The Clever Hero
1954; University of Illinois Press; Volume: 67; Issue: 263 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/536805
ISSN1535-1882
Autores Tópico(s)Legal Education and Practice Innovations
ResumoAPOINT worthy of the most careful attention is the number of clever heroes who are rascals on the other side of the law. This type is a hero who in many respects verges upon being a villain, but still retains the admiration of the people. He is upstart, rebel, lawbreaker, liar, thief, and malefactor; and yet in spite of being so-perhaps because of this-he is a social force. What is the secret of his power? Perhaps by analysis of his role and its significance we can understand his charm, why characters like Huey Long or Robin Hood, for instance, can achieve a popular status comparable in some ways to that of a secular saint like Lincoln. In the interminable contest of forces, there are certain occasions when the fall of a strong man is a source of popular delight, when it is evident that strength has been negated by a new factor which has its own magic, which it is not the prerogative of the powerful to monopolize. Down comes the bully-and he has been leveled, not by another big man, but by a little one who no one would have thought would have the fortune or the temerity to challenge him. Villains, of course, it is the pleasure of the public to have flattened in this way; but even those who have nominally the status of popular defenders-enforcers of law and order-are sometimes made the fool; and then public interest shifts to those who have defied the law, nominally villains but actually converted into new heroes by the drama, favorites because of their dexterity, luck, and success. Impudent thieves have something which appeals to people, even when their crimes have been flagrant, perhaps because success in any form is a universal touchstone of the hero; a long series of exploits and escapes adds a magical charm to the careers of figures such as Fran9ois Villon, Billy the Kid, Pancho Villa, Robin Hood, Raffles, or the Yellow Kid Weil, who reduce their victims to dupes and their would-be punishers to the status of the dumb detective instead of the inexorable Sherlock Holmes-flat-footed cops rather than Dick Tracys. But success alone is not sufficient to make a popular rogue. There should be a little humor in his trick. A Swedish folk hero, Ola Varmlanning, uses a policeman to help him steal a pig. Having noticed an attractive carcass hanging in front of a butcher shop, he asks a friendly cop to give him a hand in moving some wares for which he has been hired. The policeman obligingly starts off with the pig on his shoulders; and when the shopkeeper appears, Ola who has remained on the scene points out the departing officer as the thief.
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