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2. Robin Hood
Robin Hood, a legendary popular hero, is depicted in the ballads as a
valiant outlaw, famous in archery, living under the green wood tree with his
merry men, taking from the rich and giving to the poor, waging war against
bishops and archbishops, and constantly hunted by the sheriffs, whom he
constantly outwits.
To give a direct answer to the question: "Who this hero is?" is difficult.
Apart from a few oblique references to be found in medieval chronicles, much
of the information is derived from a series of ballads sung in the latter
half of the Middle Ages. These were adapted and modified over the next five
hundred years until the representation of Robin Hood was quite different.
The first reference to Robin by name is found in "The
Vision of Piers Plowman", written by William Langland in 1377. In one verse,
a drunken chaplain berates himself for knowing the rhymes of Robin Hood
better than he knows his prayers. These rhymes have not survived but they
were obviously so well known in Langland's day that he refers to them
without explanation.
The character of Robin Hood is many-sided. Strong,
brave and clever, he is at the same time tender-hearted and affectionate. He
is a man who is fond of merry joke and hearty laugh. His particular enemies
are the upper ranks of the nobilities—earls, barons, bishops, archbishops
and abbots. Robin Hood appears to be devout and orthodox in religion.
Another feature of Robin Hood’s view is his reverence for the king.
His characters are vividly revealed in a popular ballad
named “Robin Hood And The Three Squies”:
…
Now Robin Hood is to Nottingham gone,
With a link-a-down and a day,
And there he met a silly old woman,
Was weeping on the way.
“What news, what news, thou silly old woman?
What news has thou for me?”
Said she, “There’s three squires in the Nottingham town
Today is condemned to dee.”
“O have they parishes burnt?” he said,
“Or have they ministers slain?
Or have they robbed any virgin,
Or with other men’s wives have lain?”
“O what have they done?” said bold Robin Hood,
“I pray thee tell to me.”
“It’s for slaying of the king’s fallow deer,
Bearing their longbows with thee. ”
“Dost thou not mind, old woman,” he said,
“Since thou made me sup and dine?
By the truth of my body,” quoth bold Robin Hood,
“You could not tell it in a better time.”
…
The dominant key in his characters--his hatred for
cruel oppressors and his love of the poor and downtrodden is clearly
revealed through the lines.
Taken together, the ballads on Robin Hood can be seen
as important specimens of English literary heritage because in them perhaps
more than in other literary works of the 15th century are truly reflected
the hopes and fears and the loves and hates as well as the illusions of
common people at the time, and the fascination of their poetic form born of
the simplicity and the dramatic intensity has endeared then to countless
readers since their time.
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