现代大学英语精读3Lesson4robinhood介绍.doc

Robin HoodFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, searchFor other uses, see Robin Hood (disambiguation).Robin Hood memorial statue in Nottingham.Robin Hood is an archetypal figure in English folklore, whose story originates from medieval times but who remains significant in popular culture where he is painted as a man known for robbing the rich to give to the poor and fighting against injustice and tyranny. His band consists of a seven score group of fellow outlawed yeomen called his Merry Men.1 He has been the subject of numerous films, television series, books, comics, and plays. In the earliest sources Robin Hood is a commoner, but he would often later be portrayed as the dispossessed Earl of Huntingdon. There is no consensus as to whether or not Robin Hood is based on any historical figure and little reliable historical evidence exists to support either side of this debate.OverviewIn popular culture Robin Hood and his band are usually seen as living in Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire. Much of the action of the early ballads does take place in Nottinghamshire, and the very earliest known ballad does show the outlaws operating in Sherwood Forest2 So does the very first recorded Robin Hood rhyme, four lines from the beginning of the 15th century beginning Robyn hoed in scherewode stood3 However, the overall picture from the surviving early ballads and other early references3 shows Robin Hood based in the Barnsdale area of what is now South Yorkshire (which borders Nottinghamshire), and other traditions also point to Yorkshire.45 A tradition dating back at least to the end of the 16th century gives his birthplace as Loxley in South Yorkshire, while the site of Robin Hoods Well in Yorkshire has been associated with Robin Hood at least since 1422.6 His grave has been claimed to be at Kirklees Priory in West Yorkshire, as implied by the 18th century version of Robin Hoods Death, and there is a headstone there of dubious authenticity.7The first clear reference to rhymes of Robin Hood is from the late-14th century poem Piers Plowman, but the earliest surviving copies of the narrative ballads which tell his story have been dated to the 15th century or the first decade of the 16th century. In these early accounts Robin Hoods partisanship of the lower classes, his Marianism and associated special regard for women, his outstanding skill as an archer, his anti-clericalism and his particular animus towards the Sheriff of Nottingham are already clear.8 Little John, Much the Millers Son and Will Scarlet (as Will Scarlok or Scathelocke) all appear, although not yet Maid Marian or Friar Tuck. It is not certain what should be made of these latter two absences as it is known that Friar Tuck for one was part of the legend since at least the later 15th century.9In popular culture Robin Hood is typically seen as a contemporary and supporter of the late-12th century king Richard the Lionheart, Robin being driven to outlawry during the misrule of Richards evil brother John while Richard was away at the Third Crusade. This view first gained currency in the 16th century and has very little scholarly support.10 It is certainly not supported by the earliest ballads. The early compilation A Gest of Robyn Hode names the king as Edward, and while it does show Robin Hood as accepting the kings pardon he later repudiates it and returns to the greenwood. The oldest surviving ballad, Robin Hood and the Monk gives even less support to the picture of Robin Hood as a partisan of the true king. The setting of the early ballads is usually attributed by scholars to either the 13th century or the 14th, although it is recognised they are not necessarily historically consistent.11The early ballads are also quite clear on Robin Hoods social status, he is a yeoman. While the precise meaning of this term changed over time, including free retainers of an aristocrat and small landholders, it always referred to commoners. The essence of it in the present context was neither a knight nor a peasant or husbonde but something in between.12 We know that artisans (such as millers) were among those regarded as yeomen in the 14th century.13 From the 16th century on there were attempts to elevate Robin Hood to the nobility and in two extremely influential plays Anthony Munday presented him at the very end of the 16th century as the Earl of Huntingdon, as he is still commonly presented in modern times.14As well as ballads, the legend was also transmitted by Robin Hood games or plays that were an important part of the late medieval and early modern May Day festivities. The first record of a Robin Hood game was in 1426 in Exeter but the reference does not indicate how old or widespread this custom was at the time. The Robin Hood games are known to have flourished in the later 15th and the 16th centuries.15 It is commonly stated as fact that Maid Marian and a jolly friar (at least partly identifiable with Friar Tuck) entered the legend through the May Games.16The early ballads link Robin Hood to identifiable real places and many are convinced that he was a real person, more or less accurately portrayed. A number of theories as to the identity of the real Robin Hood have their supporters. Some of these theories posit that Robin Hood or Robert Hood or the like was his actual name; others suggest that this may have been merely a nick-name disguising a medieval bandit perhaps known to history under another name.17 At the same time it is possible that Robin Hood has always been a fictional character; the folklorist Francis James Child declared Robin Hood is absolutely a creation of the ballad-muse and this view has not been disproved.18 Another view is that Robin Hoods origins must be sought in folklore or mythology;19 and, despite the frequent Christian references in the early ballads, Robin Hood has been claimed for the pagan witch-religion supposed by Margaret Murray to have existed in medieval Europe.20Early referencesThe oldest references to Robin Hood are not historical records, or even ballads recounting his exploits, but hints and allusions found in various works. From 1228 onwards the names Robinhood, Robehod or Hobbehod occur in the rolls of several English Justices. The majority of these references date from the late 13th century. Between 1261 and 1300 there are at least eight references to Rabunhod in various regions across England, from Berkshire in the south to York in the north.21The term seems to be applied as a form of shorthand to any fugitive or outlaw. Even at this early stage, the name Robin Hood is used as that of an archetypal criminal. This usage continues throughout the medieval period. In a petition presented to Parliament in 1439, the name is again used to describe an itinerant felon. The petition cites one Piers Venables of Aston, Derbyshire, who having no liflode, ne sufficeante of goodes, gadered and assembled unto him many misdoers, beynge of his clothynge, and, in manere of insurrection, wente into the wodes in that countrie, like as it hadde be Robyn Hude and his meyne.22 The name was still used to describe sedition and treachery in 1605, when Guy Fawkes and his associates were branded Robin Hoods by Robert Cecil.The first allusion to a literary tradition of Robin Hood tales occurs in William Langlands Piers Plowman (c.1362c.1386) in which Sloth, the lazy priest, confesses: I kan know not parfitly perfectly my Paternoster as the preest it singeth,/ But I kan rymes of Robyn Hood.23The first mention of a quasi-historical Robin Hood is given in Andrew of Wyntouns Orygynale Chronicle, written about 1420. The following lines occur with little contextualisation under the year 1283:Lytil Jhon and Robyne Hude Wayth-men ware commendyd gude In Yngil-wode and Barnysdale Thai oysyd all this tyme thare trawale. The next notice is a statement in the Scotichronicon, composed by John of Fordun between 1377 and 1384, and revised by Walter Bower in about 1440. Among Bowers many interpolations is a passage which directly refers to Robin. It is inserted after Forduns account of the defeat of Simon de Montfort and the punishment of his adherents. Robin is represented as a fighter for de Montfords cause.24 This was in fact true of the historical outlaw of Sherwood Forest Roger Godberd, whose points of similarity to the Robin Hood of the ballads have often been noted2526Bower writes:Then c.1266 arose the famous murderer, Robert Hood, as well as Little John, together with their accomplices from among the disinherited, whom the foolish populace are so inordinately fond of celebrating both in tragedies and comedies, and about whom they are delighted to hear the jesters and minstrels sing above all other ballads. The word translated here murderer is the Latin siccarius, from the Latin for knife. Bower goes on to tell a story about Robin Hood in which he refuses to flee from his enemies while hearing Mass in the greenwood, and then gains a surprise victory over them, apparently as a reward for his piety.27William Shakespeare makes reference to Robin Hood in his late 16th century play The Two Gentlemen of Verona, one of his earliest. In it, the character Valentine is banished from Milan and driven out through the forest where he is approached by outlaws who, upon meeting him, desire him as their leader. They comment, By the bare scalp of Robin Hoods fat friar, This fellow were a king for our wild faction!,28 implying that they imagine themselves as similar to the Robin Hood story.Another reference is provided by Thomas Gale, Dean of York (c.16351702),29 but this comes nearly four hundred years after the events it describes:Robin Hoods death is stated by Ritson to have taken place on the 18th of November, 1247, about the eighty-seventh year of his age; but according to the following inscription found among the papers of the Dean of Yorkthe death occurred a month later. In this inscription, which bears evidence of high antiquity, Robin Hood is described as Earl of Huntington his claim to which title has been as hotly contested as any disputed peerage upon record. Hear undernead dis laitl stean Lais Robert Earl of Huntingun Near arcir der as hie sa geud An pipl kauld im Robin Heud Sic utlaws as hi an is men Vil England nivr si agen. Obiit 24 Kal Dekembris 1247 This inscription also appears on a grave in the grounds of Kirklees Priory near Kirklees Hall (see below). Despite appearances, and the authors assurance of high antiquity, there is little reason to give the stone any credence. It certainly cannot date from the 13th century; notwithstanding the implausibility of a 13th century funeral monument being composed in English, the language of the inscription is highly suspect. Its orthography does not correspond to the written forms of Middle English at all: there are no inflected es, the plural accusative pronoun hi is used as a singular nominative, and the singular present indicative verb lais is formed without the Middle English th ending. Overall, the epitaph more closely resembles Modern English written in a deliberately archaic style. Furthermore, the reference to Huntingdon is anachronistic: the first recorded mention of the title in the context of Robin Hood occurs in the 1598 play The Downfall of Robert Earl of Huntington by Anthony Munday. The monument can only be a 17th century forgery.Therefore Robert is largely fictional by this time. The Gale note is inaccurate. The medieval texts do not refer to him directly, but mediate their allusions through a body of accounts and reports: for Langland, Robin exists principally in rimes, for Bower, comedies and tragedies, while for Wyntoun he is, commendyd gude. Even in a legal context, where one would expect to find verifiable references to Robert, he is primarily a symbol, a generalised outlaw-figure rather than an individual. Consequently, in the medieval period itself, Robin Hood already belongs more to literature than to history. In fact, in an anonymous song called Woman of c.1412, he is treated in precisely this manner as a joke, a figure that the audience will instantly recognise as imaginary:He that made this songe full good, Came of the northe and the sothern blode, And somewhat kyne to Robert Hoad.3031 SourcesRobin shoots with Sir Guy by Louis Rhead.There is at present little scholarly support for the view that tales of Robin Hood have stemmed from mythology or folklore; from fairies (such as Puck under the alias Robin Goodfellow) or other mythological origins. When Robin Hood has been connected to such folklore, it is apparently a later development.32 Maurice Keen33 provides a brief summary and useful critique of the once popular view that Robin Hood had mythological origins, while (unlike some34) refraining from utterly and finally dismissing it.35 While Robin Hood and his men often show improbable skill in archery, swordplay, and disguise, they are no more exaggerated than those characters in other ballads, such as Kinmont Willie, which were based on historical events.36 Robin Hoods role in the traditional May Day games could suggest pagan connections but that role has not been traced earlier than the early 15th century. However it is uncontroversial that a Robin and Marion figured in 13th century French pastourelles (of which Jeu de Robin et Marion c1280 is a literary version) and presided over the French May festivities, this Robin and Marion tended to preside, in the intervals of the attempted seduction of the latter by a series of knights, over a variety of rustic pastimes37 And in the Jeu de Robin and Marion Robin and his companions have to rescue Marion from the clutches of a lustful knight.38 Dobson and Taylor in their survey of the legend, in which they reject the mythological theory, nevertheless regard it as highly probable that this French Robins name and functions travelled to the English May Games where they fused with the Robin Hood legend.37The origin of the legend is claimed by some to have stemmed from actual outlaws, or from tales of outlaws, such as Hereward the Wake, Eustace the Monk, Fulk FitzWarin,39 and William Wallace.40 Hereward appears in a ballad much like Robin Hood and the Potter, and as the Hereward ballad is older, it appears to be the source. The ballad Adam Bell, Clym of the Cloughe and Wyllyam of Cloudeslee runs parallel to Robin Hood and the Monk, but it is not clear whether either one is the source for the other, or whether they merely show that such tales were told of outlaws.41 Some early Robin Hood stories appear to be unique, such as the story where Robin gives a knight, generally called Richard at the Lee, money to pay off his mortgage to an abbot, but this may merely indicate that no parallels have survived.42There are a number of theories that attempt to identify a historical Robin Hood. A difficulty with any such historical search is that Robert was in medieval England a very common given name, and Robin (or Robyn) especially in the 13th century was its very common diminutive.43 The surname Hood (or Hude or Hode etc), referring ultimately to the head-covering, was also fairly common. Unsurprisingly, therefore, there are a number of people called Robert Hood or Robin Hood to be found in medieval records. Some of them are on record for having fallen foul of the law but this is not necessarily significant to the legend.44 The early ballads give a number of possible historical clues, notably the Gest names the reigning king as Edward, but the ballads cannot be assumed to be reliable in such details.45 For whatever it may be worth, however, King Edward I took the throne in 1272, and an Edward remained on the throne until the death of Edward III in 1377. On the other hand what appears to be the first known example of Robin Hood as stock name for an outlaw dates to 1262 in Berkshire where the surname Robehod was applied to a man after he had been outlawed, and apparently because he had been outlawed.46 This could suggest two main possibilities: either that an early form of the Robin Hood legend was already well established in the mid-13th century; or alternatively that the name Robin Hood preceded the outlaw hero that we know; so that the Robin Hood of legend was so-called because that was seen as an appropriate name for an outlaw. It has long been been suggested, notably by John Maddicott, that Robin Hood was a stock alias used by thieves.47 Another theory of the origin of the name needs to be mentioned here. The 1911 Encyclopedia Brittanica remarks that hood was a common dialectical form of wood; and that the outlaws name has been given as Robin Wood.19 There are indeed a number of references to Robin Hood as Robin Wood, or Whood, or Whod, from the 16th and 17th centuries. The earliest recorded example, in connection with May games in Somerset, dates from 1518.48One of the most well-known theories of origin is that first recorded as being proposed by Joseph Hunter in 1852. Hunter identified the outlaw with a Robyn Hode recorded as employed by Edward II in 1323 during the kings progress through Lancashire. This Robyn Hood was identified with (one or more people called) Robert Hood living in Wakefield before and after that time. Comparing the available records with especially the Gest and also other ballads Hunter developed a fairly detailed theory according to which Robin Hood was an adherent of the rebel Earl of Lancaster, defeated at the Battle of Boroughbridge in 1322. According to this theory Robin Hood was pardoned and employed by the king in 1323. (The Gest does relate that Robin Hood was pardoned by King Edward and taken into his service.)