The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood - Essay Example

Hood The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood November 30, 2012 Robin Hood “Robin Hood- a ‘Hood’ or a Good Guy? That is the question. Introduction When you first start to read Howard Pyle’s version of The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood you get the sense that the main character of Robin Hood is bad, but is he really. Robin Hood could be bad or he could be good. It would depend on the many situations that he may find himself in at any moment during the story. He has his friends like Little John and his other merry men and all his enemies like the Sheriff of Nottingham and Prince John. In reading this novel “The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood” by Howard Pyle the central idea of this story is cultural and it deals with many subjects like poverty and discrimination in society. Robin Hood is a person who just wants to help others, but does not know how to go about helping without breaking the law even if he really does not want to break the law. The character could be known as a medieval social worker that deals with a variety of social issues that occurred at this time in history. Social Issues in Robin Hood In reading this version of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle you can get a sense that even back then he saw that he wanted to stop the oppression of the poor by helping them in the only way he knew how because of the circumstances he was under. In the first chapter when he met his first merry man Little John and then the other merry men they all decided as a group to help the poor of the land. These poor people had to pay taxes that were unjust and if they could not pay they were fined and Robin Hood thought that was wrong. This is what started the idea of robbing from the rich and giving back to the poor. This was the major premise of the story of Robin Hood. They were also to help the poor when they were in trouble in other ways as well, for example if they needed food and/or shelter. They also swore that they would never harm a child or women. They could be known as Family Service Workers or Child Protective Worker. They also protected many of the community in many ways. They used their many skills to help the community people find and keep shelter and he made sure that they were able to care for themselves. This story could also be about society in general and how we look at discrimination and oppression of the poor. In the chapters of the many archery tournaments you can see how society sees each other. The rich is sitting in the bleachers all dressed in their finest haberdashery and the poor would sit on the ground behind a railing. During this time and now even in the present the wealthy and the poor are still segregated at some events to a certain point. It is in how you look at yourself in the society. The story of Robin Hood is about relationships; for example, his loathing of the Sheriff of Nottingham and his friendship with Little John and the merry men and again with the King and Queen later in the book. Robin Hood was usually able to escape from the Sheriff and this would make the Sheriff stayed locked away for awhile till he would think of another way to capture him. This could have been a way to combat job pressure and the feeling of depression that he could have felt. In another chapter the topic could be dealing with appearance discrimination when Robin Hood was looking for new recruits. When he spied a stranger in Sherwood Forest and they were not sure about him. This character was dressed to well, but he was alone and trying to find food in the forest. Robin Hood also believes in the institution of family. He is willing to help when he is able to trust who he helps. Robin Hood also believes in marriage. When he told Ellen and Allen and they were wedded and the banns were published by Friar Tuck for they both knew when couples were meant to be together they should be together. He is also one that would help the handicapped person as well; like when he ran into the characters who had lied about being blind, dead, lame and dumb. When Robin found out that they had lied about their infirmities they were told to go and find someone who could really use the money and show restitution for their crime. When Robin Hood met the Queen Eleanor she said that she would do everything in her power to protect his group of merry men. In so doing this the Queen is empowering Robin Hood and his troops to do what they had been doing. Robin Hood is a story that could teach about how with the correct motivation what one can accomplish to help others who are in need. Robin Hood believes one must help oneself, but will need help and should not be afraid to ask for it. You should not lie or play tricks in order to get what you want. Robin Hood could also be a change agent; for he did have the necessary ethics for when he was in another archery tournament along with his troop of merry men he had kept the trophy, but had given back the money he had won. There was another chapter when Robin Hood met Guy of Gisbourne and he talks about getting a pardon from the Sheriff of Nottingham this could have been the start in a fictional way of parole and probation. At the end of the story of Robin Hood the theory of grief is shown. At the edge of Sherwood Forest in the place where he and his merry men camped often this was the spot where Robin Hood wanted to be laid to rest and he told Little John his last request. He took his arrow and he told Little John where this arrow lands is where I want buried. Robin sat upright and pulled his bow and let the arrow go and where it landed Little John buried Robin Hood. This was like a Living Will he gave Little John. Ethics of Robin Hood Robin Hood is a book of ethics and he was an ethical character if try to look from the side of the lower classes he was trying to help. His heart was in the right place when he did what he did. “Ethically speaking the story uses ethics in these ways; he wanted to promote change in the community; he was also a change agent, consultant, advisor and a facilitator to those around him. He was good a choosing people that he wanted around him too. He had an art of form groups that could get things done for the community. He showed his group how to get these various projects done. The story of Robin Hood is good for learning communication skills both verbally and nonverbally as well as for getting informed consent to do what he wanted even if he did not get the consent in the right way as in competing in the last archery tournament. Robin Hood wanted to change his community by trying to help the poor citizens. He could have went about his changes in these ways. Robin Hood thought that he was helping because he thought what he was doing was helping and it was right for the people of the community. When he was doing this he was changing the control to him. He did get help when he was starting to gather his merry men and this would give him the needed support he needed to bring about change.” (Corey, 2011) Robin Hood is “an advocate for the people as he is a change agent, consultant, advisor and a facilitator for his troop of merry men and also for the community. Robin is a advocate for he wants to stand up for the poor and downtrodden. He is a change agent for he knows who is doing wrong for making the poor it seems all the taxes of the land, even though he goes about in the wrong way to. He wants to find a way to stop the rich from getting richer and the poor from getting poorer. He is a consultant by pulling his group of merry men together with all their various talents to come together and to solve a particular problem even with their various vices they may have. Some of the merry men liked the drink and some just liked to have fun. He was an advisor when there were any problems that could affect the overall outcome of why they were gathered. He is a facilitator for he knew when to bring them together to teach others what they needed to know to help.” (Corey, 2011) When Robin Hood was forming his band of merry men he could have gotten informed consent, but he gave them a physical test to show what they were about. In so doing this in this way he was screening his possible group members and when they proved themselves he selected them. His merry men were highly motivated to work with him. Robin Hood had to think how appropriate they would have to be for his purposes. Conclusion The legend of Robin Hood is a story that is about helping your community and its’ many ups and downs. If you wanted to be his helper you had to show that you could show your cooperation. You also had to realize that not everyone would want to jump on the bandwagon and you would have to figure a way to get them to agree with you. Robin Hood is a helper to the end of his life. Some of the issues that could be covered in this story is appearance discrimination, oppression, discrimination of the poor and maybe even anxiety and depression. There were problems of that time and the present that are still around and still need solutions; for example, rich over the poor; sometimes not being able to tell who is who, especially when some characters claimed to be someone or something else. Robin Hood is a learning story on how to help friends and community. Robin Hood is a good guy in disguise of a bad guy. Robin Hood wanted to follow the rules and he did in his own way. Robin Hood is a story that everyone should read and reread for it has lessons for all age groups. When you read the story for the first time you read it as an adventure story with its good guys and bad guys. When you reread the story later in life you start to sense a different purpose for the story. I read this story and thought of all the different ways that different people try to help one another. They may choose to help in the wrong ways, but their hearts were in the right place as was Robin Hood’s. The story of Robin Hood as many contexts for all readers it also could be a love story with the relationship he had with the Maid Marian maybe even with the Queen Eleanor. However you would read the story of Robin Hood you will enjoy it very much. References Appleby, George A., Colon, Edgar & Hamilton, Julia. Diversity, Oppression and Social Functioning Person in Environment Assessment and Intervention; Chapter 15 Appearance Discrimination, 2nd edition Pearson 2007 p. 257. Corey, Gerald, Corey, Marianne Schneider & Callanan. Issues and Ethics in the Helping Professions, Chapter 13- Ethical Issues in Community Work, 8th edition; Brooks/Cole Gengage Learning 2011 pp.523, 527-528. Corey, Gerald, Corey, Marianne Schneider & Callanan, Issues and Ethics in the Helping Professions, Chapter 12- Ethical Issues in Group Work, 8th edition; Brooks/Cole Gengage Learning 2011 pp. 488-489. Pyle, Howard. The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Read More