The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Part Seventh Summary & Analysis

Summary

That summer, Richard Partington, Queen Eleanor’s page, comes to Sherwood to invite Robin Hood to participate in an archery competition. The queen has promised that no harm will come to him. Robin agrees and brings Little John, Will Scarlet, and Allan a Dale with him. When the competition begins, Queen Eleanor wagers with King Henry that her archers will outshoot the king’s archers. The king agrees, unaware of the archers the queen has chosen, and says he will grant the queen’s archers a pardon for forty days. During the competition, the Bishop of Hereford recognizes the queen’s archers as Robin Hood and his men. The king is furious. After Robin and his men win, they give most of their prizes away to the other contestants. One of the king’s guards delivers a warning from the queen to Robin about the king’s wrath, and he and his men leave.

After the competition, the Bishop of Hereford suggests that the king ignore the promise he made to the queen. While Robin Hood and his men are resting at an inn, Richard Partington catches up with them and warns that the king’s men are after them. Robin and his men leave the inn and split up. The men evade the royal guards and make it back to Sherwood Forest.

Meanwhile, Robin Hood comes across the king’s men blocking the roads to Sherwood that he tries to take. He avoids their arrows and eventually makes his way to safety. Robin meets a cobbler, with whom he trades clothes. The cobbler is then arrested by the king’s men because they believe he is Robin Hood. Robin spends the night at an inn. While he is asleep, a friar stops at the inn and is made to share Robin’s room. When Robin wakes up, he is surprised to see the friar and dresses in the friar’s clothes. When the friar wakes, he puts on the cobbler’s clothes left behind by Robin and is then arrested by the king’s men. On his way to Sherwood, Robin meets Sir Richard of Lea, who tells Robin that the king’s men have blocked every road to Sherwood and that his best course of action would be to return to London and beg for mercy from Queen Eleanor. Robin does as Sir Richard suggests. Queen Eleanor convinces the king to allow Robin Hood to return to Sherwood safely, which he does, accompanied by a royal page.

Analysis

In a somewhat climactic episode, Robin Hood, unable to resist showing off his archery skills, puts himself in the most precarious situation yet, showing his shortcomings despite his other good qualities. Though he knows that the king desires his arrest and that the Bishop of Hereford hates him, Robin goes to the archery competition. He believes he is safe because the queen invited him, but in fact, he puts himself and his friends directly in danger. In his attempts to evade the king’s men, Robin also deliberately puts others in danger—namely, the cobbler and the friar with whom he exchanges clothes, one willingly and the other unwillingly. While Robin may feel the friar deserves to be arrested because he believes most men of religion are corrupt and greedy, for the first time he puts himself above someone who is not wealthy, as he places the cobbler in harm’s way and allows him to be arrested. Obviously, Robin Hood is desperate to evade the law at this point in the story.

Despite Robin Hood’s selfish actions in this part, he is rewarded for his previous generosity when he meets Sir Richard of Lea. Because Robin once helped Sir Richard in his time of need, Sir Richard now acts as Robin’s savior in Robin’s time of need. Despite the many laws Robin and his men have violated over the years, Robin’s kindness and commitment to helping others now save him from being arrested. In Robin Hood’s case at least, morality does triumph over legality.

The archery match in this part of the story serves as a comparison point to Robin Hood’s status in the first part, when he attended the Sheriff’s archery match in disguise. Now Robin Hood is a famous and legendary figure, and because of his fame, he believes he does not have to fear retribution from those in power. He does not show up in disguise, but the king is still deceived by his wife, and that infuriates him. Although Robin committed his crime long ago, the king and the Bishop of Hereford remain humiliated by their inability to catch him. At this point, they want Robin captured not for his crimes, but for how incompetent he has made them look. They are not looking to exact justice for moral or legal reasons, but for their sense of revenge, ultimately proving Robin Hood’s point that the legal system is not based on fairness.

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