As princes, the main male characters of Sidney’s Arcadia, strive for heroism. Throughout the text, Pyrocles and Musidorus undergo journeys that take them from heroism, to their dramatic fall from grace, to their redemption. The journey towards a person’s morality and heroic virtue, could be defined by two different paths; the active life or the contemplative life, passion or reason. The active life or following one’s passion, is associated with the idea of doing. It is taking action to obtain a certain goal. Whereas the contemplative life or following reason, is associated with thinking. Taking the time to reason through the problem, before trying to fix it. In an ideal situation, heroism would be achieved through a combination of the active…show more content… There are two aspects in which the reader can regard the princes’ downfall, friendship and gender. Both friendship and gender contribute to the choices made by Pyrocles and Musidorus and through them it can be seen that the best chance to cultivate a person’s morality and heroic virtue is through ignoring their primal passions and focusing on the contemplative life and listening to reason. In the beginning of Sidney’s Arcadia, the male protagonists Pyrocles and Musidorus are considered to be heroes. Pyrocles and Musidorus are to be considered heroic in virtue because of their exploits during their travels. Sidney writes, “what befell unto them [Pyrocles and Musidorus], what valiant acts they did, . . . how many ladies they defended from wrongs, and disinherited persons restored to their rights” (11). These actions, defending ladies and restoring rights, are easily considered to be heroic, and thus the doers of these actions are to be considered heroic as well. Their heroism, can be viewed through the lenses of friendship and gender. At this time, these male heroes would be considered to be living a contemplative life. This contemplative life, can be seen…show more content… Both Pyrocles and Musidorus take action, and make choices which lead them down the wrong path. Pyrocles sleeps with Philoclea and causes Bascilius and Gynecia to stumble in their relationship, and Musidorus attempts to rape Pamela. These actions lead to the poisoning of Bascilius, and they are caused because the male characters chose to indulge in their passions rather than listen to reason. This fall from heroism can be viewed through the lenses of friendship and gender. As mentioned before, “friendship, then, is associated with good rule” (Macfaul, 18). When Pyrocles and Musidorus go their separate ways in search of their loves, they lose the friendship that has kept them grounded throughout their travels. Sidney writes, “’Alas! What further evil hath fortune reserved for us, or what shall be the end of this our tragical pilgrimage?’” (43). In order to gain the affection of their love, both men then dress up as another character. However, in these disguises without their friendship, they were unable to continue with the contemplative life. Macfaul writes, “in friendship it is a different matter, as the friend provides another, different self who can preserve one’s identity even when one is not quite oneself” (19). Without their friendship, they are unable to preserve their reasonable identity, and thus fall to their passions and fall from their heroism. Since, during this time,
