William Wallace (Braveheart)

Class 6
Sorry about the confusion on the other forum. This topic will take the place of both weeks forum questions and should be replied to with a minimum of 75 words.

Part 1 William Wallace had to face a lot of tragedies at an early age. After his father died in war, he wanted to get revenge on Edward the Longshanks, but his uncle told him that he had to learn to use his brain before the using the sword. His father told him, "But its our wits that makes us men?" Explain what you think this men were teaching him, and do you agree with their advice to William?

Part 2 After watching this movie, How did you feel about William Wallace love for Scotland, the betrayal of Robert the Bruce, and lastly the sacrifice of his life for freedom? Was it forth it? What were your thoughts on the movie? would you recommend it? To whom? and Why?

Admin wrote:Class 6
Sorry about the confusion on the other forum. This topic will take the place of both weeks forum questions and should be replied to with a minimum of 75 words.

Part 1 William Wallace had to face a lot of tragedies at an early age. After his father died in war, he wanted to get revenge on Edward the Longshanks, but his uncle told him that he had to learn to use his brain before the using the sword. His father told him, "But its our wits that makes us men?" Explain what you think this men were teaching him, and do you agree with their advice to William?

Part 2 After watching this movie, How did you feel about William Wallace love for Scotland, the betrayal of Robert the Bruce, and lastly the sacrifice of his life for freedom? Was it forth it? What were your thoughts on the movie? would you recommend it? To whom? and Why?

for part 1: wallace faces an overwhelmingly strong enemy the longshanks who owns the national forces of England, so if wallace just fights back with force, he can hardly win the battle; so his uncle and father told him to use his brain, that is to say he had to know how to recruit ary members, how to apply tactics in the battle, and how to encourage his army and so on. only when wallace learn how to use his wits can he possibly win the battle.

Admin wrote:Class 6
Sorry about the confusion on the other forum. This topic will take the place of both weeks forum questions and should be replied to with a minimum of 75 words.

Part 1 William Wallace had to face a lot of tragedies at an early age. After his father died in war, he wanted to get revenge on Edward the Longshanks, but his uncle told him that he had to learn to use his brain before the using the sword. His father told him, "But its our wits that makes us men?" Explain what you think this men were teaching him, and do you agree with their advice to William?

Part 2 After watching this movie, How did you feel about William Wallace love for Scotland, the betrayal of Robert the Bruce, and lastly the sacrifice of his life for freedom? Was it forth it? What were your thoughts on the movie? would you recommend it? To whom? and Why?

for part 2, wallace takes revenge on England not only because of his love for the Scottish but also his love for Murron, his late wife.
bruce's betrayal to wallace is unforgivable; for not one time he takes advantage of wallace's trust for him, the final purpose is to win the title of Scottish king; it is really a shame for him, i do not think he can climb to the crown without guilty of consciousness, nor does his rest of life.
it is worth wallace's sacrifice, it proves his loyalty and deep love for Scotland, at the same time his death may waken the scottish people to fight against the longshank's rebellion.
it is really a good movie, and i would like to recommend it to my friends because it is not only concerns about love, loyalty, but also about bravery of oneself to pursue the truth---freedom, true love, etc.

For part one
Wits can help people gain the knowledge and doctrine to govern their actions. Thus, Wallace's father is such a wise man to tell him about this. His uncle is the guide of Wallace who teach him courses and guid his life.

For part two
Wallace sacrificed his life for the revolution of the people of Scotland. He is the hero of Scotland and set a great example for the later pursuit of freedom. He himself is like the flag hanging high in the heart of the scots. His sacrifice is meritorious. !!!!While for Bruce, he is not that much bad.He is from the noble family and he has his own burden.

For Part I In my opinion, the man not only wants to teach Wallace the force, but also wisdom.I agree with the advice because force is based on wisdom. Only after he learns knowledge, he can get the wisdom, and then he can put the force into use and combine force and wisdom. Only in that way can he do what he wants to do.I think this advice is very useful to Wallace and does good to Wallace.
For Part II Wallace's love for Scotland is very great and selfless. For his land, he could even devote his life. So he is a real hero.
I really hate the betrayal of Robert the Bruce. Even though we all know he haven't meant to betray Wallace, but he did it. His betrayal costed Wallace's life, and that was so miserable.
Wallace's death for his land is great. Even though his life was threatened, he still insisted on his faith in freedom. Perhaps his death was worthy because at last they got their freedom. But I still hope Wallace could live all the time and see the final victory by himself.
I want to recommend it to my friends. Even though it is a little cruel in its last part, I still like it very much. Wallace's love for his Scotland and his braveness, persistence in freedom really shock me. What's more, there is also something about love, friendship and so on. We can learn much from the movie.

At that time, Wallace was just a little boy. He lacked both wits and strength. Facing the strong enemy—the king, if Wallace used his sword, it is impossible to defeat the King. Wits can arm Wallace with clever mind and turn it into strong force. Under this circumstance, Wallace can win the battle. We can find obvious evidences in the movie. Wallace made long spears twice as long as a man and defeated heavy cavalry of the Longshanks.

At first, Wallace would like to live a peaceful life with Murron. However, Murron was killed and her death sparked Wallace’s anger. Wallace turned into the revolution of resisting the intruders. At the beginning, it is his love for Murron that stimulated Wallace to take revenge. Wallace love freedom and every Scotsman also love freedom. With the battle forwarding, his love for Scotland began to be the main power to resist the intruders. At last, he gave up his life and kept his faith in freedom. He became a true man and a hero of the Scotland. It was worthwhile.
The Bruce’s lifetime is regrettable. On the one hand, he couldn’t resist the temptation of being the king of the Scotland. On the other hand, he admired Wallace and wanted to be a true man to lead the revolution. His heart was in struggle.
The movie is worth seeing again. I will recommend it to my friends and my future students. In this movie, there are many thing to learn, such as, love for motherland, firm faith in freedom, loyalty and betrayal.

The first part: the wits emphasized here mean a person’s intellectual and strategic thinking. The opposite is pure physical strength and arms. William’s father tells him to use his mind instead of his body to fight and to become a worthy man. He wants to tell him that strong in body but weak in mind will not help him win, because the enemy was stronger than them. But if he has a wise, meticulous and prudent mind, he can work out ways to win the battle. William does what his father has told him. With respect to the military strength, William is incomparable with the England army, but at the beginning William
I agree with this idea that the method of doing things is very important. Some people are physically strong and would like to toil in what he is doing, but they never succeed. They do things without thinking.

The second part: Bruce is the leader of Scotland. He knows clearly that the Scottish people are not so strong as the England court. He must have to take responsibility for all Scottish people. If a war breaks out there must be a great loss to his people. Besides, he is greatly influenced by his father, who is resigned to be controlled by England court. So Bruce at that time has no other option.
William’s hatred toward England has taken up when he was a child. He saw the scots was hanged by England court and later his father was killed in the fight against England. Moreover, his beloved wife, Murron, is killed cruelly by England soldier. All these contribute to his rebel. To him, surrendering to England means giving up freedom. Freedom is priceless, even more precious than life.
I will recommend this film to my brothers, because I think this encouraging and moving film is a must for boys.
ps: thank you Mr. Dukes, i really like the new color of this forum

Q1: I quite agree with what the father said. At that time, William was still a small kid. If he takes revenge at that time, the only consequence is he became a victim. It is not worth it. His father want him learn to think, because wise is the most powerful weapon to defeat the enemy.
Q2: I admire William’s strong love for Scotland. He does not afraid of the evil power and keeps pursuing what he belief. Even at his last breath, when everyone is expecting he would cry out “mercy”, he still shake us with his firm voice-“freedom”. He is the real hero of Scotland. There is no denying that it is his spirit that finally lead Scotland to freedom.
When I watched that Bruce betrayed William, I thought he is unforgivable. But when I put myself into his place, I think he is not such a bad guy.
This movie is very inspiring. Maybe I will recommend it to a boy, because it is too bloody for girls.

I am deeply impressed by the words his father said to William. A man must know how to use his wit firstly,than he can have a good muster of his weapons. In my pinion, no matter what a man is going to do, he must be wise enough, to judge the right from the wrong, to whom he should unload his anger upon. Apart from this, a man's wisdom should be used to command himself. I f William can not control his anger to the king, he would have done something foolish, even had sacrificed for his imprudent action.
As for William the man, his love to his people is unquestionable. However, I think his love to his nation is stirred up by the death of his wife.But after he had entered the battle, he got a deeper understand of his aim in this battle, he realized that all the suffers came form the British King,the oppression from an other nation. So he was more devoted to his mission.
Bruce had not betrayed his friend or his people. At last it is him who leads his people to go on the undone mission left by William. So, to some degree he is a hero too.

I can't agree with it more. At that time, English army is strong and solid. Only a few people's uprising is futile, so one cannot win the war against LongTshank with foolhardy. That's why the uncle said"It's our wits that make us men". With wits, one can go further.
In my eyes, the uprising against Longshank was caused by the death of Murron, Wallace's true love. He just faught for freedom. I think Bruce was a coward to. He dared not do what he wanted to do. He was hesitated and not determined. Maybe if he had aided Wallace then, Wallace would have won the battle and liberated all the people. I hate Bruce. William Wallace is my hero. He sacrified his life for freedom and triggered the last war between Longshank and Scotland. Wallace finally woke up the depressed people. The final victory confort me at least.
Well, I think I will not recommend this movie to my friends, because it's truely bloody. There are some pictures that I even dare not see. That's cruel. But those pictures really stimulated the seers' anger. The movie really works.

What happened? I posted it just now. why I cannot find it? It seems that I have to post again.

Part 1 "But its our wits that makes us men?" This sentence is the shinning point of this movie. Intelligence is where the the core reason for human's superiority, and it also makes men differ from animals. William's uncle tried to teach william the philosophy of life. He knew William had suffered a lot in his younghood. He knew William, as a scot, would sympathized his follow men after seeing the freedom abroad.

I agree. Learn to use brain before the using of sword. It reminds me Lincoln's famous words: sharpen your axe before you cut a tree. Specificly speaking, if you are given ten hours to cut down a tree, please be wise enough to sharpen your axe for 6 hours and use the left for cutting. It tells us that before we run into works, we must make ourselves well-prepared. Firstly, we should make clear our job objective: cutting down the tree. Secondly, we must develop an instinct about our working environment and facilities. Only after the two stage, can we be more efficient in achieving the goal. It is the same to william wallace . Before he takes revenge for his father and his wife, he must clearly know the disparity between him and his enemy, and figures out whether he has advantages or not. Because his purpose is to win in the revenge, ro he has no choice but make himself armed to the teeth and both wit and body be well matched in the battle. There is a well-known saying: meeting in the narrow path, it's always wits who laugh the last and laugh the best.

For part one, yes, I totally agree with these advice for William. The reasons are as follows: first, from the traditional Chinese military strategy and tactics, we know that the best way of defeating an enemy is to outwit him rather than fight with him empty-handed. Most of us admire the famous army adviser ----Zhu geliang in three kingdoms for his marvelous wisdom. Second, sometimes, we are not strong enough to match our rivals. We don’t take the upper hand in terms of number of people and the equipment of weapon, under this circumstance, if we insist on throwing an egg against a rock. We are actually committing a suicide, which is an unreasonable deed at heart. In addition, it is the mind that makes us human beings. We human beings are different from other animals just because we can use our minds to guide our behavior. We can think creatively rather than do anything blindly and imprudently.

at first, William Wallace armed uprising just for taking revenge for his wife’s death. But as times went on, his resolution of overthrowing the cruel England governance had taken shape. He considered it a mission to liberate the Scots and end their miserable sufferings. William can be looked at a national hero.
Bruce who is the right man to be a king has more in mind than common people. And through the whole film, I don’t think the betrayal was out of his deep heart,he went through a confused period until he set mind to the revolution. and most of the betrayal was under the command of his father. at least he was a good commander who inherited the unfinished course from william
And William’s sacrifice for freedom is worthwhile. Only his death can provoke the Scots to fight for their independence and freedom with whole soul and heart. And only his death can interpret his saying” every man dies, not every man really lives”. To die dignified better than to live degraded.

For part 1. I agree with his father and uncle's advice to him. The main point or main idea his father and uncle want to convey to him is that if you want freedom, you must fight for it yourself, but fight cannot solve the problem solely. You must remember that violence cannot solve everything. You must use your wits at the same time. Sometimes, using your wits properly can save you lots of time and labor. It is because we can think and we can appropriately use our wits make us distinguish from animals. So we have to pay much attention to our wits and focus on using them.
For part 2. I think Wallace's strong love to Scotland appeared when he was a small child. In his childhood, he witnessed the death of the nobles when they negotiating with the Longshanks. His hatred to the England began to take root in his heart. This hatred became greater when his father and brother were killed by the Longshanks. He wants to take revenge and he also wants to lead all the Scots to freedom. The betrayal of Robert the Bruce is because he and his father want to protect their own interests. They don't want to be affected by Wallace's violence actions and the consequences they will lead to. His sacrifice is worth it because he has waken the Scots to fight for their own freedom and never be a slave anymore. He has brought the great revolution in people's mind. This movie is really moving and it suggests that everyone should have his own freedom, if you want your own freedom, you must fight for it. The right is in your hand. I will recommend it to my classmates in high school for I think they will feel encouraged too.

This remind me of the education system in slave society. At that time good education were merely for the noblemen so that they'll be wise enough to govern low classes. According to this, we can see how important wits are. "But it's our wits that makes us men." how wise it is. with the force, one can at most kill hundreds of enemies at one time while with wisdom one can let hundreds of people fight for him and kill thousands .

The first part: I think his uncle was intelligent man. Wit is the crucial and permanent weapon for success. From the situation of Scotland, they have less advanced weapons, they have less armies. It's juse like throwing an egg at a rock if they fight by bruteforce. William applied what he learnt from his uncle skillfully. Admittedly, William's character also played a very important role in his upring. his early experience including his father's death and his girlfriend'd death were an indispensable factor. But what really made his success was his wit.

Part two:Take the movie as a whole, i think it's a tragedy. I don't want to see William's wife 's death, I don't want to see his farther's death. There are so many deaths. Further more, love ran through the whole movie, but no one really enjoyed his love finally. So that disappointed me a little, because i prefered a happy ending when watching movie. But fortunately, the Scottish gained freedom at last, William sacrificed himself to his people's freedom, but they finally made his death worth. That balanced the tragedy part. moive told us sacrifice is unavoidablein a war. Both the winner and the loser would suffer a lot in the fight. Although William fell down and he could't share the victory with his people, he would live in his people's mind forever. Maybe i will recommand the movie to my friend in future. Apart from the partial tragedy, it's really a good motivational movie.

:arrow:For part 1:In my opinion, his father were aimed at conveying to Wallace the importance of wits.Because he himself was taken in by Longshanks because of the lack of wits.If they analysed the characteristic of that Longshanks and guard againsthim,maybe these nobles would not lose their lives.So,he wanted to tell his son to use his mind before action.Action cannot work in many cases,but action after careful consideration work.And I totally agree with him.
For part 2:Ithink Wallace's love for Scotland is deep in his heart.But at the beginning,he himself didn't want to face with his love directly.Just after Murron's death,he realized and stood up for fight.To some degree,Murron's death trigged his love for his country,his desire for freedom.And actually,I donot like Bruce .Owing to his cowardess,so many people died and Wallace was arrested.Although he was not on purpose,his behavior cannot be forgiven.Wallace's death is worth.His death triggers the standin up and fighting of more Scotmen,which makes Scotland approaches freedom step by step.And I'd like to recommend it to my friends in the debating club.

Admin wrote:Part 2 After watching this movie, How did you feel about William Wallace love for Scotland, the betrayal of Robert the Bruce, and lastly the sacrifice of his life for freedom? Was it forth it? What were your thoughts on the movie? would you recommend it? To whom? and Why?

William Wallace is really a hero --a hero of courage and faith. In my opinion, sometimes one's character is formed by the changing environment. When Wallace grew up, at first he just want to live a peaceful life, however, the tragedy happened on him changed his life pattern, and with the fight for freedom, his real character was formed and his love for Scotland increased.Unfortunately he diedfinally, but his sacrifice is worthwhile, this encouraged Robert the Bruce who once betrayed him rise up and fight for freedom. In this movie, I like the princess very much, she is full of wisdom and courage to pursue her own happiness, though a little against the traditional moral.

Admin wrote:
Part 1 William Wallace had to face a lot of tragedies at an early age. After his father died in war, he wanted to get revenge on Edward the Longshanks, but his uncle told him that he had to learn to use his brain before the using the sword. His father told him, "But its our wits that makes us men?" Explain what you think this men were teaching him, and do you agree with their advice to William?

Part 2 After watching this movie, How did you feel about William Wallace love for Scotland, the betrayal of Robert the Bruce, and lastly the sacrifice of his life for freedom? Was it forth it? What were your thoughts on the movie? would you recommend it? To whom? and Why?

I do agree with those advices. Although Wallace grew stronger and stronger as a young man, he could not fight with all of the warriors of Longshanks and survive in all of the battles. What he should do is to use his wits before he start to have a confrontation with Longshanks.
Wallace was so easy to believe in someone. And I think Robert the Bruce has "mercy" and "sympathy" in his own heart. It was really worth for Wallace to sacrifice himself to wake up the courage of pursuing freedom of the populace. Although the movie is a little bloody, I like it. Not only because it is a film of male, but it really made myself choked up with emotions to fight for my freedom in the later years.

Part 1: I agree with the idea of "it's our wits that makes us men" because wits is not only the most important thing that distinguishes us from animals, but also a criteria that differs us to anyone else. Whether to be able to use our wits efficiently usually leads to success or failure. At the first war, it is William Wallace's strategy that brings about the final victory. If William is an ordinary soldier who knows only how to use his sword, he will hardly beat the well-armed invaders.

Part 1 I strongly agree with their advice. A man's physical force is limited, but the mental force is powerful. All the human bodies are the same and delicate, but it's wits that makes one excel others.
Part 2 He is a man born for freedom. Even though he saves his life by surrendering to the Longshank, he will suffer torture from heart, and will die of torture someday. Though he pays a heavy price for freedom, it deserves that. This movie is bloody, but the spirit it reflects is impressive and the plot is attracting.

Part 2
When William was a child, his father died for scotland, It was deeply rooted in his tender heart that he should fight for his county. After he was fully armed with wisdom and strength , he came back to spread his love for his motherland. His sacrifice of his life was priceless.t Robert's betray is unforgivable. However, William is such a merciful hero that unexpectedly he gave him a chance to renew himself. But the reality is Robert was unworthy of the kindness. I will recommend this movie to all my friends. I believe it transmits a superb kind of spirit.

For part 1

In Chinese culture, a man is only a barbarian without wits, and he would only be a brave, courageous barbarian no matter how strong his body is only because he lacks proportionable wits. The way ahead of Wallace was so rough that he couldn’t pace forward if he did not have excellent wits. Wallace’s father and his uncle are both wise enough to give him such advice, to support him in his great future way. Apparently Wallace has done rather well in this aspect.
But in my mind, Wallace grew up a man finally because he thought he should be one. Revenge may be not the motivation.