Death: Honorable or Dishonorable?
What is an honorable or dishonorable death? Webster's Dictionary states that honorable means: having a good reputation, being respectable, and worthy of being honored (Webster's New World Dictionary, 648). It also states that dishonorable means: causing or deserving dishonor; not honorable; shameful; and disgraceful (Webster's New World Dictionary, 394). Is that the way people view an honorable or dishonorable death? Is it the way someone dies or what people tend to think of him or her after they have passed? Does it deal with their lives before they died? The poems, short story, and play that deal with these questions are: To An Athlete Dying Young by A.E. Housman, The Suicide by Louis MacNeice, The Hanging by George Orwell, and Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen. The poem, To An Athlete Dying Young is about an athlete that died before his glory faded in his fan's eyes. Did this athlete die an honorable death? I think so. If he were to die while his career was in the slumps and no one cheered him on anymore to him, it would be a dishonorable death. To have lived one's life and conquered all dreams and then to die without recognition would be a dishonorable death. This athlete lived out
These poems, short story, and play all have death in common. Whether the deaths were honorable or not is something that the reader has to decide for himself or herself. I believe that the men in To Athlete Dying Young and The Hanging died honorable deaths but I believe that the man in Suicide and Hedda and Eilert, from Hedda Gabler, died dishonorable deaths. I believe that to decide whether their deaths are honorable or not, the reader has to look at the lives of these people before they died. They also have to look at the way that each person died. his dreams and more, now that he is dead the people will remember him for what he did. To them, he was a hero and what other way is there to die but to die a hero. Also, this athlete did not waste any of his life; he lived it to the fullest with no regrets. He appreciated his life and what life had given to him. This is truly an honorable death. Hedda Gabler personifies the word dishonorable. She is the type of woman that will do what she wants, when she wants, and will get what she desires no matter how or when she gets it. She does not care about other people, just herself. She is dishonorable, disgraceful, and shameful, as the definition states but without her, the story is incomplete. Hedda is married to a very intelligent man but does not love him; she is using him to fulfill her own agenda (Ibsen, 67). When she kills herself at the end of the play, she feels as if she has no other options. She was instrumental in the death of her ex-lover and there is evidence of that. Her husband, whom she does not love, is working very closely with an old love
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1097
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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