Heroic or virtuous bastards challenge the officially sanctioned view of illegitimacy as evil and inferior. To temper the threat they pose to the ruling ideology, these positive models are often qualified in some way. The heroic status of most virtuous bastards comes from their connection to a great paternal figure, a god or a king, with whom the bastard strives to identify himself. Criticisms of the legitimate order are also made by plays in which characters' disiy of their parentage kills them with shame. These bastards are essentially passive, pitiful figures rather than heroic protagonists struggling against an illegitimate identity. Sir Richard stands on the margins of the corrupt world of commodity rather than outside it. His interest in the issue focuses important ideas about his heroic status since the word 'commodity' (meaning self-interest) is implicitly set against the idea of commonwealth or service to society.