Honor Concept And Ethical Choice In Shakespeare's Roman Plays

The Roman Republic respects honor.The concept of honor as a universal ethics has different meanings in the eyes of nobles,monarchs and civilians.In Shakespeare's Roman Plays,people's concept of honor and ethical choices are interactive.The honor concept of different classes influences and determines different ethical choices,but at the same time,the ethical choice will in turn affect the formation or change of the honor concept.This article is divided into four chapters to examine the ethical teachings and reflections on the situation in Britain at a turning point by Shakespeare's honor and ethical choices in different classes.The first chapter takes Coriolanus,Volumnia and Brutus as the research object,and analyzes the concept of honor and the ethical choices made by the Roman nobility.Coriolanus's ethical identity has undergone a transformation from "City State Guardian"to "City State Destroyer".The tragic ending caused by the excessive respect for honor reveals that the essence of honor is Rome's tool for manipulating heroes.Volumnia is the embodiment of Roman education.She chose to sacrifice her son in order to maintain the honor of the country,showing the profound impact of Roman honor education on the nobility.Brutus's concept of honor is centered on virtue.His actions to violate the ethical taboos of regicide in order to maintain the freedom of the Republic indicate his lack of ability to grasp the times.The aristocratic pursuit of honor is more limited to the individual level,and the interaction between their honor concept and ethical choice is tragic.In the conflict between personal principles and public interests,the choice of the Roman aristocracy not only failed to gain honor,but led to the disillusionment of honor.The second chapter takes Caesar and Anthony as the typical representatives of the positive and negative monarchs,and analyzes the honor concept of the Roman monarchs and their ethical choices in the pursuit of monarchy.Caesar sought the establishment of a new Rome and demonstrated his flexible concept of honor by his death pursuit of kingship.Anthony is the representative of the negative monarch.He cannot maintain the balance between lover and ruler.In the conflict between desire and reason,Anthony's resolute move to abandon his ethical responsibility shows that the traditional concept of honor in Rome can no longer influence him.The interaction between the great monarch's concept of honor and ethical choices is positive.The flexible concept of honor enables the monarch to take useful actions according to the situation,which in turn makes the monarch immortal.The third chapter analyzes the honor concept and ethical choice of Roman civilians.The civilian class is composed of tribunes and the people.The tribunes in the play are a combination of "agitator" and "demagogue".Their behavior of abandoning public ethical responsibilities in order to satisfy personal desires shows their low morality.The people in Roman Plays showed violent and irrational characteristics.They ignored the honor and the ethical choice to abandon justice for the sake of pursuing interests hinted at the huge difference in morals between the people and the aristocracy.The interaction between the civilian class's concept of honor and ethical choices is vicious.There is a vicious circle between chasing interests,lack of honor,and violence.There is a vicious circle between the pursuit of profits,the lack of honor and the practice of violence.The concept of honor has been increasingly ignored as violence has escalated.The fourth chapter analyzes the cause of honor concept and ethical choice in Shakespeare's Roman Plays,and the ethical environment of Roman Plays creation.The demonstration of the Roman populace's violent action and the appearance of the fallen aristocracy represented by minenes express Shakespeare's negation of democracy and republic.Shakespeare's vilification of the people and the elitist tendency in the plays are influenced by Western traditional culture and Christianity,reflecting the writer's hierarchical prejudices based on history and times.Shakespeare always adhered to the pursuit of ideal and morality with love as the core,thinking that people must use reason and wisdom to resist the temptation of desire to achieve the perfection of the soul.The conclusion summarizes the relationship between the different honor concepts and ethical choices of the nobles,monarchs and civilians,and reflects on Shakespeare's political ethics reflected in the Roman Plays from a contemporary standpoint.The concept of honor in Roman Plays not only reflects the uniqueness of the ancient national value system and ethical order,but also shows the great changes in British ideology and social development during the Renaissance.