The better part of valor is discretion
Outline;
Shakespeare’s voice behind Falstaff.
Hamlet in contrast to Falstaaf.
Roots of the proverb.
Importance of discretion In a battlefield.
In Homeric warfare discretion often appears to be the better part of valor.
Valour defined by false manliness.
Impacts of the mock manliness upon the young generations.
Child hood games initiate the wrong notions.
Courage discretion and valour.
Lying on the pretext that better part of valour is discretion
Nunez’s Discretion unveiling a grave issue as to when discretion is better then valour in every day life.
Treatment of women pivotal to the issue.
How an act thought often as a heroic can do a great damage to a cause.
Nature nurture debate and experimental evidence.
Hemingway’s character showing grace under pressure, yet defying the proposed thesis that discretion is the better part of valour.
All depends on the character formation by the family, the school, the monastery, the state, the press and the theatre.


As said by Falstaff in Henry IV Part One, on a battlefield in order to avoid any personal damage to his life. These days, the phrase means more generically that prudence is better than unwarranted bravery. Though, the negative connotations attached with foresightedness labels the person as a coward, yet mock-manliness can be devastating.

Though Shakespeare’s protagonist Hamlet follows same advice as that of his other character form Henry IV, yet the very opposite at the climax adds force to his advocacy. The time till Hamlet resists the commonly taught sense of chivalry, it keeps him and his family safe and the moment he falls for the customary show off of valour, it costs him not only his own life but also the life of almost every one of significance around him.

Discreation is the better part of valour is the proverb that has been traced back to Caxton's Jason (c.1477) and was popularized by Shakespeare in 'King Henry the Fourth, Part I ‘The better part of valour is discretion, in the which better part I have saved my life.’ and by Beaumont and Fletcher in A King and No King (1619). Advocating exercise caution, don't take an unnecessary risk which is a phenomenal advice, modern world in dire need to use it.

At a battle field, the ever changing scenario puts a lot of strain on the general’s in charge and the soldiers on field. Many a times it happened that the forces retreated or defied the orders , by showing a better judgment rather then mere gallantry. ‘They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country. But in a modern war there is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason. Not that one should not retaliate for the just cause, but that in modern times solving issues by force has become obsolete.’

In Homeric warfare discretion often appears to be the better part of valor. Homer does not criticize Achilles for sitting on the sidelines when Achilles believes that fighting soon will cause his own death. Odysseus threatens to whip those Achaeans who want to sail home, but nobody is court marshaled or outcast for trying to escape from deadly confrontation. Nobody*is branded as a malingerer. Even courageous Ajax falls back from combat when he sees that his efforts are futile because the gods are supporting the Trojans. Zeus, Athena or other gods explain men's fearful acts, just as they explain their courageous ones. Homer seems to observe the various fight-or-flight behaviors without pronouncing moral judgment. Social duty and civic loyalty become motivating forces in later ages, after Homer, when the good soldier is defined mainly in political terms; military champions in later history may mechanically respond without questioning whenever their country, church or other favorite institution calls them, no matter how dumb or destructive their orders. Homer's Hector is a model for this heroism, since he is shamed by what others might think of him, if he does not lead the battle charge. Generally in Homer, however, the interests of the state and its disciplined engine of war are not as important as self-preservation, protection of personal assets, and support of comrades. These are private, not public considerations. There's no nationalism or racism or religious bigotry here. Achaeans are not better than Trojans or vice versa.
As most good things have their counterfeits, unfortunately, there is false manliness which imitates the great qualities, though at heart it is without them. Instead of strength of will, it is only willful; in place of courage, it has audacity. True manliness does what it believes right; false manliness, does what it chooses to do. Freedom, to one, means following his own convictions of truth; to the other it means thinking as he pleases and doing as he likes. The one is reverent, the other rude; one is courteous, the other overbearing, one is brave the other foolhardy; one is modest, the other self-asserting. False manliness is cynical, contemptuous, and tyrannical to inferiors. The true man has respect for all men, is tender to the sufferer, is modest and kind. The good type uses its strength to maintain good customs, to improve the social condition, to defend order. The other imagines it to be manly to defy law, to be independent of the opinions of the wise, to sneer at moral obligation, to consider itself superior to the established principles of mankind.
A false notion of manliness leads the generations astray. All boys wish to be manly but they often try to become so by copying the vices of men rather than their virtues. They see men smoking, swearing so these poor little fellows unfortunately imitate such bad habits, thinking they are making themselves more like men. They mistake rudeness for strength, disrespect to parents for independence. They read wretched stories about boy brigands and boy detectives, and fancy themselves heroes when they break the laws and become troublesome and mischievous. Many a little boy who only wishes to be manly, becomes corrupted and debased by the bad examples around him and the bad literature which he reads. At that time there is hardly any one to set a good example by practically demonstrating when discretion becomes the necessity and valour just a conceited attitude.
All remember playing with friends during endless summer days when everything seemed exciting and one couldn’t wait to prove their great courage when confronted with the infamous dare games. No one wants to be forever labeled a ‘looser and so every one takes the risk and rise to the challenge. Thus, form as early age children learn standing up against often foolish odds and taking the proverbial plunge into the unknown to establish the intangible sense of valour and acceptance.
Courage is another element which needs to be used with the right spirit . It is more than readiness to encounter danger and death, for a person is not often called to meet such perils. It is every-day courage which is most needed, that which shrinks from no duty because it is difficult, which makes one ready to say what he believes, when his opinions are unpopular, which does not allow him to postpone a duty, but makes him ready to encounter it at once; a courage which is not afraid of ridicule when one believes himself right, which is not the slave of custom, the fool of fashion. Such courage as this, in man or woman or child, is the desirable quality often not given its due appreciation. It is infinitely present in everyone. It does not seek display, it is often the courage of silence no less than speech; it is modest courage, unpretending though resolute. It holds fast to its convictions and principles, whether men hear or whether they forbear. One the other hand just to give life in gangs, to become a tool in the hand of hate mongers and become suicide bombers is the most debased side of gallantry.
Lies usually come from cowardice, to hide truth just because men are afraid of standing by their flag, because they shrink from opposition, or because they are conscious of something wrong which they cannot defend, and so conceal, can not be accepted on the pretext that better part of valour is discretion . Secret faults, secret purposes, habits of conduct of which we are ashamed, leads to falsehood, and falsehood is cowardice in the true sense. And thus the sinner is almost necessarily a coward. He shrinks from the light, he hides himself in darkness. He who lives by firm principles of truth and right, who deceives no one, injures no one, who therefore has nothing to hide and yet is not show offer oh his goodness and keeps his acts a secret he alone is manly. The bad man may be audacious, but he has no true courage. His manliness is only a pretence, an empty shell, a bold demeanor, with no real firmness behind it no matter how much he tries to conceal that truth becomes evident.
Nunez’s Discretion struggles with this oft debated attitude of humans , her protagonist Oufoula is told, early on, "to be a successful diplomat you will have to learn how to lie." At the end, a broken Oufoula contemplates the lessons of his life by loosing his love and wonders what really constitutes the better part of valor, behaving discreetly or choosing the truth. Man who cannot deny his passion and tied between Christian monogamy vs. African polygamy paves way for a lot of social issues where people face same question. Issues as diverse as stigmata attached with HIV patients, supporter of Nazi Germany, atheists among theists bring them face to face with the dilemma to disclose their truth and face wrath of the society or conceal it as a better option.
Illustration of valour by suppressing women through physical strength is another attitude that has to be censured. Against this the one having subtler feelings makes him wish to defend her rights, to maintain her claims, to be her protector and advocate be it in the privacy of his home or in the crowd of thousands. False manliness with erroneous notion of strength wishes to show its superiority by treating women as inferiors. It flatters them, but it does not respect them. It fears their competition on equal levels, and wishes to keep them confined, not within walls, but behind the more subtle barriers of opinion, prejudice, and supposed feminine aptitudes. True manliness holds out the hand to woman, and says, ‘Do whatever you are able to do; whatever God meant you to do. Neither you nor I can tell what that is till all artificial barriers are removed, and you have full opportunity to try.’

If an act is performed that has no thought behind, it loses its value. In the words of orator and lawyer Robert Green Ingersoll, "Courage without conscience is a wild beast." One should give some thought to an action before acting upon it. Without thought, or "conscience", the action can be untimely and uncontrolled as would a "wild beast." In 1999, two young men went on a shooting rampage at Columbine High School. This rash action, lacking conscience or concept of right and wrong, did not exhibit courage. For the reason that rather then voicing concerns though a democratic and more viable and long lasting process, people opt for the mock chivalry and rather then aiding a cause bring grave damage to it.

Rather, good intentions and motivations should fuel courageous actions. As British author Samuel Johnson states, ‘Bravery has no place where it can avail nothing.’ In other words, courage or bravery is worthless and unnecessary if the final outcome cannot be beneficial.

Programs are designed which explore the nature/ nurture debate whether courage can be instilled through training; and whether some people are more naturally courageous than others. Extreme sports and extreme sports participants have been most commonly explored from a negative perspective, for example, the "need to take unnecessary risks." This study explored what can be learned from extreme sports about courage and humility—two positive psychology constructs. A phenomenological method was used via unstructured interviews with 15 extreme sports participants and other firsthand accounts. The extreme sports included BASE (building, antenna, span, earth) jumping, big wave surfing, extreme skiing, waterfall kayaking, extreme mountaineering, and solo rope-free climbing. Results indicate that humility and courage can be deliberately sought out by participating in activities that involve a real chance of death, fear, and the realization that nature in its extreme is far greater and more powerful than humanity.

Why is there all this violence going on? Sometimes one thinks that had the hero in the story For Whom The Bell Tolls not been so brazenly courageous, maybe the sadness and disgusting malice may not have occurred, for if a person doesn't start a fight he cannot be beaten up, and also, if one hides instead of shouting, he can usually get away. Regardless, Robert Jordan must do both of the following two acts in order to cope inside this story: build up his life to apex at one final showdown, and to trap himself in a never-ending tunnel of beatings and ultimately destruction. Robert Jordan must make a final stand in For Whom the Bell Tolls if for no other reason, to save his manhood. John Wain explains:"...To make a last stand-for if defeat is accepted in Hemingway's world, humiliation and rout are not. His fictions present moments of violence, crisis and death, yet these become occasions for a stubborn, quixotic resistance through which the human capacity for satisfying its self-defined obligations is both asserted and tested. "Grace under pressure": This becomes the ideal stance, the hoped- for moral style, of Hemingway's character."

This last stand is in no way rational, and in no way necessary in the normal person's mind. To Hemingway's heroes, though, this last stand is the only imaginable way one can leave this earth with a facet of dignity. It is the final penance, a last forgiveness of sins. "If I have the guts to do it, I'll be all right." kind of mentality. This last gung-ho attempt to show ones valiance is a gift in the minds of Hemingway's heroes. But the interesting thing is to ponder what would have happened to this person had they not "bravely" risked their life's and decided rather to find another way out of this situation, to lead a normal life instead. Would the character still come to an untimely death in a similar situation just further down the line? Or could he possibly turn the corner? W. M. Frohock believes that regardless of the situation, the character is forced to do this insane, courageous act, for he has no choice in the matter. "For Hemingway courage is a permanent element in a tragic formula: life is a trap in which a man is bound to be beaten and at last destroyed, but he emerges triumphant, in this full stature, if he manages to keep his chin up.

The family, the school, the monastery, the state, the press and theatre all has an equal share in molding the character of the individuals of the society. Character thus formed determines action. The better the units, the better will be the mass. “The better the people of this century,” as Viscount Samuel remarks “the finer will be the heritage of the next”. It is true that thoughts determine action. Actions by mere force of repetition grow into habits. If a man has acquired good habits he does good only, that too, subconsciously through a psychological mechanism without the aid of the conscious will. There is literal truth in the proverb that habit is second nature. William James who calls men “mere walking bundles of habits” also describes habit as “the enormous fly-wheel of society, its most precious conservative agent”. Thus the habits of the units of a society affect the standard and the creative energy of that society and ensure the smooth running of the machine – the society without any friction. So in such a society where the individuals in their very impressionable, plastic stage are taught to appreciate and stand for peace, non-violence and good-will, they will grow up to be great peace-lovers and peace-makers and will instinctively abhor anything that is of a brutal or savage nature.


caution is a smarter policy to adopt than hot-headedness