Introduction
Honor in the era of Shakespeare. Richard III can be considered one of the most popular and exceptional plays written by William Shakespeare. As such, the theme of honor should be explained in the framework of the play Richard III and actions and motivations of its characters with regard to the historic background of the play.
The era of Shakespeare can be characterized as the one full of conspiracies and thirst for power, monarchs and nobility wanted to achieve the greatest results in terms of power and positions. As such, the War of the Roses can be treated as the period in history that gave much inspiration for the authors of the time.
Besides, contemporary readers can understand Shakespeare’s history plays and the theme of honor in those by reading plays and studying history. The more we learn about the history of that time, the more we can realize that honor has nothing in common with the wars and strive for power; neither can royalty be characterized as one of the domains where honor is obligatory.
Honor in literature. Literature is a field of study where every reader becomes a character and can play this or that role and support a character or oppose him/her. The same usually happens with the readers of Shakespeare’s plays of different genres.
History plays by William Shakespeare enables the readers to analyze the historic events that pertain to the historic background. The theme of honor in literature can be demonstrated widely using various perspectives, multifaceted situations and characters, and a great number of different literary techniques.
However, Shakespeare includes the main character to make it impossible to even talk about honor or any other virtue when we imagine an ugly person of the future monarch who tells of himself the following lines:
I, that am curtail’d of this fair proportion,
Cheated of feature by dissembling nature,
Deform’d, unfinish’d, sent before my time
Into this breathing world, scare half made up… (Shakespeare, 1995, p. 13).
As such, even Richard realizes that his brother is more likely to obtain the crown and become a monarch though his thirst for power overcomes all the difficulties and helps him to achieve the desired throne.
Honor in Shakespeare’s History Plays
History and literature. Knowledge on history plays a crucial role in understanding of some works of literature in the framework of the contemporary reader. It is important to know what historic events are explained, discussed, or simply made allusion on certain events in this or that novel or play.
Though the authors might think that those events and personalities are well-known enough to give no explanations, literary critics and analysts make it simpler for readers to comprehend motivations and the historic background of those works. As Leggatt (1978) claims, “we need to know some history in order to fill in a background that Shakespeare seems to take for granted; and we have to make an effort to understand some unfamiliar political assumptions” (p. 91).
When we are talking about history plays by William Shakespeare, it is important to understand the historic background of those though the literary style of the author makes them really worth being read in spite of lack of knowledge of history and lack of analytical skills to make some ‘political assumptions’.
When honor emerges as one of the virtues usually ascribed to characters of plays and novels, it should be revised in terms of its meaning. Honor is a trait of character that enables a person to treat every situation with wisdom and some internal respect for self and for others.
Contemporary readers would not be able to see a portion of honor in the main character of the play Richard III by Shakespeare. Besides, Richard III in this play cannot be treated as a protagonist because we makes people suffer and would never win if he had weak position and no desire to receive power and the throne of the monarch.
His struggle against his brother cannot be called honorable or fair and, moreover, Richard III cannot be treated as a true monarch when he obtained the throne because of his filthy methods to remain powerful. As such, Shakespeare shaped the entire play of Richard III “around a great villain” as suggested in the analysis by Pierce (1971, p. 89). Every detail the readers learn about this antagonist makes them conclude from history and from play concerning the historic background and outcomes of the War of the Roses.
Though the War of the Roses gave a great background for Shakespeare’s plays, it is necessary to remember that the wars of that time can be characterized as really cruel and lacking honor because every participant of the war including the monarchs and their vassals wanted to take a throne rather than to reach a compromise or establish peace and stability in the country.
In this respect, honor can be treated as the factor that could help the readers to indicate whether the character is honorable and positive or not. However, the antagonist of the play Richard III cannot be treated as absolutely dishonorable because there were other reasons for his actions rather than his absolute evil-being.
As Pierce (1971) claims, “…destruction of the family, corrupted inheritance, and tainted marriage pervade the language and action of Richard III” (p. 93). In other words, problems within a family resemble problems within a state where conflicts emerge and a person from outside should intervene with the situation and help solve the problem as it happened in the Battle of Bosworth.
Honor and idealism vs. truth and idealism. Honor is idealistic feature ascribed to most characters in literature, especially those pertaining to the era of Shakespeare. However, antagonists typically lack this virtue though some of them can be characterized differently when viewed from another perspective. For instance, if readers comprehend the play Richard III as the one about a villain that wanted to grab the power and deprive other people who could be called heir apparent from a chance to obtain a throne.
On the contrary, we can feel sorry for this miserable person who did not have specific social skills; neither had he had special political and analytical skills. At the same time, Richard III can be treated as the play that could be interpreted with regard to the background knowledge of the reader.
If the reader knows history well and can clearly understand the motivations and intrigues during the War of the Roses as this is the major event that shapes the entire play and introduces characters one by one, it is possible to assume that Richard III would not be treated as such a villain but rather as an ordinary person of the time by such a knowledgeable reader.
Idealism is present in the play due to the concept of honor by all other characters but Richard III. Those others are opposed to the great villain during the entire play making him look even more cruel and inhuman. Honor is the idealistic trait that makes people treat the obstacles and other individuals in a different way.
Though truth is the basis of all history plays by Shakespeare, he gained inspiration and looked for a great framework for his creation. As such, the logical structure of the play focuses on a villain and makes him die in the final battle. Moreover, “The Battle of Bosworth in Richard III may be the only example of a just war in the canon” (Hattaway, 2002, p. 14).
In this respect, it is necessary to assume that the battle was the logical ending for such a great though a little too foolish person as Richard III. In addition, this person can be perceived in different ways regarding the perspective of the reader though his strive for power and his enthusiasm in spite of his inborn lack of physical attraction can be assessed as traits pertaining to the true leaders only.
Politics and honor. Though this combination might look like an antonymic one, the readers should understand that no politics would exist if there were no honorable people in the highest instances of power. As such, political power requires some honor in a person that wants to deal with political situations, wars, and power.
A person should know the final goal and possible approaches that should be applied to achieve it respectively. At this point, Richard III can be treated as a true politician and a good leader that knows how to direct, control, and manipulate his people regardless of their desires to support or oppose him.
When a person knows what to strive for, it is easier to cope with other difficulties that might occur on the way. Perhaps, Richard III was a truly honorable person that simply wanted to cope with the difficulties related to his physical inferiority that caused psychological problems and made him look for approval of his brother that was a reigning monarch at that time.
However, it turned out that this impetus became a strong motivating factor for Richard III that made him do cruel actions and destroy people he used to love. The more Richard III entered the domain of politics, the more cruel though powerful he became regardless of the number of his supporters because he knew that he could rely on himself only.
Thirst for power. Richard’s thirst for power made him forget about the honor and the family morality though, as suggested in the study by Pierce (1971), “Richard shares with the Vice his consummate hypocrisy and his demonic sense of humor, both of which exploit the morality of the family” (p. 90).
At the same time, he knows what he wants and this can be treated as a positive trait of his character shared by him in spite of physical abnormalities. Enthusiast and a good intriguer, Richard III was able to solve all his problems using hands of another man and not being involved into those intrigues directly.
As such, he wanted power though was extremely destructive at the same time which made him an object of the general hatred against his cruel methods and inability for compassion. Richard III is the main character of the play by William Shakespeare where the theme of honor can be treated as one of the main topics dwelled on in the play though it is not addressed directly; neither it is named or glorified.
As suggested by Hattaway (2002), “above all, like most ‘politic historians’ of the Renaissance, Shakespeare was interested in causation” (p. 20). In this respect, honor as a virtue was not really appropriate to shape the image of a character who was supposed to be treated as a villain. Besides, the importance of the character’s perception by the readers plays a crucial role in treatment of the entire situation within the framework of historic events.
Royalty and honor. Though honor can be perceived as one of the major virtues of the main character, this rule is not applicable to the situation in the play Richard III where the ruler is a villain who knows what he wants and uses all possible methods to achieve the final goal.
As a result, Richard III is defeated in the end of the play in the Battle of Bosworth by Henry Tudor which proofs to be a logical end of the War of the Roses and the end of Richard’s reign. At the same time, this shows that no royal blood can absorb such virtue as honor if a person is not able to live in peace with the self.
Conclusion
Shakespeare and his contribution to the idealistic concepts. Shakespeare is more known for his tragedies and comedies, poems, and sonnets. At the same time, his history plays make the readers question their knowledge of history and the historic background of those works of literature where Shakespeare takes the historic background for granted.
Nevertheless, it is possible to assume that the number of events could not be greater than during the War of the Roses and William Shakespeare could not miss such an opportunity as demonstrating his understanding of the situation in the royal families and in political domain in general.
Besides, he was interested in the stimulus that made all those wars and conflicts occur between people. In this respect, he leads the readers to his understanding of history through the perspective of an honorable person.
Honor as understood from Shakespeare’s history plays. Honor can be better understood from tragedies written by William Shakespeare whereas his history plays make readers question their knowledge of history as the main background for his works. Shakespeare, as a historian, wanted to know the motivations that stood behind the conflicts while a great villain in the image of Richard III in the play of the same name enabled the readers to see how honor is overvalued opposed to common sense and stability.
As such, honor can be characterized as one of the main topics to focus in Richard III though it is not named directly, neither it is glorified or ascribed to a protagonist. As a rule, a protagonist wins over the antagonist while in the play by Shakespeare everything reaches its logical ending.
References
Hattaway, M. (Ed.). (2002). The Cambridge companion to Shakespeare’s history plays. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Leggatt, A. (1978). Review: The history plays and their background. Shakespeare Quarterly, 29(1), 91-94.
Pierce, R. B. (1971). Richard III in Shakespeare’s history plays: The family and the state (pp. 89-135). Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press.
Shakespeare, W. (1995). Richard III. Mineola, NY: Courier Dover Publications.