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Example research essay topic: Order To Make Princess Of Wales - 1,799 words

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William Wallace, Joan of Arc, George Armstrong Custer, and the list goes on of the people or groups of people who have had historical films made about them and their accomplishments or blunders. Many of these films have different areas in which they indirectly comment on every aspect of life from the roles of women to a particular look at social class. The idea that film is a medium in which a director can comment on the ills of society has been around since the first motion picture was made. The problem with this fact is that directors and producers often change the historical facts and even the attitudes of the characters in order stimulate public interest through the striking of some common chord that the public feels strongly about. The story of the life of William Wallace in the movie Braveheart while historically fairly accurate in the depictions of the battles while leaving out many important fact in regard to relations on what is now the United Kingdom. In addition to deleting information about the relations between England and Scotland, the writers of the Braveheart script added some plot twists that have almost no historical backing.

The events that have no historical foundation were most likely added to make the story more appealing to the audience or to comment on a current social trend. Specific trends that are commented on in the tale of the Scottish hero William Wallace are the changing place of women in our day, the rapid growth of nationalism, and the tendency of man to act in his own best interests. In addition to the comments made on society, those involved in the making of the movie Braveheart purposely deleted events with historical significance in order to make the character William Wallace an infallible hero of the Scottish people instead of portraying the whole truth about his life and times. Individuals in the movie business have shown disregard for historical fact in their pursuit for profits and a chance to address some social issue and there is no better example of this than the movie Braveheart. The historical inaccuracies in the movie Braveheart have several basic areas which include adding or deleting characters and inaccuracy regarding the lives and actions of historical figures. Edward I, William Wallace, the Prince and Princess of Wales as well as many other minor players in the Scottish resistance to English domination of Scotland have some aspect of their lives fictionalized in the movie Braveheart.

In addition to the fictionalization of peoples lives there also happens to be military inaccuracies as well as periods of time which the movie does not account and instead inserts fictional events to make the movie more entertaining rather than historically accurate. The first example of historical inaccuracy is that of the portrayal of Edward I, also known as Edward the Long shanks, as an individual who claimed that he was the heir to the Scottish throne and would torture and murder anyone who got in his way 1. Henry I who happens to be the great great grandfather of Edward I married the daughter of the Scottish King 2. Malcolm III ruled Scotland from 1058 until 1093 and his daughter Matilda married Henry I 3. That is the basis of Edwards claim to the Scottish throne in addition to the fact that his sister also married a Scottish King by the name of Alexander III who was the last Scottish ruler to hold the throne until Robert I was crowned at Scone in 13064. By all accounts of Edward I, he was indeed a man to be feared although the movie Braveheart portrays him as a incredibly cruel man who wanted nothing more than to crush his enemies.

He was in fact an expert in English law, which he often used to his advantage. He was also a champion of the chivalric code and could be incredibly generous when the mood struck him 5. Edward I was incredibly ambitious and even his biographer acknowledges the fact that he was a, hard-headed ruler who was determined to uphold his rights as he saw them, and ruthless in the methods he used to adopt his ends 6. While Edward I was most likely a ruthless ruler, he was not necessarily as evil as he is portrayed in the movie. The second example of fictionalized character is that of the great Scottish patriot William Wallace. In the movie about his life, Wallace is introduced to the audience as a common man with very humble beginnings whose father was a farmer 7.

He was in fact the son of Sir Malcolm Wallace of Elderslie and the daughter of Sir Reginald Crawford the sheriff of Ayr 8. So William Wallace was in fact not the son of a common farmer but the son of a low-level noble family. Not much else is known of Wallace's early life until he emerges from obscurity between the ages of 25 and 279. Wallace first acted in anger against the English when he was insulted by the son of an English governor and proceeded to strike him dead and thus he began his military career 10. His military campaign to free Scotland started in May 1297 after the murder of Marion Braid foot who is the historical basis for the character Mirror in Braveheart 11.

Wallace went on to regain a great number of Scottish towns and fortifications that had been held by the English. By this time news of Wallace uprising had reached Edward I in France and he dispatched 40, 000 soldiers and 300 cavalry to deal with the Scottish situation 12. The stage was now set for a great Scottish victory at Sterling and Wallace was no longer an inexperienced military commander. Wallace was victorious at Sterling, but he knew at some point he would have to fight the English king. After several devastating raids into northern England in early 1298, the English king brought his army North. The English army consisted of infantry and archers as well as over 3000 cavalry 13.

The Scottish army was only half the size and had almost no cavalry. The Scottish defeat was total although Wallace survived and went into hiding 14. After the crushing defeat at Falkirk, the writers of the Braveheart script would have you believe that Wallace went around killing his enemies in Scotland, there is however no historical basis for this assumption. Wallace is said to have left Scotland in search of military aid for another campaign 15. He visited the courts of the French, Germans, and even the Pope in Rome without much success. The political environment was beginning to change due to the manipulations of Edward I and even England's enemies wouldnt offer Wallace much support.

Wallace returned to Scotland after almost 7 years abroad and was subsequently betrayed to the English by a Scottish noble named Sir John Menteith and was turned over to the English for trial near Solway Firth 16. He was then taken to Carlisle and then 300 miles to London for trial and execution. The movie is almost completely accurate in this part of the movie. After all of the charges were read William Wallace said that he was guilty of all of them except for treason because he had never sworn loyalty to the English king.

Sometime after August 22 nd, 1305, William Wallace had all manner of torture carried out on his person and was eventually beheaded 17. In addition to the historical inaccuracies regarding the lives of William Wallace and Edward I, minor characters in the movie such as the prince and princess of Wales were not portrayed accurately. There is absolutely no evidence that supports the suggestion that either of these two people ever had any kind of contact with Wallace or his cause. Isabella was the name of the French princess who married Edward II three years after Wallace's execution 18. She also was not a nice person like she was shown to be in Braveheart. She had her husband murdered and was therefore nicknamed the she-wolf of France 19.

The Prince of Wales on the other hand was quite similar to the character portrayed in the movie. He was allegedly homosexual and his lover was in fact killed although not by his father but by his nobles sometime after his father died 20. Also in at least one case the writers for the Braveheart script omitted a historically significant person. Andrew Moray was completely omitted as a character in the movie even though some consider that he would have been a better soldier and leader than Wallace had he not suffered such an untimely death at the battle of Stirling 21.

Moray was the son of Sir Andrew Petty and a member of one of the great Highland families 22. Andrew Moray used his superior knowledge of the land to defeat the better-equipped English. With all the craftiness of a fox, Moray led his growing band of patriots to a great number of victories. After conquering a great number of northern castles, he believed the time was right for him to join a military leader farther south named William Wallace and fight the English outright 23. All of the characters in the movie Braveheart have some aspect of their life changed in order to make the story more appealing. The actual characters were portrayed in a fairly accurate way although the military engagements were not very accurate in most cases.

The parts that were accurate were those in which Scottish forces drew the better equipped English into traps, hit them hard, and faded back into the shadows. Most of the Scottish victories were small battles in which guerilla tactics were used. The out right battles in which the Scottish forces fought the English were portrayed incorrectly. The battle of Stirling Bridge is the best example of the Hollywood people incorrectly showing what a battle for Scottish independence looked like in 1297. The English and Scottish armies met on the 11 th of September 1297 and the couldnt have been any more different.

English leaders had a 5 to 1 advantage in soldiers over the Scottish, but they also enjoyed battle hardened troops and a long military tradition mainly coming from the wars with France 24. Scotland, however, enjoyed youthful and energetic leadership as well as unity of purpose in the minds of said leaders. The English leadership on the other hand was made up of several highly trained leaders who on the one hand had a great amount technical knowledge with regard to the art of war, but on the other hand the troops and the other nobles had no respect for their leaders and this made them ineffective. John Warenne, the Earl of Su...


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Research essay sample on Order To Make Princess Of Wales

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