur believes he will be honorable by fighting to overthrow the king, which conveniently justifies his anger and declaration of war. Since honor is merely a word, it is able to be
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