True Manhood In The Black Arrow

Can a true man be self-centered, without compassion or mercy for any, no matter who he or she might be? Throughout literature, authors attempt to portray their ideas of true manhood through their characters. In the book, The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson, Richard Shelton seeks revenge on Sir Daniel, but in the end chooses mercy, realizing that true manhood involves mercy and humility, rather than the title of a knight.
Richard Shelton begins to desire manhood rather than knighthood soon after Richard of Gloucester knights him. After knighting Dick, the Duke of Gloucester stares deeply into his eyes, causing him to quail before his gaze. “The insane excitement, the courage, and the cruelty that he read therein filled him with dismay
On Dick and Joanna’s wedding morn, Dick saunters through the woods to wash away his anxiety and impatience, and encounters Sir Daniel in the woods. “But I myself have done amiss; I have brought about men’s deaths; and upon this glad day I will be neither judge nor hangman” (248). When confronted with Sir Daniel, Dick’s enemy, Dick extends mercy to him and acknowledged that he wronged many people as well. In doing so, he discovers that manhood, unlike knighthood, requires mercy and humility. Dick realizes knighthood is simply a title given to a man and taking revenge cannot not form him into the man he desires to be. Rather, true manhood requires mercy and humility. Though he desires vengeance because of the evil Sir Daniel wrought, Dick chooses to have mercy on the knight instead because he desires true manhood, which Dick learns requires forgiveness and humility. Robert Louis Stevenson uses Richard Shelton to represent his idea of true manhood. From various books, such as The Black Arrow, readers develop their own definitions of true manhood, and how to live it out. Presented in this way, literature becomes a tool for teaching young and old about manhood and what it means for someone to truly encompass the entirety of