Romantic Hero Body Biography
Now that the film has ended, you will continue your analysis of the major characters by creating a body biography of one of the Romantic heroes from Last of the Mohicans: Hawkeye or Cora. Use the outline of the body provided to you to complete your analysis.
- The Heart: Where should it be placed to best represent what this character loves most? Inside of the heart, place at least three pictures or symbols that reflect the priorities and values of the character.
- The Backbone: This should be represented in a way that visually conveys what motivates the character most. For example, you could represent the backbone as a chain connecting the two things that motivate the character. Be creative!
- The Hands: What does the character hold in her or his hands? Place items that are associated with the character either literally or figuratively in each hand. The character could be holding a literal object or something abstract.
- The Feet: On what is the character standing? This should a symbolic representation of the character's most fundamental beliefs about life.
- The Background: Draw some elements that suggest the character's physical environment, cultural background, and the predicament that he or she faced throughout the film.
- Quotations: Near the character's head, write two or three direct quotations from the story that sum up the character and add to an understanding of the character. There are some quotes on the back of this assignment to help you, since this is a film. Explain in complete sentences why you chose each quote as a characterization of your Romantic hero.
Other Expectations:
- Make sure you label and explain EACH of your choices on the back of your body. Everyone is not blessed with artistic ability, so you are responsible for making sure Ms. Wilson knows what you drew. Also, explaining things helps your teacher understand your thought process for why you chose what you chose. Failure to explain your choices thoroughly will result in little extra credit.
- This is very much an individual assignment. Your completed body biography should NOT be identical to any other student’s in the room. That means that if yours is the same as another student’s, you will not be given any credit. I also expect that it will be neat and attractive.
Quotes from Film:
British Soldier: You call yourself a patriot, and loyal subject to the Crown?
Hawkeye: I do not call myself subject to much at all.
Maj. Heyward: There is a war on. How is it you are heading west?
Hawkeye: Well, we face to the north and, real sudden-like, turn left.
Colonel Munro: Montcalm is a soldier and a gentleman, not a butcher.
Hawkeye: Easy for you to suppose, it's their women and children on the farms, not yours!
Colonel Munro: You forget yourself, sir.
Jack Winthrop: We're not forgetting Webb's promise.
Colonel Munro: British promises are honored. And the militia will not be released, because I need more definite proof than this man's word.
Jack Winthrop: Nathaniel's word's been good on the frontier a long time before you got here.
Colonel Munro: This meeting is over, the militia stays.
Jack Winthrop: Does the rule of English law no longer govern? Has it been replaced by absolutism?
Hawkeye: If English law cannot be trusted maybe these people would do better making their own peace with the French.
Maj. Heyward: That is sedition!
Hawkeye: That is the truth.
Maj. Heyward: I'll have you beaten from this fort!
Hawkeye: Someday, I think you and I are going to have a serious disagreement.
Cora Munro: [about Hawkeye] He saved us. We're alive only because of him.
Colonel Munro: The man encouraged the colonials to desert in this very room and in my presence! Sir! He is guilty of sedition. He must be tried and hanged like any other criminal, regardless of what he did for my children.
Cora Munro: But he knew the consequences, and he stayed. Are those the actions of a criminal?
Maj. Heyward: And who empowered these colonials to pass judgment on England's policies, and to come and go without so much as a "by your leave"?
Cora Munro: They do not live their lives "by your leave"! They hack it out of the wilderness with their own two hands, burying their children along the way!
Maj. Heyward: You are defending him because you've become infatuated with him!
Cora Munro: Duncan, you are a man with a few admirable qualities, but taken as a whole, I was wrong to have thought so highly of you.
Cora Munro: Justice? If that's justice than the sooner French guns blow the English out of America the better it will be for the people here!
Colonel Munro: You do not know what you're saying, girl!
Cora Munro: Yes I do, I know exactly what what I'm saying, and if it is sedition, than I am guilty of sedition too!
Cora Munro: They're going to hang you. Why didn't you leave when you had the chance?
Hawkeye: Because what I'm interested in is right here.
Cora Munro: Why didn’t you bury those people?
Hawkeye: Anyone lookin’ to pick up our trial would see it as a sign of our passing.
Cora: You knew them?
Hawkeye: Aye. They were friends.
Cora Munro: You were acting for our benefit. I apologize. I misunderstood you.
Hawkeye: Well, that is to be expected…. My father..
Cora Munro: Your “father?”
Hawkeye: Yes, Chingachgook. He warned me about you.
Cora Munro: He did?
Hawkeye: Yes, he said “Do not make them understand you.”
Hawkeye: My family and I must go.
Maj. Heyward: What kind of bloody hell plan is this?!?
Cora: Yes. Go ahead.
Hawkeye: (speaking to Cora) In this, there is a chance. If I live, I can try to free you. If we don’t go, there’s too many of them and there’s no powder. Though my heart would keep me here, there is no chance in that. None. I can do nothing. Do you understand that?
Cora: Yes. I want you to go.
Maj. Heyward: Coward! Coward here! Coward back at the fort!
Cora: You try. You try with all you have. To save yourself. If the worst happens, and only one of us survives, something of the other does too…