“You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.” – Aristotle. In Homer’s epic poem the Iliad, becoming a legend and possessing honor can be considered as a warrior’s motivation to live, while shame is the denial of honor which could affect even the gods, identifying each character as a unique individual. In the drama/action, Chūshingura, shame tarnished the public image of a samurai but motivated them to defend their honor due to the religious importance of being pure and the impermanence of themselves, conveying the idea that samurai act as a solid body, unlike the warriors in the Iliad. The role that fate played within both works was limited, within the Iliad, fate was a destined outcome with the decisions of free-will complicating the path to the outcome, while in Chūshingura, fate was in the hands of the samurai.
In the Iliad, the beliefs held by ancient Greece included praise to the gods and the major goal of heroes was the collection of prizes, possession of women and through battle. The worth of a person was equivalent to the amount of honor earned and determined by the quantity of prizes one possessed (Guilt 193, par. 2). Earning honor was something that motivated the Greek because of their interest in being remembered and recognized as god-like heroes to bring honor to their family name. Sarpedon states his goal is to fight for gain and glory, not for contractual obligation;
…it is our duty in the forefront of the Lykians to take our stand, and bear our part of the blazing of battle, so that a man of the close-armored Lykians may say of us: “Indeed, these are no ignoble men who are lords of Lykia, these kings of ours, who feed upon the fat sheep appointed and drink the exquisite sweet wine, since indeed there is strength of valor in them, since they fight in the forefront of the Lykians. (Homer, 12, 315-321)
This is the most explicit standard of honor in the Iliad (Alienation, 5, par. 1). This illustrates a treatment for a god-like hero to receive; people recognizing their bravery and strength, eating well, drinking lots of wine (Guilt 197. Par. 1). God-like heroes could be imagined as someone who is fearful, honorable, bold, and someone who would sacrifice their life for their beliefs. Honor was a concept held only by individual heroes who completed heroic tasks, making the Trojan war not only a time for revenge but also an opportunity to gain a more honorable heroic image in the public eye. When a character is denied honor, it is considered as shameful to their character which is a great motivator for most warriors who fear bringing shame upon their name. This creates the image of the main characters as leaders and as heroes who struggle for their land, but mainly are appreciated because of the fame and glory earned that make warriors more respectable.
Chūshingura reveals an entirely different set of beliefs regarding honor, due to the differences in culture between Japan and ancient Greece, where Greek warriors have an individualism characteristic lacked by samurai who admire and show obedience to their leaders. The 47 Ronin showcased similar heroic characteristics to the warriors in the Iliad such as strength, bravery and fearful yet the Ronin were held together by strong loyalty to a single leader and widespread beliefs. In perfect Confucian ruling, the sovereign would take responsibility for actions, encouraging the masses to have peace and happiness, though in Chūshingura, the government is corrupt and selfish (Lai, 251, par. 1-2). The Asano clan within Chūshingura struggled with the concept of honor due to the corruption of the government and within their clan unite under their own code of honor to avenge their leader, who was forced to commit hari-kari. The honor of a leader was superior to the personal honor of a samurai, shaping the honor of a clan, suggesting that to honor a clan one must bring honor upon themselves. It is necessary to recognize the importance of hari-kari, which is committed by a samurai to avoid dishonoring one's name, illustrating how samurai collectively defined themselves as those who know shame and would risk their lives to defend their honor (Ikegami, 1360, 2).
While both works are reliant on honor, they have different social norms affecting the way that honor is earned, either independently or collectively. In both works honor and shame are directly related. In the Japanese culture of Chūshingura it is important to note that honor and shame are collective ideas and that when earning either, it is brought upon those who surround you. In Chūshingura we see how many warriors commit hari-kari to avoid bringing shame upon their clan and to their family name. It should also be noted that in samurai culture both honor and shame work together to establish a warrior's identity,
The comparative study of shame cultures is not an easy task because shame and honor can be expressed in collections of concepts that are related to one another but applied differently to different gender, age groups, status, and economic categories even within a given cultural and linguistic area. (Ikegami, 1352, par. 1)
In Greek culture, shame and honor both similarly work to create a person’s identity, but unlike the Japanese culture an identity is individual and not a collective construct.
Shame-culture shames warriors and samurai into fighting for honor, though the Iliad has one of the most shameful characters by the standards of the ancient Greek, Achilles. Achilles attempts to reject the shame-culture, through his refusal to fight in the war and he only participates through the loan of his armor to Patroclus. Although Achilles rejects the values of ancient Greek culture because he doesn’t feel it is personally honorable, he still has his humanity and is touched by his love for Patroclus (Guilt, 195, par. 2). Achilles intends to gain the most honor of any hero, so he must differentiate himself from all heroes before him (Alienation, 2, par.1). The life of Patroclus is taken because of Achilles refusal to fight, which would cause shame to most Greek’s, but his death only motivates Achilles to seek revenge, as shown in book 20 when Achilles kills as many Trojans as he can to reach and slaughter Hector. This rejection of shame-culture shown by Achilles illustrates the importance of individually unique characters within the ancient Greek culture, and while Achilles may not highlight shame, he is an example of a heroic warrior searching for a way to bring honor upon his name. Achilles holds the belief that honor is gained through the possession of women, so when Briseis is taken he feels threatened, “And then you will eat out the heart within you in sorrow, that you did no honor to the best of the Achaians.” (Homer, 1, 342-344). While Achilles was having somewhat of an identity crisis, warriors like Hector were fearing the possibility of being shameful by not going to war, “If I like a coward were to shrink aside from the fighting; and the spirit will not let me, since I have learned to be valiant and to fight always among the foremost ranks of the Trojans, winning for my own self great glory, and for my father.” (Homer, 6, 444-446). Fighting in the war and being glory upon his name was important to Hector even after his wife pleads him to stay, which leads to the ultimatum of choosing to die with honor or to feel shameful for leading the Trojans to defeat.
In the work Chūshingura two aspects of shame are introduced, a type of shame originating from the Japanese culture and then shame presented by the samurai code of honor. The government is corrupted by the idea that gifts are necessary, the greater the value and higher quantity of the gifts, the better treatment your clan will receive. In the Asano clan, the master doesn’t believe gifts are necessary and believes they only contribute to the corruption because of his strong beliefs in the samurai code of honor. Asano rejects the shame-culture similarly to Achilles to honor himself personally, yet his stubbornness leads to his execution by Lord Yanagisawa’s men. In the Japanese culture shame is what motivates a samurai to be honorable, for instance shame was brought upon men who didn’t participate in the avenging of the clan master Asano, as illustrated y the son who begged to be a part of the Ronin in place of his father to spare his family name. Shame is more significant in Chūshingura because of Okano Kinemon, a samurai of the Asano clan, who flirts with the concept of marrying a famous carpenter’s sister, Otsuya, but felt obligated to bring honor upon Asano. This flirting between them enhances both the importance of family reputation and the idea that the honor of a leader is more superior than personal honor. The reputation of the Kinemon family would be impacted by Otsuya’s famous brother if he marries Otsuya, honor would be brought upon both of their families. Without the sacrifice and participation of Okano in the avenging of the Asano clan, the marriage wouldn’t have been feasible because of dishonor brought upon the Asano clan.
The identity of a warrior was constructed by shame and honor, yet two major characters held the beliefs that were “a much broader set of ideals, including the central virtue of honesty, the sacredness of one's word and the refusal to lie even for personal advantage.” (Kaufman, 559, par. 1). These beliefs add depth to both society and individual, introducing that shame and honor can’t be defined a single way, and human nature allows warriors to focus on things like rewards or external praise and to be motivated by fear of external shaming (Kaufman, 562, par. 1).
While both cultures have similar shame/honor culture, with two characters defying it and having similar definitions for the terms, both cultures have complete opposite views on the concept of fate. Fate in ancient Greek culture is something that is bound to happen no matter what path is followed, free will has a place but complicates the course to what is destined to happen. The gods recognize that they have the power to intervene and influence, but respect that fate is more powerful and still bound to happen. Zeus demonstrates this when he contemplates whether to interfere with his son Sarpedon and is persuaded by Hera to leave fate alone because of the slippery slope effect of other gods attempting to save their children (Homer, 16, 435). The Japanese culture believes in the exact opposite, unknowing of their fate but always speculating, and in Chūshingura that the fate of characters was in the hands of the samurai who chose their actions using shame and honor to lead their decisions.
While there is no one right way to define shame, honor and fate, Chūshingura and the Iliad both use their culture and social norms to establish an either individual or collective way to construct the identity of a warrior. Through materialistic values, praise and recognition, or the recognition of impermanence, warriors establish their identities through their actions.