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What is Noble?Lexi Traverse: Period B

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Noble is doing what is right,

being brave, and presenting one’s

self in a dignified manner.

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Textual Evidence: “On the Divine”

“Let man be noble, Generous, and good” (Goethe).

When man can be these things we can say he does what is right.

“Higher beings … let man resemble them” (Goethe).

When man can act like his God or gods, in a Saint-like manner, then he is

considered noble.

“Reward the good and punish the wicked; He may heal and save And

usefully bind All that strays and wanders” (Goethe).

When man does what is right, punishing the wicked and setting free the innocent, he is doing a

noble job.

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Nob

le in

Ou

r Socie

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day

In our society today we can see three major types of noble. The first type is the actual nobility. While there are not as many monarchies now a day as there were in our history, there are still people who are noble by birth or marriage. As a society we expect these people to uphold certain morals and ethics which we associate with high class and upbringing. These morals can include decorous behavior, generosity, and humility.

The second type of noble belongs to the people who champion dignified causes. These are people who make it their goal in life to complete or attempt to complete a specific, highly thought of, and idealized cause. These people are often seen as brave, smart, and in possession of good characters.

The third kind of noble belongs to the heroes. These are the people we idealize and who can do no wrong by our standards. The heroes to whom we look up to make up our understanding of what is right and what is wrong, often from a very young age. Because we believe that these people are intrinsically good they often become our own inspiration of goodness.

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Textual Evidence: A Tale of Two Cities

“Even when there were sounds of sorrow among the rest, they were not harsh nor cruel. Even when golden hair, like her own, lay in a halo on a pillow round the worn face of a little boy, and he said, with a radiant smile, ‘Dear papa and mamma, I am very sorry to leave you both, and to leave my pretty sister; but I am called, and I must go!’ … ‘Poor Carton! Kiss him for me!’” (Dickens 258-9). In this quote Lucie’s son dies quite nobly, he is brave in the face of death and thinking of others before himself.

“I see the lives for which I lay down my life, peaceful, useful, prosperous and happy, in that England which I shall see no more” (Dickens 462). Here Carton says that he will lay down his life so that Lucie can keep her family intact. This is a noble pursuit because he is dying for her happiness and safety.

“But I, though a common dog, so struck at him as to make him draw. Let him break into as many pieces as he will the sword that he stained with my common blood; he drew to defend himself – thrust at me with all his skill for his life” (Dickens 401). Here, Madam Defarge’s brother explains how he fought to avenge his other sister’s virtue. Although he wasn’t of the nobility he still fought because it was the right thing to do.

“If it could have been possible, Miss Manette, that you could have returned the love of the man you see before you – self-flung away, wasted, drunken, poor creature of misuse as you know him to be – he would have been conscious this day and hour, in spite of his happiness, that he would bring you to misery, bring you to sorrow and repentance, blight you, disgrace you, pull you down with him” (Dickens 185). Because Carton knows that Lucie could never be happy with him he throws away his own happiness so that he may see her in joy.

“From that time, in all weathers, she waited there two hours. As the clock struck two, she was there, and at four she turned resignedly away. When it was not too wet of inclement for her child to be with her, they went together; at other times she went alone; but she never missed a single day” (Dickens 341). Lucie’s devotion to her husband is made clear by her loyalty to be where he might catch a glimpse of her in order to make his imprisonment a little easier. This is a righteous and justified cause, and therefore a noble pursuit.

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What It means to be NobleThe Princess Bride To Kill a Mocking Bird

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Works CitedDickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities: And Related Readings. Evanston, IL:

McDougal Littell, 1997. Print.

Gandhi. N.d. Photograph. Central Tibetan Administration. 1 Oct. 2012. Web. 9 May 2013.

Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch and Brock Peters as Tom Robinson in the 1962 Film Version of “To Kill a Mockingbird.”. N.d. Photograph. New Yorker. Condé Nast, 10 Aug. 2009. Web. 9 May 2013.

LOVE. N.d. Photograph. ScriptShadow. Blogger, 9 June 2011. Web. 9 May 2013.

Macdiarmid, Peter. 2011. Photograph. London. Celebuzz. Spin Entertainment, 2011. Web. 7 May 2013.

Mr. Rogers. N.d. Photograph. Professor Bruce M. Hood. WordPress, 3 May 2010. Web. 9 May 2013.

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The End.