Clavis Libri

Theme

Honor and Reputation

The value of a person in the eyes of others and in their own: honor, glory, fame, dignity, public shame.

The Iliad

Homer

the prize that Agamemnon takes from Achilles in Book I, and Achilles' refusal of compensation in objects in Book IX.

Inferno

Dante Alighieri

the Ignavi, whom the world leaves without fame (Canto III), Farinata, greater in Hell than he was in life (Canto X), Pier delle Vigne and the memory he wants to defend (Canto XIII), Brunetto and the man who makes himself eternal through his work (Canto XV), the three Florentines who ask to be spoken of (Canto XVI), and the fame that Mosca and the traitors ask of Dante (Canto XXVIII).

Don Quixote

Miguel de Cervantes

the soldier's wound as a star that guides one to honor (Prologue to Part Two), the difference between agravo and afronta (chapter XXXII of Part Two), Camilla's honor lost through a test (chapter XXXIV of Part One), Leandra, who loses everything but her honor (chapter LI of Part One), the plea for justice of Doña Rodríguez (chapter XLVIII of Part Two), and the defeated gentleman's "Here was Troy" (chapter LXVI of Part Two).

Julius Caesar

William Shakespeare

the refused oath in Act II, Scene 1, Antony's honorable Brutus in Act III, Scene 2, and the praise of the dead man in Act V, Scene 5.

Othello

William Shakespeare

Cassio's lost reputation in scene 3 of Act II, the slap before Lodovico in scene 1 of Act IV and Othello's request in scene 2 of Act V.