William Wallace :: essays research papers

William Wallace What is the True Story? For generations, William Wallace has been a hero to Scotland and a patron of freedom. After Mel Gibsons portrayal of Wallace in the trophy winning movie, Braveheart, there was a dramatic rise in the popularity and recognition of the Scottish hero. The story of William Wallace has been passed down through many different generations. These generations include batch of English, Scottish, and Irish decent, a few among many. All of these different cultures have passed down different versions of stories and records about William Wallace. Since there are many different stories about the same(p) man, historians and scholars find it difficult to determine the actual truth about William Wallace and his past. As a result, historians are often left with conflicting opinions about who William Wallace really was. Historians, therefore, discord on such issues as the date of his birth, birthplace, facts concerning Wallaces elimination of English tyranny in Scotland, and the roles Wallace played in affairs with the English. In this paper I am going to show the conflicting views about William Wallaces life. I will use a wide variety of sources including the movie Bravehearts script, Internet network pages, and written history in order to support my thesis. I will conclude with the fact that William Wallace was truly a worthy patriot of his native orbit Scotland. He fearlessly led his fellow patriots into battle, and gained freedom for Scotland from the tyrannical rule of the English King, Edward I. In May of 1995 the film Braveheart came out in theaters. Braveheart is mainly a biographical movie about William Wallace. It portrays Wallace as a tall, strong, and brilliant man and military soldier. On many occasions, it shows Wallace defeating the English Army, which always outnumbered his troops. His most famous battle at Stirling Bridge is what many consider to be his most glorious battle. It is the battle in which he was outnumbered the most and in which he triumphed over this rampart and managed to win freedom for all of Scotland. Braveheart, however, was written by Randall Wallace and directed by Mel Gibson. Both men are of Scottish decent and thus would have pictured William Wallace in a great patriotic light. This is not meant to mean William Wallace was not a hero, but the two may have exaggerated such things as battles, intelligence, etc. The movie, however, seems to avoid certain conflictions about his life.