The Courage of a Scotsman

“The stories of heroes are written in history by the men who hang them.” Braveheart is the story of William Wallace. A man, who has lost everything, but strives to give the people in Scotland freedom. The man with the courage of a lion goes into battle looking as if he fears no man or beast in his way. While Braveheart serves as an example of how brutal and costly a revolution can be, it also sends the viewers the message that if you have enough courage do what you believe in you can accomplish what some say is impossible. This drew people in when the movie was first came out because America was going through several bombings in busy areas and we were just getting out of the gulf war Some men in this movie have mountains of courage and others have the courage of a field mouse. The men who show this courage or the lack of it are William Wallace, Robert the Bruce, and King Longshanks.

Wallace is the hero of this story and a man who shows his courage has no bounds. As a man early in the movie Wallace returns to his old village to be confronted by a mountain of a man that used to be his best friend and is challenged to a rock-throwing contest. The man defeats Wallace but after the contest is over Wallace asks the man if we could throw the stone when it counts and then stands where the man’s rock originally landed. The man tries to throw the rock on William and misses then William threw a small rock and hits the man between the eyes. The scene shows courage because no other man in the village would have done that. When this happens he leads a revolt against the English sheriff of his village even though he and his men where very out numbered. Later in the movie when Wallace shows up to the battle he asks the men why they are falling...

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...s dying moments he is given the chance to show mercy on William Wallace and win over the Scottish people but he is too much of a coward because he thinks it will cost his son the thrown. The kicker to this whole scene is that the princes is the one trying to persuade him to free Wallace and when he refuses she tells him that the baby of William Wallace is growing in her knowing he is unable to talk.

Courage was important in the early ninety’s when this movie was released. We needed it because we were in the gulf war and the world trade center was boomed. And many other things that required us as Americans to become more courageous for everyone around us. We did not have to have as much courage as William did in the movie but seeing what he had to go through to get done what he had to get done helped many people see what they had to do to get through the hardships.