"honor is dearer than life" - essay-reasoning. Composition on the topic honor is more precious than life Honor is more precious than life examples from literature

In our time, dishonor is perceived much more easily. A dissolute life does not oblige you to anything. But it wouldn't have been like that before. Previously, people followed their words and deeds. They were afraid to fall in the eyes of society and family. More than once there were cases when honor was dearer than life.

To understand whether honor can be more precious than life, it is worth considering two examples from the literature. In Pushkin's poem "Eugene Onegin", the protagonist decides to invite Lensky's bride to dance. He wanted to prove her debauchery, so he actively flirted. Lensky himself could not bear the fact that the honor of his lady was under threat. He decided to challenge Onegin to a duel. It was a very brave act, as life was at stake.

As a result, Lensky died. He gave his life, but the honor remained with him.

Another example is described in Lermontov's poem "Mtsyri". The main character has been in captivity all his life. His imprisonment was unbearable, and thoughts about his native lands haunted him. One day he decided to run away and spent several days in the wild. It was an amazing time. When they found him, Mtsyri did not return to his former life. He chose honor and death.

All this suggests that there are situations that the human soul cannot put up with. And then you have to make a choice.

Updated: 2017-05-04

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Few people, of their own free will, can decide on an act that will lead to a settlement of accounts with life, because, as you know, we do not decide when to put an end to it. But if you put the question point-blank, what should you choose - live your life with the knowledge that you acted dishonorably or act according to your conscience, retaining honor, but die? The answer should be sought in fiction, which has a lot of examples of such life situations.

When it comes to honor, I immediately remember the hero of the poem A.S. Pushkin "Eugene Onegin" - Vladimir Lensky. The issue of honor was raised by the author when Onegin came to the name day, where a friend called him, but the hero begins to annoy everything: the crowd of people (Pustyakovs, Skotinins, Buyanovs and others), Tatyana's behavior, and so on. He blames the one who invited him to the celebration for all this. In retaliation, Yevgeny invites Lensky's fiancée Olga to a dance at an afternoon ball and flirts with her. Vladimir is unable to endure such an insult and challenges Yevgeny to a duel, which will end in the death of one of them. Vladimir Lensky dies in a duel, he was only eighteen years old. He died early, but he defended his and Olga's honor, not allowing anyone to doubt the purity and sincerity of his feelings towards the daughter of the Larin family. While Onegin will have to live life with a heavy burden - to be the killer of a friend.

In the poem "Mtsyri" M.Yu. Lermontov, the main character also puts honor above life, but from a different angle. Starting to read the poem, we learn that in childhood he was left in the monastery by those who captivated him. The young man got used to captivity and seemed to have forgotten about the call of his father's land. On the day of the solemn event, he disappeared, a three-day search did not lead to anything, and only after some time, strangers accidentally found the exhausted Mtsyri. To persuasion to eat and accept repentance, he refuses, because he does not repent, but rather is proud that he lived in the wild, like his ancestors, that he entered into a duel with a leopard and won. Only one thing weighs on his soul - the violation of a promise given to himself - to be free and find his native lands. Physically, he was free, but the prison remained in his heart, and he could not fulfill his vow. He decides to die, realizing that he cannot be a slave. Thus, Mtsyri chooses honor, not life. For him, the honor is to be a worthy mountaineer, and not a slave, to become part of nature, which accepted him, but which he could not accept.

Each of us himself is responsible for the chosen path, just as he himself gives the answer to the question posed above. For myself, I decided that I always need to act in such a way that later I would not be ashamed to live with the awareness of my decisions. But it is not worth creating situations in which the question of the value of life in relation to honor can be raised, because life is priceless and you need to fill it with harmony and kindness with all your might, part of which is an honest attitude towards others.

Honor is dearer than life

Did we really think about the meaning of the words "honestly", "honest" in childhood, adolescence? More likely no than yes. More often than not, we uttered the phrase “this is not fair” if one of our peers acted badly towards us. This is where our relationship with the meaning of the word ended. But life more and more often reminds us that there are people who "have the honor", and there are those who are ready to sell their homeland, saving their own skin. Where is the line that turns a person into a slave of his flesh and destroys a person in him? Why doesn't that bell ring, about which Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, an expert on all the black nooks and crannies of the human soul, wrote? These and other questions I ask myself, among which one is still the main one: is honor really more valuable than life? To answer this question, I turn to literary works, because, according to Academician D.S. Likhachev, literature is the main textbook of life, it (literature) helps us understand the characters of people, reveals eras, and on its pages we will find a great many examples of the ups and downs of human life. There I can find the answer to my main question.

The fall and, even worse, betrayal, I associate with Rybak, the hero of V. Bykov's story "Sotnikov". Why did a strong man, who initially made only a positive impression, become a traitor? And Sotnikov ... I had a strange impression of this hero: for some reason he annoyed me, and the reason for this feeling was by no means his illness, but the fact that he constantly created problems during the performance of a responsible task. I frankly admired the fisherman: what a resourceful, resolute and courageous person! I don't think he was trying to impress. And who is Sotnikov for him to climb out of his skin for his sake ?! No. He was just a man and did human things until his life was in danger. But as soon as he tasted fear, it was as if he was replaced: the instinct of self-preservation killed a man in him, and he sold his soul, and with it his honor. The betrayal of the motherland, the murder of Sotnikov, animal existence for him turned out to be more precious than honor.

Analyzing Rybak's act, I cannot help but ask myself the question: does it always happen that a person does not act honorably if his life is in danger? Can he commit a dishonorable act for the benefit of another? And again, I turn to a literary work for an answer, this time to E. Zamyatin's story "The Cave" about besieged Leningrad, where in a grotesque form the author talks about the survival of people in an ice cave, gradually driven into its smallest corner, where the center of the universe is a rusty and red-haired god, a cast-iron stove that consumed firewood first, then furniture, then ... books. In one such corner, the heart of one person breaks with grief: Masha, the beloved wife of Martin Martinych, who has not gotten out of bed for a long time, is dying. This will happentomorrow , and today she really wants totomorrow , on her birthday, it was hot, and then she might be able to get out of bed. Warmth, a piece of bread became a symbol of life for cavemen. But there is neither one nor the other. But the neighbors on the floor below, the Obertyshevs, have them. They have everything, having lost their conscience and turned into females, into wrappers.

…What would you do for your beloved wife?! The intelligent Martin Martinych goes to bow to the non-humans: therezhor andheat but the soul does not live there. And Martin Martinych, having received (kindly, with sympathy) a refusal, decides on a desperate step: he steals firewood for Masha.Tomorrow and everything will be! God will dance, Masha will get up, letters will be read - something that was impossible to burn. And the poison will be drunk, because Martin Martinych will not be able to live with this sin. Why does it happen? The strong and courageous Rybak, who killed Sotnikov and betrayed his homeland, remained to live and serve the policemen, and the intelligent Martin Martinych, who, living in someone else's apartment, did not dare to touch someone else's furniture in order to survive, but was able to step over himself in order to save a person dear to him , dies.

Everything comes from a person and closes on a person, and the main thing in him is the soul, pure, honest and open to compassion and help. I cannot help but turn to one more example, because this hero of the story “Bread for the Dog” by V. Tendryakov is still a child. A ten-year-old boy, Tenkov, secretly from his parents fed "kurkuli" - enemies. Did the child risk his life? Yes, because he fed the enemies of the people. But his conscience did not allow him to eat calmly and in plenty of what his mother put on the table. This is where the soul of the boy suffers. A little later, the hero will understand with his childish heart that a person can help a person, but who, in a terrible time of hunger, when people are dying on the road, will give bread for a dog. "No one", - the logic tells. "I" - understands the child soul. From such as this hero come the Sotnikovs, Vaskovs, Iskras and other heroes for whom honor is dearer than life.

I gave only a few examples from the world of literature, proving that always, at all times, conscience has been and will be in honor. It is this quality that will not allow a person to commit an act, the price of which is the loss of honor. Fortunately, there are many such heroes in whose hearts honesty and nobility live in works and in real life.

Honor - self-esteem, moral principles that a person is ready to defend in any situation, even sacrificing his own life. Honor is very easy to lose, for example, by saying the wrong word or doing a rash act. But honor is very difficult to maintain. And few people are able to do it. Many would rather be dishonest, because it is easier to live this way, but here is a person who will always stand up for his honor, even in situations where he has to look death in the eye, will be proud of himself and will deserve the respect of others. Keeping honor in some situations can be more difficult than just living. But still, honor is both the personal dignity of a person and courage. Therefore, honor is valued more than life. We prove this with examples from literary works.

In the work of A.S. Pushkin "The Captain's Daughter" many deeds that were done in honor. Pyotr Grinev finds himself in such situations several times. The first time Grinev acted honorably, when a duel with Shvabrin took place. He was not afraid and came to this duel, he understood that he could die in this duel, but he still preferred to remain a man of honor than a cowardly man, even risking his own life. The second time Peter acts honorably when he defends his homeland, he does not betray her, like Shvabrin. Grinev also understands that he could be killed during the Pugachev rebellion. But he again looks death in the eye and remains a man of honor. On the example of Grinev's two actions, one can say that honor is dearer to him than life. Despite all these difficulties, he shows that honor is very difficult to maintain, but it cannot fall below one's own life.

V. Bykov in his work "Sotnikov" also shows where the heroes sacrifice their lives for the sake of honor. An example is the protagonist of the work of Sotnikov, who, being a prisoner of the Germans, does not tell them anything, he does not accept any price for the possibility of life, he remains faithful to his homeland. Thus, he acts honorably. In the end, Sotnikov is killed in captivity. And this proves that honor is more precious than life. Sotnikov himself understands that he would rather die, remaining a man of honor, than betray his homeland and lose respect for himself.

Thus, I agree with Friedrich Schiller's statement. And on the example of two works, we can say that after all, honor is more precious than life. It is easy to live without honor, it is much more difficult to live according to honor, and it is better to die than to lose honor. And along with the honor to lose dignity, and courage, and respect for other people. People who always act honorably can be called strong and worthy people.

Option 1:

We often hear from everywhere that there is nothing more precious than human life. I fully agree with this. Life is a gift that every person should accept with gratitude. But, often plunging into life with all its advantages and disadvantages, we forget that it is important not just to live life, but to do it with dignity.

Unfortunately, in the modern world, such concepts as honor, nobility, justice and dignity have lost their meaning. People often behave in such a way that it becomes ashamed of our entire human race. We have learned to fly like birds, swim like fish, now it remains to learn how to live like real people, for whom honor is more precious than their own lives.

Numerous dictionaries give different definitions of the word "honor", but they all boil down to describing the best moral qualities that are highly valued in a normal society. It is more terrible for a person who values ​​his dignity and his reputation to lose honor than to die.

Many writers addressed the issue of honor, including Mikhail Sholokhov. I remember his story "The Fate of a Man" and the main character Andrey Sokolov, who is for me one of the best examples of a man of honor and dignity. Having survived the war, terrible losses, captivity, he remained a real person, for whom justice, honor, loyalty to the Motherland, kindness and humanity have become the main principles in life.

With trembling in my heart, I remember the moment when, in captivity, he refused to drink to the German victory, but drank to his own death. With such a gesture, he even aroused the respect of the enemies, who let him go, giving him a loaf of bread and butter, which Andrei divided equally among his comrades in the barracks. Honor was dearer to him than life.

I want to believe that most people value honor more than life. After all, such an attitude to the key concepts of morality makes us human.

Option 2:

How often do we hear words like “honor”, ​​“honesty”, and think about the meaning of these words? By the word "honesty" most often we mean actions that are honest towards us or other people. Missed a lesson due to illness, but we didn’t get a deuce? It's honest. But "honor" is something else. Servicemen often say "I have the honor", parents insist that honor must be cultivated in oneself, and literature says "cherish honor from a young age." What is this "honor"? And what do we need to protect?

In order to answer the questions posed, it is worth looking into the literature and finding a lot of examples there. For example, A. S. Pushkin and the novel "The Captain's Daughter". Aleksey Shvabrin, the protagonist of the novel, easily goes over to Pugachev's side and becomes a traitor. In contrast to him, Pushkin cites Grinev, who, under pain of death, does not step into the role of "disgrace". Yes, and remember the life of Alexander Sergeevich himself! The honor of his wife was more important to him than his own life.

In the story “The Fate of a Man” by M. A. Sholokhov, there is a real Russian warrior who will never betray the Motherland - this is Andrei Sokolov. Many trials fell on his lot, as well as on the lot of the entire Soviet people, but he did not give up, did not slip into betrayal, but steadfastly endured all the hardships and hardships, without soiling his honor. Sokolov's spirit is so strong that even Müller notices it, offering a Russian soldier to drink to the victory of German weapons.

For me, the word "honor" is not an empty phrase. Of course, life is an amazing gift, but we need to manage it in such a way that future generations remember us with respect.

Option 3:

Today, people are increasingly noticing that the concept of honor is depreciating. This is especially true of the younger generation, because it grew up in conditions of decreasing importance of conscience, honor, hard work. In return, people have become more vain, self-serving, and those who have retained high moral principles in themselves and their children are considered by the majority as strange, "unenterprising." The material gradually moved to the fore. Is the expression “cherish honor from a young age” outdated?

As you know, it is impossible to create a reputation for an honest and correct person overnight. This is a long process in which the inner core of an honest person is formed in insignificant deeds. And when this core is the basis of a person's existence, then the loss of honor is worse than death.

A vivid example of how people give their lives for their honor, for the honor of their family, country and people, is the dark time of the Great Patriotic War. Millions of young people gave their lives for what they believed in. They did not go over to the side of the enemy, did not give up, did not hide, no matter what. And today, after so many years, we remember and are proud that our ancestors defended their convictions and honor.

The theme of honor is also raised in the work of A.S. Pushkin "The Captain's Daughter" Petrusha's father wants to instill in his son a sense of officer honor and gives him to serve not "through connections", but on an equal footing with everyone. The same message is preserved in the parting word of the father to Peter before leaving for the service.

Later, when Grinev would have to go over to Pugachev's side on pain of death, he would not do it. It is this act that will amaze Pugachev, show the high moral principles of the young man.

But honor can be shown not only in war. This is what is a life companion of a person every day. For example, Pugachev helps Grinev to save Masha from captivity, thus showing human honor. He did this not out of selfish motives, but because he firmly believed that even his ally could not offend a girl, and even more so an orphan.

Honor has no age, gender, status, financial situation. Honor is something that is inherent only to a reasonable person, a person. And it is really worth protecting it, because restoring a tarnished name is much more difficult than living honestly and decently every day.