In the city of Nottingham, close to the famous castle, stands a statue of Robin Hood drawing his bow. Tourists come from all over the world to take a selfie with this iconic figure. The information we have about Robin Hood comes almost exclusively from literary sources, however. portrayals of the character have changed over the centuries, and although he hasn’t always been considered the hero we see him as today, Robin Hood still exerts a strong fascination over hearts and minds. Speak Up talked with Sophie Milne, communications executive at Nottinghamshire Tourism Office, to ask her why this might be so. 

Sophie Milne (British accent): He definitely is a very fascinating figure and  he has captured people’s hearts for over seven centuries now. And I think part of that is because it is a very exciting story, or series of stories. There’s a lot of drama there, a lot of adventure. You can imagine Robin Hood running through the forest with his merry men, getting up to all sorts of exciting things. So certainly that part of it has made it a very exciting story that people are engaged with. But I would also say it’s because of what Robin Hood symbolises, and actually Robin Hood can mean very different things to different people. So for example, we can say that he’s a rebel; he stands up for what he believes in; and he does whatever it takes to make the world a better place. He fights injustice and oppression, and those are themes that we can really empathise with.

REAL PERSON  

We then asked Milne whether it was possible that he was a real historical figure.

Sophie Milne: Historians haven’t got a definitive answer on this. We don’t really know whether he was real or not. There are lots and lots of references to Robin Hood, or somebody called Robin Hood, or a name similar to Robin Hood, over the past nine centuries now that there started to be references, but this figure has changed over the centuries so much that I don’t think we’ll ever know whether he was a real person or not.

MYTH

So, if he wasn’t a real person, what might have generated a myth like this?

Sophie Milne: The thing about Robin Hood is that he changes so much throughout the centuries. And you can see how this legend is changing to appeal to the audiences of that time. So you see different versions of Robin Hood, like, for example, you can see quite violent versions of Robin Hood. He would kill people for almost no reason, which is not really the hero that we kind of know and love today. There’s different references to him being a common person, sometimes he is seen as a noble, like quite a rich person. He’s changed over the centuries to appeal to the people at that time.

FILMS

There have been many films about Robin Hood, and Milne suggests why.

Sophie Milne: He just embodies so many different themes and concepts because lots of these films that have been made about Robin Hood are very different. We have some that are quite dark and a bit gory almost, and then we have like the Disney version for children —all sorts of different versions in recent history that have a very different approach and a different take because there’s so much that you can do with this story.

CONTEMPORARY

And today, Robin Hood is considered a hero by many people.

Sophie Milne: I think it’s important to say that Robin Hood, particularly the version that we see today, I think he is a hero. I think, obviously there are versions in the past which are not quite so heroic, but fundamentally I think it’s those core values that Robin Hood embodies. It’s  standing up against oppression, standing up for what you believe in, changing the world to make it a better place.  

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