In the classic movie Ben-hur, Judah Ben-hur and his childhood friend Messala come to face to face in a battle about good/evil, right/wrong, judiasm/christianity. This essay details these themes.

"Ben-Hur" is the story of Judah Ben-Hur and his boyhood friend Messala, who betrayed Judah's trust and loyalty, and their dramatic battle to see who is the better man.

The story begins with Messala and Judah reuniting after a long time. After talking, Messala asked Judah to help him obtain power, but since this involved killing his own people Judah declined the offer. This was the turning point that transformed them from childhood friends into enemies. The rest of the story revolves around this single transformation. If Judah had agreed to his request, Messala never would have sentenced his family because Judah and Messala would have been set on the same goal. But since this was not the case, Judah would have set out to seek revenge on Messala for what he had done to his family.

While the Romans held Judah captive, he along with other prisoners were forced to cross the desert. When the caravan stopped at a village for water one of the Roman soldiers prohibited Judah from having any. Then a man went ahead and provided Judah with water and unexpectedly the Roman soldier did not protest. The man that presented Judah with water was Jesus Christ, who would, again, come into Judah's life later on. At the end of the story, while Jesus was being crucified, Judah brought Jesus water just like he had done for him in the desert. This moment was an epiphany to Judah Ben-Hur because his heart was filled with love, hope, and faith and cleared of hatred.

During the three years Judah was a prisoner of the Romans, he rowed in the galley's of Roman ships. Quintas Arias, who was aboard the ship, noticed Ben because of the hatred he had in his eyes and ordered that is chain be removed. During their time at sea, Judah's ship attacked another Roman ship and caught on fire. While Quintas Arias was fighting he fell overboard, however, Judah jumped in and saved him. They were later rescued and realized they had won their battle. Quintas Arias granted Ben his freedom and adopted him as his son. Now being superior, Judah was able to leave and search for his sister and mother and seek revenge upon Messala. If Judah had not saved Quintas Arias's life, he may never have gotten his freedom and probably would have died a slave.

"Row well and live, we keep you alive to row this ship!" -Quintas Arias.

During the chariot races, Judah finally had his chance to face Messala and gain revenge on him for what he had done to his mother and sister. Even though the two were excellent racers, Messala cheated by putting sharp spikes at the hubs of his wheels to destroy other competitor's chariots. During the race, Messala was destroying other's chariots and slowly the competition dwindled to himself and Judah. When Messala tried to do the same to Judah's wheels, Judah was able to avoid the spikes and Messala's chariot was the one to plummet. Messala wanted to win so badly that his own hatred was the fixation that killed him. All he craved was victory, no matter what; in Messala's dying breath he said to Judah "the race goes on."