Braveheart By Clemens Hofer

Braveheart

By Clemens Hofer

Author:

After graduating from Duke University, Tennessee-born Randall Wallace relocated to Los Angeles and began writing novels. Within several months, he had landed at Stephen Cannell Productions as a producer and writer. Wallace went on to work in those capacities on the series 'J.J. Starbuck' (NBC, 1987-88), starring Dale Robertson, the short-lived 'Sonny Spoon' (NBC, 1988), with Mario Van Peebles, and 'Broken Badges' (CBS, 1990-91). A Scottish vacation led Wallace to make the transition to the big screen. While visiting Edinburgh, he learned of the 13th-century adventurer William Wallace, who led a revolt against English rule. After further research, he penned the script for 'Braveheart' (1995), which caught the attention of Mel Gibson, who directed and starred in the epic. Wallace's screenplay won praise from critics, enthralled audiences and earned nominations for both the Writers Guild of America Award and an Oscar.

Plot:

In the year 1276 there was war between England and Scotland. In Scotland there was no king, and so Longshanks, the English king, wanted to choose a ruler for Scotland, but so did the Scotsmen.

William Wallace lived with his brother and his father in a Scottish valley. But one day, the Scottish rebels attacked the English, and in the battle William's brother and father died.

So William had to stay with his uncle Argyle, who taught him to use his head and his sword.

Years later, William met his father's friend Old Campell and his own best friend Hamish in a valley called Lanark. William met also Murron there, a young woman, and fell in love with her.

Only little later they married, and Murron was going to have a baby.

But one day an English soldier made fun of her, and when William wanted to help her, he beat English soldiers sitting around there. One soldier shouted that he was a rebel. William ran away fast and saw Murron escape. But the soldiers caught her, and one of them, hassling, cut through her throat. So Murron died.

In his anger, William rode with the rebels against the English soldiers. The batlte was short. Nobody could stop Wallace and his angry followers. From this day on, every day Scotsmen came to fight with William against the English.

Then there were a lot of battles. One was at Stirling Castle and the English were many more than the Scots. But the Scots had secret weapons: spears, twice as tall as a man. They pointed them at the horses of the English. So the Scots won, and the English had no army anymore in Scotland.

After that battle, Wallace was famous all over the land. Soon he was the "First Lord Of Scotland". He couldn't be the king because he was not noble and also because he don't want to.

During that, Longshanks came back from France to London. He was very angry and quarrelled with his son Edward and with Edward's friend Peter because of the lost men. In his anger Longshanks threw Peter out of the window and kicked Edward until he was almost dead. Longshanks thought about making a truce with the Scots and sent Isabella, Edward's wife, to speak to William Wallace.

When William saw Isabella he thought of his dead wife. Isabella knew the story of William and Murron. William trusted her and told her the whole story. But Isabella couldn't persuade him to make a truce. Wallace wanted the battle.

At home, Isabella realized, that Longshanks didn't really want a truce. He wanted to win time, because soldiers were already on their way to England with terrible, new weapons. So Isabella sent Nicholette, her friend, to tell William the king's plans.

In a bad battle, Wallace lost a lot of men. All the Scottish nobles agreed to serve Longshanks as their king.

Isabella had a plan. She told Longshanks that William trusted her and would met her. Then they could kill him. But secretly she wanted to protect him. The place of the meeting was a certain farm and this should be a warning for William, because when he was a child Scotsmen were hanged there. So apparently he rode there. They caught William but he could escape. Then he rode to Isabella's castle.

Some days later, the Scottish nobles wanted a meeting with Wallace. He knew that he couldn't trust them. But he rode to the meeting place. Suddenly there were English soldiers everywhere. They threw Wallace into prison.

Longshanks was very ill. Isabella said to him, that a child having the blood of William Wallace was growing inside of her.

On 23^rd August 1305 William Wallace died slowly in front of a big crowd.

Characters:

William Wallace

He is the hero of the story. At first, he doesn´t want to know anything about rebellion against the king, but later, when one of Longshank´s man killed his wife, they took min everything that matters for him. He loved her very much and demand revenge for this crime. He starts war, at the beginning, they only kill a few soldiers, but later, they search for the real fights. William Wallace is a man who is an inspiration for his man, because he fights so brave. At first, I think he fight only because of his wife, but later, he really believed that Scotland would be free. When the lords offer to be the king of Scotland he refused, because he say that he isn't better than any other Scottish.

Hamish:

Hamish is the best friend of William. They know them from childhood on. He is very

strong and also as brave as William, but he isn't as clever as William. He his father is also a good friend from them. When he died, Hamish is very sad and angry on everyone. He is also the voice of sanity; he advises William that he shouldn't trust the lords of Scotland. But he trusts them and at the end, the English kills him. But Hamish doesn't give up, even when William is dead. He fights on the side of Robert the Bruce, which became the king of Scotland at the end.

Longshanks:

He is Williams's worst enemy. He isn't only cruel and bad, is also very smart, which makes him twice so dangerous. You see that he is only interested in himself and his country. He also isn't afraid to immolate the wife of his son, because he thought that William is a man without honour. But at the end, he is beaten by Wallace, because Isabella is pregnant, but not from his son. William is his father.

Isabella:

She is the wife from Edward, the prince. But she doesn't love him, because he also doesn't love her. They only marry because Longshanks want to have the king of France as his friend. At first, she also thought that William is dumb, but when she recognised that he can speak nearly all languages, and he is also very polite, she loves him. Later, she alerted him all the time when William was in danger.

Robert the Bruce:

He is the narrator of the story. At first, he is totally leaded by his father and does everything he wants. His father is very ugly; maybe he had an accident or something else. At first, he nearly cooperates with the English men. But later, when he knows William better, he also wants to be a hero like William. But the people think that he is a coward, because he doesn't fight with his man. At the end, he wants to meet William to create an unbeatable army, his father informed the English and William got caught. When William died, he overtook his army and fight against the English. They won.

Interpretation:

This book is real good if you like stories of heroes. You see that everything is possible if you got an idea. At first, he fights for his dead wife. But later, he fights for the idea of an independent Scotland. Many people would say that this is real romantic, but it's also dangerous in some ways. If you look at all the radicals. Most of them also fight for the idea that their land should be free. You see in so many countries, like Ireland, Afghanistan, Israel. But at the time of William Wallace, they don't know terrorism. It's also the point of view that matters. If you are on the side of the Scottish, you only see the bad English. But if you are on the side of England, the Scottish are only some kind if terrorists. As it was shown in the book, the English were really the bad guys. If you only took the example of the "primae noctum" ritual, where the English lord got the right to sleep with the bride the night of their marriage. I see this as a provocation of the English, to show that they are better than the Scottish.

Personal Comment:

I think it's a good book, because it likes stories of heroes. If you only watch the brave they use when they fight. They fight like tigers, strong and unbeatable. But you also see that they can be perfect gentlemen when they want. And one of the most necessaries things: They aren't buyable, as so many people nowadays. Today, you can have everything if you got enough money. But you can't buy one little thing. You can't buy braveness. And this people have so much of if, its real fantastic. The ending is very sad, because William dies. But not even there, he fells fear. He don't took the drugs Isabelle gave him, so that the fell any pain. No, he said that he need all his senses for his last fight: The fight against himself, against the pain he fell and against the English, because they want to hear that he begs for mercy, but he do not do. He only screams freedom so loud that probably whole England can hear it. The judge, who leads his execution, was so fascinated by him that he orders that William should be killed without pain. This is the moment, which fascinates me most in the whole book.