NOBLESSE OBLIGE

NOBLESSE OBLIGE:  A concept once understood by most, was and perhaps in some ways still is a system of not just honor, but of civil order.  It was a system of protection and survival for both the nobles and the peasants.  The peasants or common people would live and work within the shadow of the castle which would be not only the civil and economic administrative  hub for the community but  the source of a common defense in time of war.  Each factor and each individual in a society has their own station, with it it's own privileges and responsibilities.  This would carry on in all aspects of life, an example might be of a family talking among themselves until a servant would inter the room, then the talking, of family affairs or serious matters would stop, not because the family are snobs, but because it is good form that protects both parties from all sorts of negative ramifications; the servant would not be exposed to conversation that would be embarrassing or put them in a compromised position with either their superiors or the other servants, the family or those of a superior station would be protected by having their privacy and not having their private affairs bandied about  This same principle carries on today in the wise advice at work not to socialize with your boss for all the same reasons, it compromises not only the boss and employee, but also the workers, the other bosses as well as the system itself.  Two of the best places, in my humble opinion to get a good feeling of this is from the great P. G. Wodehouse especially his Bertie and Jeeves stories http://www.wodehouse.co.uk/ and from the old movie "The Canterville Ghost" by MGM in 1944, http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/2206/The-Canterville-Ghost/  both are light and funny and both expresses the spirit of Noblesse Oblige.