The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1883

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Preface-Prologue

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Themes

The Importance of Good Humor and a Merry Disposition

In the Prologue, Robin gets in a cudgel fight with a stranger who will become his right-hand man, Little John. Although Robin has been “tumbled” and received a good dunking in the river, he takes it all with good humor, “laughing until his sore sides ached again” (13), and invites the stranger to join the Merry Men. We see this pattern again and again in the book. Robin and his men never take life or themselves too seriously, and their chief enemies are those who take themselves and their authority far too seriously (e.g., the Sheriff, the Bishop of Hereford). The one sympathetic churchman in the book, Friar Tuck, combines his religious vocation with a lusty sense of humor.

In Part 5, Chapter 1, when Sir Richard of the Lea and the bishop both end up at Robin’s camp in Sherwood Forest, we see the contrast in their attitudes. The bishop chides Sir Richard for laughing at the “scurrilous jests” of the Merry Men, but Sir Richard replies that “a merry jest is a merry jest, and I may truly say I would have laughed at it had it been against mine own self” (182). In the last chapter of the book, Robin is able to make light of his own moral failings, but King Richard reminds him to take his “sins” more seriously.

As with the Friar, Robin’s good humor in seemingly desperate situations exists only because of his unique understanding of morality. While Robin is technically a thief, he often allows his victims to keep a portion of their riches, and he gives some of the money he procures to the less fortunate. Robin is also allowed some mistakes: he torments a few people who are able to overcome him, but he still good naturedly invites them to join his men, as happens with Will Scarlet and the miller. Thus, Robin’s sense of humor and relaxed morality allows him to make friends and allies of people he had previously fought with, thus giving him solidarity and protection. Practically, it only benefits Robin to ally himself with people who are stronger than he, so his friendly disposition is imperative to the survival of himself and his Merry Men.

Fellowship and Loyalty Destroys Enmity

The Merry Men provide an example of loyalty, friendship, and self-sacrifice. After the Sheriff captures Will Stutely, who intends to hang him, the Merry Men vow to rescue him because “there was not one man amongst them all that would not venture everything for a friend in need” (46). After the men rescue Will, he turns to Little John with tears in his eyes: “O Little John! Mine own true friend, and he that I love better than man or woman in all the world beside!” Then, Little John also weeps (51).

There are other examples of Robin and his men doing favors for others or coming to their rescue. For example, they help Allan a Dale rescue his sweetheart Ellen from marriage to the much-older Sir Stephen of Trent, they offer other fugitives, like Will Scarlet, safety, and when the King visits the forest, they offer him a meal before they realize who he is. This sense of friendship among strangers both helps build Robin’s community and adds to the “honorable thief” image that Robin is famous for.

Another example of the deep bond between the Merry Men is how quickly they respond to Robin’s horn call whenever he is in trouble; they always seem to be right around the corner. Late in the book, Robin rescues Little John from hanging, and Little John reciprocates by staying nearby while Robin receives his bloodletting and rushing to his side when things go wrong; Little John helps the dying Robin shoot his last arrow so that his friend might have his final wish. Earlier, Robin, out of loyalty to his companions, had decided to renounce his aristocratic title and return to live with them in the forest. In their solidarity, the Merry Men present an ideal vision of how society should work, with every member looking out for the good of others.

Fellowship creating friendships appears in in Part 2, Chapter 3, when Little John and the Sheriff’s cook are about to come to blows about Little John’s behavior toward the steward, but they decide to have breakfast first. They enjoy this so much that they forget about what they were arguing about in the first place and become friends. This pattern is typical of Robin and the Merry Men. By feasting together and enjoying one another’s company, people forget about their differences and join in the joyful dance of life. Similarly, Robin Hood’s fights with strangers are merely brief bouts of rough fun, after which he usually invites the stranger to feast with him. King Richard proves to be of like mind when he pays Robin a friendly visit in the forest and offers to make him and his men royal servants, thus ending the longstanding enmity between the Merry Men and the throne. Time and again in the book, we see that when human beings approach each other with kindness and friendliness, the differences between them dissolve.

On the other hand, we also see the consequences of not responding to friendship and fellowship. The Sheriff has two encounters with Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest in which Robin treats him with good humor (Part 2, Chapters 1 and 3). These encounters do not change his vindictive attitude toward Robin, however, and his third encounter (the bloody battle recounted in the Epilogue) leads to his demise.

Nature Cures Society’s Ills

Robin and the Merry Men are outlaws seeking refuge in the forest. By going there, they escape the attention of the law and the authorities. They foster a new, simpler way of life in nature. Near their trademark greenwood tree, Robin and his men “spread soft moss upon the ground and [lay] deer skins thereon” (182); other times, they stretch out on the grass under the sun and gaze upon the natural scene.

This world of natural bliss is in contrast to the world of city people, like the Sheriff and the Bishop of Hereford, who are filled with pride, greed, and corruption. When these characters enter Sherwood Forest, their vices and troubles disappear momentarily, and they become at one with the Merry Men. Robin invites both the bishop and Sir Richard to their camp, and “all the while Robin talked so quaintly to the Bishop and the Knight that, the one forgetting his vexation and the other his troubles, they both laughed aloud again and again” (182).

By living close to nature, Robin and his companions create a new social order founded on equality, friendship, and beauty. As Robin and his guests feast, they enjoy the songs of Allan a Dale, who sings “in his wondrous voice songs of love, or war, of glory, and of sadness” (183) under the light of the moon. The lives of the Merry Men are defined by the passing of the seasons and by the rhythms of the harvest, the winter and the coming of spring, which serve to humble mankind and remind us that “we come and go like leaves of the tree that fall and are soon forgotten” (174).