Sheriff of Nottingham

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search

<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>

The Sheriff of Nottingham
Sheriff of Nottingham, as depicted by Disney.

The Sheriff of Nottingham is the main villain in the legend of Robin Hood.

Character

The holder of the office of Nottingham's Sheriff, it is his task to capture outlaws such as Robin Hood, either to ensure the safety of trade routes through Sherwood Forest, or to keep them from poaching the King's deer. In some stories, the Sheriff of Nottingham is portrayed as having a lecherous desire for Robin Hood's lady, Maid Marian. He is widely considered to be the principal villain of the Robin Hood stories, appearing frequently alongside such enemies of Robin Hood as Sir Guy of Gisbourne or Prince John (though rarely both).

The legends are generally set far from Nottingham; this fits the historical position of High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and the Royal Forests (from 1068 until 1568). In the film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, the Sheriff's influence has grown so great, he attempts to take control of the throne, due to his power outside the region of Nottingham.

In some versions, the Sheriff is more a cowardly schemer while his assistant, Sir Guy of Gisbourne, is a more competent and determined physical threat to Robin. In other versions, the Sheriff answers to Prince John.

Portrayals

  • In the 1938 film The Adventures of Robin Hood, starring Errol Flynn in the title role, the Sheriff is played by Melville Cooper. He is nominally characterised as a coward and a secondary to Sir Guy of Gisbourne, but is actually quite intelligent. For instance, he is the one who prudently advises Sir Guy to increase their caravan's security to ward off a possible ambush by Robin Hood, which Sir Guy disregards to his sorrow, and he is the mastermind of the archery tournament trap that successfully captures Robin Hood.

" In the 1956 ITC series The Adventures of Robin Hood (TV) he is played by Alan Wheatley who portrays him as a competent and ruthless enemy who is not quite Robin's equal in combat.

Wheatley was replaced late in the series with John Arnett as the deputy Sheriff. A more treacherous, duplicitous villain who ws more on par with Robin's fighting skills.

  • In Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, in which he is the main antagonist (Prince John is completely omitted from this adaptation), he is played by Alan Rickman. His given name is said to be George. More ambitious than most depictions, the Sheriff's agenda is apparently to supplant Richard the Lionheart by marrying into royalty, eventually becoming king, or at least ensuring his future descendants would assume the throne.
  • He was played by Keith Allen in the BBC series Robin Hood, from 2006. Allen plays the Sheriff, named Vaisey, as a psychopath with a manipulative, sarcastic nature. In the show's third series, Vaisey is deposed by Prince John as a result of his failure to assassinate King Richard, whereupon he fakes his own death. He is temporarily replaced by his seeming killer, Guy of Gisborne, for one episode before Gisborne is outlawed; Gisborne's sister Isabella becomes Sheriff for several episodes before Vaisey returns, planning to regain Nottingham by force, in the series finale.
  • In the Disney version of Robin Hood, the Sheriff is a large anthropomorphic grey wolf with a thick Southern United States dialect, voiced by Alabama-born comedian Pat Buttram. He serves as Prince John's chief enforcer, collecting unlimited taxes from the people of Nottingham and hunting Robin Hood and Little John. This version is depicted as being far less smart than he realises, claiming he can see through Robin Hood's disguises when he fails to see through two of them. In the film's climax, he briefly battles Robin inside Prince John's burning tower and is left trapped behind some curtains, but the film's final scene makes it clear that he survived. He is last seen breaking rocks down in the Royal Rock Pile, having been sentenced to do so along with Prince John and Sir Hiss by King Richard. During story development, the animators considered experimenting with a different animal concept for the villain by making him a goat. However, they were over-ruled by the director who wanted to keep to traditional animal stereotypes and ordered the Sheriff be a wolf.[1]
  • The Richard Kluger novel The Sheriff of Nottingham gives a positive portrayal of the real-life 13th century sheriff Philip Mark as a good man doing a thankless task. (The same sheriff appeared as a ruthless despot in an episode of the Robin of Sherwood TV series.)
  • In Robin of Sherwood, the Sheriff is portrayed as a cynical opportunist given to violent outbursts, played by Nickolas Grace. His name, Robert de Rainault, comes from Evelyn Charles Vivian's retelling of the legend. He also bears the dubious honour of being the first sheriff to kill Robin. Grace's portrayal of a moody and obsessive individual, with a sardonic sense of black humour, was a notable influence on future interpretations of the role.
  • The Sheriff is more sympathetically portrayed by Robert Shaw in the 1976 film Robin and Marian. He is also shown is this film to not only equal Robin physically, but also be superior to him, as he dominates Robin in a one-on-one sword-fight towards the end of the movie, almost killing Robin.
  • In the 2001 video game Stronghold Crusader, the Sheriff of Nottingham appears in it as an AI character. He is portrayed as a cruel lord who will use every dirty trick in the book to increase his power.

References

  1. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. http://www.boldoutlaw.com/robint/reiff.html

External links