In Shakespeare’s play, King Henry IV Part 1, Hotspur’s speech to King Henry, in attempt to explain why he did not free prisoners when ordered to do so by the courtier, employs that he is an impetuous leader that is incapable of consistently obtaining respect. Hotspur says that the courtier confronted him after the battle, and that the man was, “neat, and trimly dressed, / Fresh as a bridegroom” (I.3.32-33). The man is composed and feminine, which prominently disgusts Hotspur. His repugnance of “neat” is looked down upon by King Henry, and is not respected by those Hotspur entails respect from. Hotspur is a hasty soldier that evidently contains no tolerance for weakness, fear, or even the slight details of courtly behavior.
The Elizabethan Era had many rules and laws, so many that sometimes they were hard to keep track of. The capital offenses included robbery, larceny/theft, rape, and arson (Harrison). The more frequently committed crimes included theft, begging, cutpurses, adultery, debtors, poaching, forgery, fraud, and dice-cogging (Elizabethan Crime). In a desperate effort to control how the less fortunate and homeless behaved, Parliament passed the Poor Laws, which made it illegal to beg for food and money (Harrison). These laws went so far as to make it illegal to live on the streets (Crime and Punishment).
The knights had a code they lived by. Honor, bravery, chivalry, and courtesy. This code was called knightly chivalry. The monarchy also brought the artisan class and changed the attitude toward the church and religion.
An important character in the book Speak, a bildungsroman novel, by Laurie Halse Anderson is Melinda Sordino. At an end of summer party Melinda calls the cops, nobody will talk to her, yet alone listen to why she did. The incident was that she was raped by a senior still at her school, he is still a threat to her and soon her friend, which forces her to speak. Melinda is important because of her story and what she has been through. Melinda learns the importance of having good friends, how to speak up and how to accept help from others.
During the Elizabethan era, knights were claimed to be the very best and served the Queen. The knights were a particular class during the era. They were known for their valor and courage during battles. Sometimes even the second sons of earls and lords result to becoming celebrated knights, as seen in some of Shakespeare’ plays, such as “Henry IV”. Knights were used to accomplish conspiracies and schemes traveling to distant countries and foreign lands for battles.
In Nicholls essay, The Testing of Courtesy at Camelot and Hautdesert, the author argues that courtesy serves to mask the true desire for violence in King Arthur’s court. “ Politeness is a veneer over the violence latent in human affairs and courtesy…[it] acts as a restraining
By design, the book attempts to guide others who want to pursue perfection in their courtly duties, revealing the integral courtly traits in a symposium-adjacent manner. Thus,
In the Elizabethan age, social class structure was paramount. The class ranking dictated how the people of each level could dress, the diet and food available, and career standing. Social hierarchy classes consisted of a monarch, nobility, gentry, merchants, yeomanry, and laborer. The monarch was the highest and most superior class ranking, it was based off of bloodline only and the oldest monarch would take the throne and become the most powerful(“Elizabethan Era.”).
The Act for the Relief of the Poor, primarily known as the Elizabethan Poor Law, was passed in 1601. It was required in order to establish a law system for the poor in England and Wales. In the earlier years, several laws were passed to deal with the increasing poverty. There was an official record maintained for those who fell into the category for ‘poor’ (Bloy, 2002).
In order to express the upper classes’ distinctive behaviour, Nicholas Cooper seeks to define how more prestigious individuals explicitly display their manners in the context of their own homes to explicitly reveal their rank in the greater society. On the basis of interpreting other literature and accounts, Cooper found that the way how early modern period houses were laid out and furnished, appeared to reflect the status of the influential because of the prestigious’ desire to be known for their social prominence. Cooper concluded that architectural expression has evolved from being an ideological force to becoming the “rules” of behaviour in which guided the way the affluent were supposed to behave. Cooper’s interest in the examination
Humans are and always have been social beings. In the Stone Age, communal efforts were essential in ensuring survival. With this comes a concern for one’s public image, how others perceive him and his reputation. The English labeled this concept “honour” and incorporated it into their elaborate social hierarchy. Citizens were expected to follow a specific code of honor and morals, dictating what they can and cannot do.
The concept of Chivalry has baffled countless medieval historians throughout the years. Chivalry was supposedly a code that knights and nobles lived their lives by. Similarly to other social structures that were in place in the past historians have struggled to draw conclusions as to the extent to which people lived according to chivalric principles. Sir Walter Scott believed that knights aspired to the code of chivalry, but that in the real world the code was impossible to live according to such a code. This conclusion gives a clear picture of chivalry.
He must show a variety of skills and characteristics that will help not only to maintain his reputation, but help to set an example for the others as well. Castiglione mentions an innumerable amount of qualities which included grace, affectation, and nonchalance. As Castiglione states, “A man who behaves with grace finds it with others” (65). If the courtier can find a quality like grace within himself, then he is able to identify with others and lead them in the right direction. The courtier exemplifies qualities that all the others, with the exception of the courtier and those in the court must exhibit: compliance.
Young aristocratic boys were sent to schools to learn about nobility through combat, riding horses, hunting, and handling weapons. The church was very supportive of the way of the warrior, and chivalry evolved from nobility. Being chivalrous meant to defend the church, city or town for glory on the battlefield. Young males would compete in tournaments to prepare for combat once they were knighted. The roles of men and women changed in the medieval period, and responsibility played an important part for the class structure.
Honor in today’s society holds close to the same meaning as it did when Shakespeare wrote the play in the sixteenth century, and it is a closer definition to Hotspur’s than Falstaff’s by
