William Wilberforce and Amazing Grace - Essay Example

From the discussions in the Parliament, it can be seen that Wilberforce distinguished between the interests of Britain and the interests of individuals (Amazing Grace). He considered economic progress to be equal to moral standards and that the state should ensure both were promoted. Thus, though colonialism and slave trade enriched some, they morally degraded the society and as such were to be eliminated.

Wilberforce exhibited high levels of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is defined as “the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions” (Salovery & Mayer, 189). Wilberforce used his emotional intelligence to silence the opponents and remain loyal to his cause. At the beginning of Amazing Grace, Wilberforce argues about the revolution in the American colonies with the Duke of Clarence, while constantly being satirical. When his opponent compares revolutions to the pox, Wilberforce wittily approves of his statement and hints that his opponent is ridden with this disease, thus most likely also a revolutionary.

Wilberforce exhibited not only superior analytical skills but also high moral and religious standards. In the gambling scene, he outplays the Duke of Clarence, who decides to bet on his slave (Amazing Grace). Being emotional, Wilbeforce leaves the building and comes up with a brilliant idea as to how to reenter the room as if nothing had happened, at the same time making his point. He sings “amazing grace,” which is a song about redemption. He not only implies by this song that he was once like his colleagues, but that they too should redeem themselves or they will be punished by god. As seen in the movie, those who traded slaves ended up like John Newton, who is haunted by the souls of the slaves he killed. He makes his point in a room full of opponents and yet clashes with nobody. This scene also indicates how Wilberforce gathered gradually so much support by not clashing with anybody personally, yet never losing sight of his own goal and self.

All his life, Wilbeforce tried to balance his search for himself and his political life. In the scene with his servant in the yard, Wilbeforce is searching for himself, a religious yet highly successful politician. His servant finds it important to understand who one is: which could be interpreted as being loyal to one’s own beliefs. I find Wilbeforce admirable because he not only discovers who he is, a religious and caring person, but he also manages to use his personal beliefs in his political life to promote these values and help others.

The movie is shocking because it shows the slave trade from the perpetrator’s standpoint.  A few would think that a slave trader would feel remorse. But John Newton did. His ragged clothes, bare feet, and almost paranoid behavior where he behaves as if ghosts are all around him, reveal more than hundreds of pages of books on the slave trade (Amazing Grace). They confirm Wilberforce's arguments that the slave trade, in the long run, affected everyone adversely, including the perpetrators.

Wilbeforce was a true social reformer: ideologist, yet an extreme pragmatist and very resourceful. His emotional intelligence enabled him to think about long-term effects, though he usually articulated these effects in terms of morality and a need for moral revival.