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Critical analysis of robin hood
Essay: Robin Hood
Critical analysis of robin hood
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THESIS STATEMENT
Although only slightly factual in historical setting, the legends of Robin Hood have captivated the imaginations of young and old alike through the charming stories concerning the characters of Sherwood Forest.
PURPOSE STATEMENT
Through critical analysis and research concerning the legends and characters surrounding Robin Hood, this paper will present the theme of social justice for the common man as purported by the Merry Men of Sherwood Forest.
INTRODUCTION
The tale of Robin Hood has evolved into one of the greatest legends of all time and has fascinated the minds of all who have heard about it. The stories surrounding Robin Hood and his adventures took place in the forests of Sherwood and Barnsdale dating back to the fifteenth century. The first question that comes to mind when dealing with this legend is who was the real Robin Hood? Amazingly, speculation regarding this question still exists today and the tale has survived more than seven hundred years. Now the real question has to be why is this “Robin Hood” such a fixating topic?
Since there is such controversy over the real Robin Hood, for the most part he is a fictional character. He has now been adapted to a man of the movies where every director has a different vision of who he might have been. Their vision was usually of a heroic figure even though he could have more easily been considered a villain for what he did for a living. “…the image of Robin as a clever, lighthearted prankster gained strength. The tales in which he appeared as a highway robber and murderer were forgotten or rewritten” (Wickersham 12). It has a gotten to a point where now every child has a heroic vision of Robin Hood whereas the early ballads and oral tr...
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There is an explanation to why historians have obsessed over Robin Hood and it is not just to find out if there was a man who lived up to such surreal standards. He is a legend and loved by all for a reason and that is he was not afraid to stand up and fight for what he believed in. His message to the law and what we learn from his legend is clear. “It is a warning that injustice cannot be tolerated just because it is part of the system, for the anger which such injustice in the end awakens is unrestrained.” (Keen 218). Robin Hood lived motivated to fight against those he believed to be undeserving and in doing so he ended up standing up for the common man. This was his legacy in what he perceived as a noble quest for social justice. Real or imaginary, Robin Hood will continue to captivate the minds of all readers and his legend will never die.
Robert Ross’ whole life he grew up in a household where they did what was expected of them, rather than what was right. The type of people that Findley place in Robert’s life is what molds him into the type of character he becomes. Timothy Findley manipulates what a hero is supposed to be, by making Robert Ross a distorted kind of hero. Robert Ross exemplifies anti-heroism throughout the text because of his need to be a savior but inability to do so, his morals and his connection with animals.
Although Capone was listed as Public Enemy Number One, the public viewed him as a “Robin Hood”. Throughout the early 1920s, “Capone fascinated Chicago and the nation with his combination of street brutality, stylish living, and ability to elude justice during the 1920s” (DiMauro). Capone’s family lived a modest suburban home but would spend huge sums of money. The American public was fascinated by his lifestyle and wealth. The public also loved how he rose from nothing. “For some of the American public, Capone was a symbol of the Horatio Alger success stor...
In summation Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales” is a story that mocks the church, shows us class separation and uses a language which may today be lost to us. But it has stood the test of time and showed us a pilgrimage of the century that to this day is still a good read.
Jesse James was known as an American outlaw and legendary figure. Jesse and his family were in favor of the south, which caused he and his brother to join a guerreila band. Jesse and his brother were the most feared outlaws of the late 1800's. They were said to have robbed multiple banks and trains and to have killed countless individuals. It was said that Jesse was like Robin Hood; supposedly he took from the rich to give to the poor. Jesse was killed by a friend who became a traitor for the greed of money. Jesse James gained fame through his criminal ways and remains as an American icon even today.
Folklore is very important on a culture relating to legends, myths and fairy tales. The generations will keep telling the legends, myths and fairytales to the next
“The Hound of the Baskervilles” demonstrated the differences between the upper class and the lower class and even between those people who were in the same class as each others at the end of the 19th century in England. Beside those differences, there were also some similarities between the two classes. In this essay, I will analyse how they are alike and different in some main aspects such as the belief in the curse, the relationship to the law, their mysterious actions, and especially the subjugation between people in the same class.
	The Count of Monte Cristo, written by Alexandre Dumas, tells the story of a man, Edmond Dantes, a sailor who goes through being betrayed by his enemies and thrown in to a dark prison cell to planning revenge on his enemies. His behavior and personality changes after spending 14 years in jail for a crime that he didn’t commit. Edmond Dantes was thrown in jail ,after being framed by his enemies, accused of committing treason and being a bonapartist. The story takes place during the Napoleonic Era while the usurper, Napoleon has escaped to his place of exile, the Isle of Elba, located in the Mediterranean Sea.
Over the years, the legend of Robin Hood has endured great change. Through each generation, the story acquired new characters, tales, expanded themes, and some fresh historical contexts to adapt to the interests of the audience. The legend collected many fragments of other stories as time went on. Also as time passed, the character of Robin Hood underwent many changes. Originally, Robin Hood was portrayed as a yeoman, then transformed into a mistreated nobleman, later turned into an Englishman protesting the domination of the Normans, and finally, through modern adaptation he has came to be known as a social rebel who takes from the rich and gives to the poor. There is no way to ensure that a certain historical figure was in fact the basis for Robin Hood, however there exists many possible candidates. In order to find a possible identity that fits the persona of Robin Hood, one must look at the earliest works of literature that mention his name.
Response: Good question. Robin and the Merrymen's mission had started out as a personal vendetta against the Sheriff. It seems to me that in order for him to achieve that goal he must embrace a larger goal. This isn't all that unusual. We come across this all the time in business. A private inventor develops a new product that's really good. He starts a company and owns 100% of it. He does this to maintain control.
In Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, the narrator shows the reader meeting many different characters, from the tiny people to the talking horses. Gulliver reveals through his adventures what kind of a character he is. He is a likeable, amusing and interesting person, but he lacks what could be classified as a hero – in the traditional sense. Seeing him as a hero is difficult because he resembles an anti-hero more. In some ways, Gulliver is the only choice for a hero in the story. The story is told from Gulliver's perspective, which in turn makes him the most relatable character. Even though he is the driving force behind all the other characters, his character strays away from the usual nature of a hero. To further prove that he is an anti-hero, it is obvious that he is the opposite of the strong and confident ideal of a hero. He is less resourceful that most other typical heroes and is less admirable, which is evident in his attitude and the way he treats the human race. Another reason why Gulliver is an anti-hero is his tendency to act like a fool. More than a heroic figure, he more often tends to play a comic role.
Comparing Little Red Riding Hood folktales is a multi tasks operation, which includes many elaborations on the many aspects of the story. Setting, plot, character origin, and motif are the few I chose to elaborate solely on. Although the versions vary, they all have the motif trickery, the characters all include some sort of villain with a heroin, the plot concludes all in the final destruction or cease of the villain to be, and, the setting and origins of the versions vary the most to where they are not comparable but only contrastable, if one can say that origins and settings are contrastable.
There are several issues Robin Hood needs to consider. First, Robin Hood needs to make sure his own personal grievances against the Sheriff do not cloud his vision and what is in the best interest of his Merrymen as a group. Second, take a broad look at the overall organizational structure by conducting an environmental scan, a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis and/or using a variety of organizational assessments (measurements). A SWOT analysis will help determine some strategic alternatives and how the band can attempt to fulfill its mission and achieve its goals. Robin Hood can use the SWOT analysis to identify where he is strong and vulnerable, where he should defend and attack by scanning both internal and external environments (McNamara, Performance Management, 1999).
Robin Hood and his Band of Merry Men had a successful first year. With new recruits pouring in from the furthest outreaches of England, Robin had met his objective of strengthening in number. Although he was satisfied with the size of the organization, he has realized necessary preparations had not been made to accommodate the now over abundance of members of his organization. Many challenges now face Robin such as a lack of provisions and lack of funds to support the band, but he cannot lose focus of their original foundation of "Robbing from the rich and giving to the poor". In addition they have to stay focused on their long term goal to remove Prince John from power by freeing King Richard from his imprisonment in Austria. Robin Hood has to form structure within his organization so that it can continue to grow and prosper.
The legends of King Arthur of Britain and his Knights of the Round Table, among the most popular and beloved of all time, originated in the Middle Ages. As they do today, medieval people listened to the accounts of Arthur with fascination and awe. It is certain that popular folktales were told about a hero named Arthur throughout the Celtic parts of the British Isles and France, especially in Wales, Cornwall, and Brittany (Lunt 76). Other stories of chivalry that did not include Arthur existed in this time period as well. Although these stories were not recorded at first, they were known as far away as Italy, where mosaics and carvings depict Arthurian characters. The tales are often mentioned by early writers including William of Malmesbury, who distrusted them as "lying fables" (Bishop 32). Today literary critics believe that such folktales are sometimes based on real characters, but the stories about them change greatly as they are passed from one generation to the next. This art of storytelling became an oral tradition among these people and their ancestors, so the question of King Arthur's actual existence still remains a mystery (Bishop 34). Nevertheless, the medieval world viewed much of the Arthurian legend as a part of history, and writers of the time built into the legend many of their highest ideals-deeds of chivalry, courtly love, and the contribution of the Arthurian legends and romances to literature.