Easter Work (Question 1 - 21marker)

How far do you agree that the Patriot and the Pied Piper are heroes? (21 Marks)

The Patriot can be viewed as a hero firstly by the way the crowd respond to him in the beginning of the dramatic monologue, "roses, roses all the way". He is being treated like a hero, like a celebrity, as people are cheering for him and waving flags "such flags they had". 
However as the reader progresses through the poem it becomes unclear as to whether the Patriot is a hero or not. In stanza III (3), the Patriot talks about how "it was I who leaped at the sun", which could be a reference to a greek myth about a man called Icarus. Icarus tried to make wings to help him and his father escape from being captured, and made these wings out of feathers and wax. Icarus was warned not to fly too close to the sun for the sun would melt his wings, but he wanted to fly as high as he could and consequentially the wings melted and he fell. The reference is significant as it shows how the Patriot could perceive himself as a hero, trying to go further than anyone before, possibly to protect his country as readers get a sense that this poem is about war, but has consequentially gone too far, and become an evil man, "Nought man could do, have I left undone". 
"There's nobody on the house tops now", reinforces the idea that the Patriot went beyond the boundaries of acceptable behaviour in the war situation, as no one now is here to greet him home, a contrast to the beginning when people were waving flags and paving the streets with roses for him. The contrast could show how much he has changed, and how he is no longer a hero, or it could be to portray how fickle society can be.
In the final stanza, ending the monologue, the Patriot says "In triumphs, people have dropped down dead", highlighting how he thinks what he has done is right, even though society may disagree. The last line is "Tis God shall repay: I am safer so", again showing how the Patriot believes he has done right, but his country believe he has done wrong, and the reference to Icarus causes readers to also share that view that whatever the Patriot did at war was too much and wrong, leaving the conclusion for most people that the Patriot is not a hero. 

The Pied Piper is a very different story, clearly shown by the subtitle, "a child's story", which already is different to the Patriot which is "an old story", however in both you would expect to have a hero by the end, to have learned a moral. The opening of the Pied Piper highlights the problem that the town of Hamlin was struggling with - a rat problem. It describes the Mayor of Hamlin and the council panicking and trying to find some way of dealing with the rat problem when the Pied Piper appears. His entrance highlights aspects of his character, for he is described as a very unique looking character, "the strangest figure... his queer long coat". His strangeness causes him to not be obviously pinned as the hero of the story, especially when described as "tall and thin...sharp blue eyes each like a pin", for he isn't portrayed as a heroic like character, but rather a sharp, thin creature, almost snake like. 
The Pied Piper tell the council how he can "draw all creatures living beneath the sun, the creep or swim or fly or run", which is the beginning of a warning. He continues "I chiefly use my charm of creatures that do people harm" meaning normally he uses this "secret charm" for good, although he has the ability to do otherwise with it, so far not portraying his as the hero, but more of a possible 'bad guy'. 
However, the Piper does free the town of rats, bringing happiness to the people of Hamlin, "the Hamlin people, ringing the bells till they rocked the steeple". The Piper has fixed the problem, which actually causes his to technically, in fairy tale terms, be the hero of the story, but the story continues, "the Piper perked in the market-place with a 'first, if you please, my thousand guilders'" as earlier in the story, the mayor had cried out "one? fifty thousand!" as he became so joyous that their problem could be solved, however once the problem was solved and the Piper asked for his money the Mayor began to think about what other things he could spend the money on, "council dinners made rare havoc, with Claret, Moselle, Vin-de-Grave, Hock". The Mayor wishes to spend the money he promised the Piper selfishly, and so offers him less. The Piper however does not see this as fair, and so says "folks who put me in a passion, may find me pipe after another fashion". 
The Piper begins to play his magic tune, and steals all the children of Hamlin, into  "a wondrous portal, open wide" and all except one boy who could not keep up enter into the portal, and disappear forever. The boy who was left behind, and all the stain glass windows and the story on a column are left to remind the people of Hamlin what happened when they were not honest and broke their promise. 
The ending of the Pied Piper has mixed conclusions when asking whether the Piper is a hero or not, as many would say that he isn't, as he kidnapped all the children, causing heartbreak in the town of Hamlin when it wasn't his place to do so, while others may conclude that he can be seen as a hero, for reinforcing justice, and teaching the people a lesson.

In conclusion, the Patriot is most often not seen as a hero, for he 'flew too high' and did wrong, but the Piper I think is a hero, for he reinforced justice, and taught the moral of the story - "if we've promised them aught, let us keep our promise!".