Examples Of Heroism In Braveheart

“They may take away our lives, but they’ll never take away our freedom.” William Wallace is a scottish soldier very adamant about fighting for Scotland's freedom, and he cried the quote above among his soldier before going into battle. Throughout the movie Braveheart, directed by Mel Gibson, William Wallace, the main character, shows multiple different unique characteristics of heroic ability. There are two types of heroic characteristics displayed by William Wallace in this 1995, Academy Award winning film. The first one is Anglo-Saxon criteria, which consists of bravery, loyalty, generosity, and friendship. The other criteria Wallace demonstrates falls into the epic hero category, this consists of strength, ethnical sense, they need to have a goal or be on a quest, and they should be greatly glorified by the people. In Sir William Wallace’s case he presents all of these characteristic very well throughout the film.

Anglo-Saxon heroic criteria consists of being loyal, brave,

generous, and showing good friendship qualities. In the movie Braveheart, William shows he is incredibly loyal in various different scenes. When Wallace is a young boy his father is killed in battle and Wallace is sent to live with a relative. When Wallace is older he returns to his hometown and later on marries a childhood friend, Murron. They married in secret because at the time any marriage that took place, the king's men got to sleep with their wife, and obviously William did not want that. Without knowing of their underlying marriage, a king’s men tries to rape Murron and fighting to get away, she assaults the fellow attempting to rape her and is executed (Braveheart). This horrible tragedy brought upon Wallace, fires him up to revolt against the English tyrant. Since Wallace is reacting so strong and intense the execution of the love of his life, I think he is representing an immense amount of loyalty. He also shows a very respectful amount of bravery. At the very end of the movie, Wallace is placed on a table and is given the opportunity to have a faster and less painful death, by begging for the king’s mercy, and as an alternative he cries out “Freedom” instead (Braveheart). By refusing the alternate proposal, he shows he is very brave and more than willing to put his life on the line to get a point across and suffers a longer more painstaking death.
Generosity is another strong characteristic William Wallace has, and shows throughout the movie. William was to go and speak with the king about half way through the film, and work out a compromise. Before Wallace even had the chance to talk to the king's representative, Princess Isabella, the king had already sent out troops to attack Wallace. Wallace rejected what the king had to offer, and when the young lady proposing the deal gives the king the news of William’s refusal, she learns of the ambush planned. When Princess Isabella realizes that Wallace and his men would have no time to prepare, and would probably lose the battle, she goes out of her way and rushes to catch up with him and inform him of the news. Because of this beneficial heads-up, Wallace and his soldiers are able to prepare and able to defeat the English. After the defeat William goes back, out of his way, to go and thank Isabella for warning him of the oncoming attack (Braveheart). William did not have to go and thank Isabella for helping him especially because they are from polar opposites, but his courage and generosity took over.
William and his childhood friend, Hamish were finally reunited when Wallace returned home after a long time visit with a relative. When they met up again, the first thing Hamish does is punch William in the face, just like he used to do when they were younger. Instead of getting angry Wallace simply laughs and they continue on with conversation (Braveheart). By William not getting angry and laughing along with Hamish after being punched in the face, shows how good of friends they used to be and still are even after not seeing eachother for a long time.
William Wallace also shows in various different ways that he is an epic hero by demonstrating throughout the film that he is strong, he is on a quest, glorified by many, and has a sense of ethnicity.

When Wallace returns home in the beginning of the movie he is challenged by Hamish to a rock-throwing contest. Wallace, being about one-hundred pounds lighter than Hamish, still manages to throw his rock a few feet further (Braveheart). Putting into consideration the height and weight difference, by William throwing his rock further proves he is very strong and is stronger than one of the strongest men in the village. The main quest for Wallace in this movie is to gain freedom for Scotland. William goes to extreme extents to reach his goal (Braveheart). Throughout the movie, many battles take place. Even after the battles are over and won by the Scotsman, Wallace still goes and intrudes on the Englishmen and kill them to let them know he is not stopping until he had gained freedom for

Scotland.
Even though Wallace is a warrior that will fight until he dies, he has a good sense of his morals and is not too barbaric. During one of the battles, he ends up getting into a joust with another soldier. After getting knocked off his horse, he and the soldier got into a hand on hand battle. Wallace had the man pinned on the ground but when he pulled off the soldiers mask/helmet he realizes it is Robert the Bruce, and withdraws his sword and turns leaves (Braveheart). By Wallace not killing the man he knew it shows the viewers that he has a good sense of his morals, and is ethnical. William Wallace is also greatly glorified by many people but mostly the other warriors. In one of the battles, none of the soldiers want to go and fight, and were getting ready to turn and go back towards home when Wallace shows up. Wallace gave a very motivational speech and they ended up fighting and winning the fight, again (Braveheart). The victory of the battle really made the soldiers realize how great of a leader Wallace was. He was glorified by many, even some of the englishmen.
Throughout the movie Braveheart, William Wallace shows many different skills and characteristics of Anglo-Saxon and epic hero criteria. He demonstrated in various different ways that he has strength, a goal, ethical value, and is glorifies by the people. Wallace also proves that he is brave, loyal, generous, and has good friendship quality.