Trust And Betrayal In Mel Gibson's 'Braveheart'

The dictionary defines the word loyalty as a strong feeling of support or allegiance. Schools across the nation stand every morning, put their hands on their hearts and pledge their loyalty to their country. The novel Ship Breaker is about a young boy named Nailer who works to break ships apart in a futuristic society. His mom died and his father, Richard, became an addict leaving them very poor and reliant on Nailer’s income. One day, Nailer is walking the beach with his friend Pima recovering supplies after a hurricane, there they find a massive clipper ship with one survivor inside. The girl inside, Nita, was fleeing capture from her family’s enemies and shipwrecked. Soon after, Richard Lopez and his crew found Nailer, Nita, and Pima and captured them, planning to sell Nita to her enemies. With a stroke of luck, the three manage to escape from Richard. Nailer and Nita fled to New Orleans with an unfaithful member of Lopez’s crew. While in Orleans, the trio finds work, allies, and an escape from Nita’s enemies. Then, Nita is captured by the enemy who has allied with Richard Lopez. In response, Nailer set out on the clipper ship of his dreams to find her, and unknowingly, to find himself. True loyalty doesn't come with any ties, it is unconditional and without hesitation. In Paolo Baciagalupi’s Science Fiction book Ship Breaker, use of symbolism and conflict tell the story of Nailer Lopez and his journey to find that loyalty doesn't just lie in family, it's who has your

     Through despair, Robert forces himself to keep with his ideals, which shows just how strong his resolve is. When Robert was in despair, he took his mind off his problems by keeping himself busy. After losing Rowena, Robert decides to join the army to replace taking care of Rowena, by taking care of the human condition. Later when Robert loses Harris, he busies himself by performing the last rites over his good friend. “This is not a military funeral. This is just a burial at sea. May we all remove our caps? (p107)” Later when Robert is attacked in the bath house, he finds that he is still trying to protect Rowena. He does this by lighting her pictures on fire to remove her from this cruel world. “Robert sat on the mutilated mattress and opened his kit bag. Everything was there – including the picture of Rowena. Robert burned it in the middle of the floor. This was not an act of anger – but an act of charity. (p172)” These show that even through despair, Robert manages to stick to his ideals.

Irving Wallace, an American author and screenwriter, once stated: “To be one’s self, and unafraid whether right or wrong, is more admirable than the easy cowardice of surrender to conformity.” Wallace admired those who were not afraid to be the “lone wolf” and stick to their own individual ideas and character, no matter the consequences. People often view submission as the one and only route; they see a majority of the population following one another and figure it is the best option. Unfortunately, conformity does have its consequences. In The Crucible, Miller reveals that the overwhelming pressures to conform causes one’s rationality to be diminished, resulting in the destruction of their morals and ultimately a society through his use of situational and dramatic irony.

As we usually define movies that show film shooting or film showing scenarios as self-reflexive, the closing scene of Sherlock Jr, undoubtedly falls under this category. While watching this film, we see Sherlock Jr. trying to identify himself with his idol Sherlock Holmes by picturing himself as the detective in movie to achieve his imaginary identification and satisfy his desire to be as sophisticated. Sometimes we find ourselves behave, talk, or even dress like certain actor or actress because we want to be like them. Therefore, seeing Sherlock Jr. experiencing his dreamy adventure, we subconsciously identify ourselves with Sherlock in the way that we, as spectators, often take ourselves into movies as a means of fantasizing our desire or achieving our imaginary

Ambition is an earnest desire for achievement. Both texts are self reflexive and emphasise Richard’s obsessive ambition, desire and longing for the throne. Each Richard strives towards capturing the throne regardless of consequences and bloodshed. Richard is depicted in both texts as an ambitious character who strives to gain power and independence through deception and self confessed villainy. ‘Since I cannot prove a lover. . . I am determined to prove a villain’ This obsession which drives Richard to commit horrific evils to gain and then protect his claim to the throne. His ambition, power and evil blinds him and inevitably is responsible for his downfall in both of the texts. A connection is formed between Looking for Richard and King Richard III in the final scenes Al Pacino’s interpretation and ‘Hollywood’ background influences an ending which can be interpreted as portraying Richmond as a coward. Elizabethan audiences

The term “honor” has been around since the manifestation of organized society, metamorphosing according to culture, religion, time period, and geography. Originally, a person’s honor was determined by society, but the term has evolved to become more personal, or self-evaluated. The primary characters of the play The Crucible and the film “High Noon”, though varying in certain ways, exhibit this particular “self-evaluated” honor. In the strict Puritan society presented in The Crucible, John Proctor’s honor is solely dependent on how honest he believes he is. In the Western town of Hadleyville, we are introduced to marshal Will Kane of “High Noon”, whose personal honor depends on fulfilling his professional duty. Despite the differences in

Shakespeare uses the short stage direction: “they fight; Richard is slain” followed by the animalistic and savage metaphor of “the bloody dog is dead” to convey Richard’s death. He uses animal imagery conveyed by Richmond along with the sudden and immediate death of Richard after he is willing to trade “a kingdom for a horse” to show his audience that God has carried out divine retribution due to Richard’s Machiavellian nature. Pacino transformed this scene so that it lead to a deeper understanding by his mainly secular 20th century audience. By undermining Richmond’s inglorious victory by having the soldiers shoot an arrow into Richard’s back, Pacino shows that Richard’s death was unfair. He also removed Richmond’s monologue to take the audience’s attention away from Richmond’s speech about god and the righteousness of divine retribution. Thus, by portraying conscience as being more important than divine retribution, Pacino transformed Shakespeare’s King Richard III to suit his context where Richard’s guilt killed

“We have everything we need to be happy, but we aren't happy. Something’s missing,” writes Ray Bradbury in his novel Fahrenheit 451 (82). Fahrenheit 451 is a book set in a dystopian society where people are restricted to thinking only a certain way. There aren't any two-sided political debates or controversies among media. This is because all media considered tendentious has been banned, and in order to maintain this rule, firemen have been given the duty of burning books. Among the firemen is Guy Montag, a man who would be considered as a society norm with a house and a wife. In the beginning of the book, Montag has no worries and he accepts his life as a nondescript fireman in this unmindful world. However, after encountering his “seventeen

Many of the symbols in the novel remind Robert of his troubled past. Some of the symbols in the book appeal to both the reader and Robert, exacerbating his struggles. After finishing his training, Robert boards a ship headed for the war zone. When tasked horse injured onboard the ship, he is clearly troubled; as he is unsuccessful in killing the horse the first time, “[a] chair [falls] over in his mind” (Findley 60). The horse is a symbol of Rowena, an innocent person who dies because of her disability. During training, he feels socially obliged to go to a brothel with his peers, and experiences shame associated with the death of Rowena. Instead of watching over her, Robert was “[m]aking love to his pillows” (Findley 16). As a result, he is very insecure about his sexuality and his private life in general. The scene where he is sitting in the bathtub after Rowena’s death is symbolic of Robert giving up his childhood, concomitant with his innocence. The tub represents the womb; his mother tells him a story of his childhood one last time before he joins the army, becoming an adult in some sense. Through symbolism, one can make the connection between Robert’s troubled past, the cruel world he lives in, and his experiences in the war.

In the relentlessly vindictive manner of McCarthy’s novel, Bell delivers a welcomed voice of sanity and justice to the human mind; his old-school morals and philosophical reminiscences offering a sanction in a world dominated by evil. But it is Vietnam Vet, Llewellyn Moss, who levels best with the audience. Playing the wild card of the three, Brolin delivers a human centre to the film; the man most identifiable with, even as the odds steepen against him.

Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner is an award-winning novel and considered one of today’s most popular, contemporary classics. The story is one of familiar themes such as loyalty, forgiveness, betrayal, love, and redemption. It follows the tale of Amir and how he must atone for his sins and find a way to “be good again” (Hosseini 2). The quintessential message of this book relies on the idea of second chances. Themes of redemption, betrayal, loyalty, and forgiveness are not only shown without doubt through this book, but are also common among many literary works and religions. Hosseini is successful in showing the significance of these themes throughout the novel.

The idea that film is a medium in which a director can comment on the ills of society has been around since the first motion picture was made. The problem with this fact is that directors and producers often change the historical facts and even the attitudes of the characters in order stimulate public interest through the striking of some common chord that the public feels vigorously about. The story of William Wallace in the movie Braveheart while historically fairly accurate in the depictions of the battles while leaving out many important facts. Randall Wallace added some plot twists to make the story more appealing to the audience. All the plot twists and inaccuracies that were added in the movie Braveheart have several basic areas

William Wallace was so famous among the Scots that they made a movie about him. The movie was directed by Mel Gibson, and originally written as a book by Randall Wallace. Mel Gibson played William Wallace. In the movie, William goes on his rampage against the English after his wife was

Richard II is an authoritative and greedy king of England, and he is living in a period of transition that medieval knights who are swearing total loyalty to a king has been disappearing and an aristocracy starts to gain a power for their own good. However, Richard II keeps believing the power of kingship, and he also is too confident himself. He overestimates his authority and power; furthermore, he ignores the periodical change. Therefore, he speaks confidently how firm his position as king is to the people in Wales, but his attitude changes when he suffers a defeat by Henry Bolingbroke that he

Betrayal is a selfish action where one puts themselves before others which can result in painful difficulties amongst individuals. Most individuals choose their actions based on the situation and what the best possible outcome is for themselves. These selfish decisions of betrayal can cause lasting negative effects, damaging relationships and trust. Throughout the book, The Kite Runner, author Khaled Hosseini portrays the theme of betrayal in various ways through the actions of Amir, Baba, and Assef.