Robin Hood: A Thief or a Hero? Essay

In “Ransom of Red Chief” the story states “ So a kidnapping job should do better there than in areas where reporters are sent out to stir up talk”. This shows that they are greedy enough to take a kid away from their family. The criminals in the movie Home Alone were stealing from all of the empty houses while people were on vacation. This shows they were greedy enough to steal from people.

Throughout the article there were plenty of characters that were compared, real to mythical, and there were also legends told that could have been or may not have been true. One of the characters that stood out to me was Jesse Woodland James, the well-known in the old west for bank robberies, train robberies and murder when he killed a banker mistakenly thinking the banker was responsible for the shooting of Bloody Bill. However what caught my attention was the accusations of Jesse James taking from the wealthy and giving back to the poor. Although, there was no proof for this, it was compared to the mythical-being known as Robin Hood. Who was also known as an outlaw in the English Folklore, as well as taking from the higher class and giving back to the lower class. Just as Jesse James sent impudent messages to Pinkerton detectives and newspapers, Robin Hood did the same sending letters to the sheriff of Nottingham. However, with actuality, Jesse James and his gang had prices on their heads for the crimes they committed in which he paid the ultimate price for and was shot dead in his own home by Robert

ROBIN HOOD In the years of King Richard the Lionheart (1189-1199) there lived a brave and intelligent man called Robin Hood. He was a feared outlaw, who loved liberty and hated oppression. He took the law into his own hands and robbed the rich to give to the poor. People loved him and thought of him as a justice-maker. In time he acquired a heroic reputation and came to represent the ideal of heroism of his age. Stories about him and his closest friends Friar Tuck, Little John, and Maid Marian may be found in the time. They say that Robin Hood and his companions lived in Sherwood Forest, near Nottingham. They were called the ‘merry men’ and used to wear green clothes, a particular shade of green, called

Ragnar so detests Robin Hood because his motives are rooted in pity, not profit. His feeling is more explicitly understood after defining “pity;” it may be defined as, “a feeling of sympathy for and condolences with a person because of the plight he is in” (Merriam-Webster). Further, to “offer condolences” is “to suffer with” the recipient of said condolences. Therefore, to pity another and act on this feeling by giving alms is to make oneself suffer with the pitied, and thus condone his destitution. In the cases Ragnar is speaking of, it is clear that the one receiving the pity could assist himself if

American slave and abolitionist, Frederick Douglass once said, “ Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” In order to see the true side of people, you need to be willing to find the total of corruption and wrongdoing which will be forced upon them. This will continue to happen until they are finally opposed. Heroism is the act of being brave and selfless, putting others before yourself. A hero will always do the right thing no matter the circumstances, even if they have to risk their own life to do so.

However, Aladdin and the Thief of Bagdad are similar because the title character steals from local vendors in to survive. In Disney’s version, Aladdin is a moral character because he only takes enough to survive. Aladdin’s morality goes one step farther because he is willing to give away what he steals to less fortunate children who are also starving due to the same unjust social order. By giving away food in a Robin Hood manner Aladdin is showing his dual nature as “diamond in the rough” because he was stealing for a good cause yet still sticking to his roots as a “street rat” by stealing to begin with (Wise 106).

1. What problems does Robin Hood have? What issues need to be addressed? 2. Do Robin Hood and the Merrymen need a new mission? new objectives? a new strategy?

There have been many other tales where heroes have formed from characters being rebellious. Robin Hood is a good example of rebelliousness. In the story "Robin Hood" the main character Robin Hood leads a band of marauders and confronts corruption in their local village leading to the uprising of the king. He takes the gold that he steals and gives it to the poor townspeople in the villages controlled by the king. This is the perfect case of how being rebellious can be heroic. Though Robin Hood is a vigilante and a thief he appears to be a hero to the people of the many villages. Every tale of rebelliousness can be looked at positively as heroism or negatively as a case of treason.

The first thief is a young man, possibly a teenager, who is as poor as Antonio. They live in the same kind of public housing complex with walls of stripped-down paint and more bystanders than people who actually work and earn their living. The second thief is Antonio himself, which is dramatic irony. What heightens the irony is that he does not even steal for a living but he almost gets himself imprisoned. In the meantime, the real thieves, as well as their partners in crime, are out in the open, continuing their criminal ways. Throughout the film, Vittorio De Sica captures imageries of poverty, from the crowd looking for work at the unemployment office to the women whose weary faces underline the challenges of taking care of their families and bear the greatest burden when their breadwinners are

What strategy do you recommend to Robin Hood to deal with the problems and issues he confronts?

Being heroic along with being an outlaw are not two features that tend to mix well together because of previous stereotypes, Robin Hood is an exception to this because his actions, even though some might say were criminalistic, his intentions were to only provide a safe haven for the ones who deserves it the most, the poor. Heroes come and go, but the legend of Robin Hood has prevailed generation after generation. Robin Hood, who fought for freedom and liberty of every soul did it not for fame, but for equality and the right to live freely without the reign of a corrupt government. Robin Hood steals money from the poor and gives it to the rich, a message that sets fears in the wealthy, but opens up a whole new atmosphere for poor to dream and believe in. Focusing on the movie aspect of Robin Hood and his portrayal, Kevin Reynolds Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves 1991, James Hunter Robin Hood: Prince of Sherwood 1994, Spoke Brandt Tom and Jerry: Robin Hood and His Merry Mouse 2012, and Mel Brooks Robin Hood Men in Tights 1993. Robin Hood played a vital role in getting the system overthrown and in order to know more about him, explaining the folklore behind him, the symbolism of his character, and the film created in his honor. Robin Hood played a vital role in creating the atmosphere that the poor rely on to this day, the lower class are a vital role in every economy as they are the majority and he showed what can happen when they are not taken care of.

The story does have some historical accuracy. “The legend of Robin Hood rose out of the chaos of the reign of King John of England, during the early thirteenth century.”(1) The idea was that Robin Hood would inspire the common folk to rebel against the mad king. This did get barons to form a group and challenge the the king with the Magna Carta. This lower the king's powers and influence just like the character Robin

Robin and the Merrymen is a company who are in business to steal from the rich and give to the poor. The organization had begun as a personal interest to Robin, and has grown with allies and new recruits to become a very large organization. Robin is the head of all operations with few delegates who have their own specific duties.

If Robin Hood was an outlaw who did not obey the law, then why was he viewed as a heroic character? The answer was that he stood for the common man. He was a people’s hero and a champion of the poor. Anthony Pollard reveals Robin Hood’s reasoning for robbing the rich and giving to the poor is his book Imagining Robin Hood. He explains that “He does not rob the rich to give to the poor. He robs from the undeserving and helps the deserving” (4). Robin Hood is considered a fictional character but the impact his legends had on our society is very real, and will influence generations form many years to come.

One of Robin Hood’s problems was the increasing size of his band. He was hoping that strength lay in numbers and the more Merry men he had, the better it would be for him to fight against the sheriff’s administration. He did not put enough attention into the number of people that were being recruited. The problem occurred when the number of me increased; the band turns into a big company complicating the situation and interests of the initial ideology. While more men were recruited into the organization, Robin had less face-to-face interaction with all men. The missing interaction makes things get out of control and get hard for him to enforce rules and regulations, turning