Spotless reputation Why Should I Care
Why Should I Care?
Okay, okay. We know you've never had a gage throwing with someone who accuses you of high treason. In fact we're betting you'd never even heard of a gage until a few minutes ago.
But we're guessing you know a little something about reputation. Remember that one time that girl spread a nasty rumor about you around school? Or when that mean classmate of yours said you had cheated on the test when really his eyes weren't on his own paper?
We all know what it's like to have a lie told about us. And sometimes, people believe that lie faster than they do the truth. Which really stinks. And that's exactly what Mowbray is saying here. "Hey, it's not fair for him to talk smack about me. It will ruin my street cred." Or something like that.
Of course we should point out that in Mowbray's case, the viscous, nasty rumor about him is actually true. He did do the horrible things Bolingbroke accuses him of. But we're betting our dear Shmoopers don't know what that feels like. You've never cheated, stolen, lied, or done anything horrible ever before… right?
Ahem. We guess there's no such thing as a spotless reputation then.