Last of the Mohicans An Analytical Essay : Hawkeye

People who love nature, but rejects metropolis and people who understand others and comprehend the meaning of life without actually doing formal studies on them are considered Romantic Hero. There are many paradigms of Romantic Hero, whether they are from a fantasy novel, or a realistic story. The protagonist from the movie The Last of the Mohicans, Hawkeye, should be considered a Romantic Hero. In the movie, Hawkeye likes nature and resist town life. He hunts, lives, eats and sleeps in the nature as if he were intertwined within the same body as nature.

One of the most conspicuous characteristics of Hawkeye being a Romantic Hero is that he has a deep, intuitive understanding of the people around him. This is an essential part of being a Romantic Hero. In the movie, Hawkeye knows the people in his village very well especially two of the people in the tribe. He, Chingachgook and Uncas are like brothers although they are just different Mohicans from different places. However, the primary reason that Hawkeye can be so close to Chingachgook and Uncas is that he understands them from the bottom of his heart, not just from the mere memory in his mind. He lives with them; he hunts with them; he sleeps with them. All these daily events are engraved, not "printed", in Hawkeye's heart and that is why he understands them using his heart, not the mere reminiscence. Consequently, Hawkeye should definitely be considered a Romantic Hero.

Besides that Hawkeye understands people around him through insightful understandings, his strong predilection for nature has qualified him to be a Romantic Hero as well. First of all, like all Romantic Heroes, Hawkeye loves to be in the nature. He hunts animals in the forest; he lives in a cabin that is surrounded by acres of trees; he camps with Chingachgook and Uncas in the forest as well. In addition, Hawkeye refuses to move into a city and live there because he thinks living in nature allows him to do many things that he cannot in a city. All these actions are typical distinctiveness of a Romantic Hero. Furthermore, by giving us the details that Hawkeye lives in forest his whole life, the movie characterizes him as a perfect epitome of a Romantic Hero.

As we get into the more complex understanding of Hawkeye, we see more characteristics of a Romantic Hero within the spirit of Hawkeye. Hawkeye has a pure purpose during the war between France and the Great Britain and that is to live with his fiancée peacefully deep in the woods of the mountains. He shows this quality several times during the movie. He urges his fiancée, whose name is Cora, to live in peace after the war is over, yet, Hawkeye does not suggest to run away from the war. Instead, Hawkeye stays until the last minute of the war without even flinching a bit.

Here, there are two characteristics of a Romantic Hero intermingling within Hawkeye. First, it is his pure purpose of searching peace in the woods while there is a war going on. Second, he does not run away from the war to search for his goal. He faces the war with honor while he resides at the scene of the war until victory is achieved and then he starts fulfilling his purpose with Cora. These two examples highly suggest that not only is Hawkeye pure of purpose, but also is of an honorable man and that certifies him to be a Romantic Hero.

Though there are many more characteristics of a Romantic Hero that one needs to acquire in order to become a Romantic Hero, Hawkeye certainly have enough characteristics that he is one of the most eminent epitomes of Romantic Heroes, and plus his additional unique personalities such as humorous, fearsome, and dauntless, it is very obvious that Hawkeye deserves to be more than just a Romantic Hero.