Theme Of Honor In Shakespeare's Plays

In Shakespeare’s works, the recurring obsession of obtaining honor is prominent throughout his plays. During the plays’ time periods, the only way to obtain honor is through fighting on the battlefield, but honor does not stop there. It spreads to the main characters’ way of life, affects the way they rule, and the decisions they make. The contrasting/ supporting characters even have an opinion on honor and use it to their advantage. Honor is defined as high respect or esteem, or honor may be viewed as a privilege. Shakespeare uses this central idea to formulate most of his plays, and the plays hint that Shakespeare even yearns for honor for himself. Shakespeare wants his readers to understand that honor is a recurring and controlling theme …show more content…
After Prince Henry kills Hotspur in Act Five Scene Four, Falstaff stabs a dead Hotspur, tells everyone he killed Hotspur, and takes the honor away from Prince Henry. Act Five is quite puzzling, because Falstaff just gave a speech about how honor is meaningless. Shakespeare’s audience may come to the conclusion that although Falstaff will not pursue honor, he does not mind taking it away from others. Falstaff is a character that will do anything to better himself. Audiences saw this in Act Four Scene Two, when Falstaff is willing to steal. Some may argue it is a necessity to steal, because he has no income, but if he truly steals to survive, he would not spend all his money in a tavern. Not only does he commit a crime by stealing, he also, easily lies about it as well. In the end, one can conclude that that the only reason why Falstaff wanted to claim honor in the first place is because he wanted to better himself. Therefore, Shakespeare uses this scene to reveal that Falstaff uses the pursuit of honor to his advantage in a dishonorable manner to cause his argument to be discredited, so that Shakespeare can prove his belief that fighting for honor is the true purpose in