The Arrow of Pride and Guilt
The opening chapter presents the tale of how Robin became an outlaw with a story that gives insight into the past as well as the future of its hero. Robin becomes an outlaw by slaying a man with his arrow for the very first time and that killing is an act borne of excessive pride which wins Robin little but lifelong guilt. The arrow is thus invested with symbolic meaning for both of these emotions.
Robin Hood
The consequences of that arrow of pride and guilt turn out to be, however, of great benefit not just to Robin but the people of England. His path to redemption for killing a man over nothing of actual consequence is to transform himself into the book’s singular symbolic incarnation of chivalric virtue; a symbolic status all the more starkly drawn in comparison to the Sheriff, Bishop and Prior who are his exact opposite in this regard.
Sherwood Forest
In this telling of the Robin Hood legend even more than most, Sherwood Forest is portrayed as a more symbolic setting than a literal one. The symbolism is stimulated by the Shakespearean idealism of the forest as a place that is really not quite in sync with the natural passage of time beyond its borders and so becomes a place of greater freedom from the imposition of order. What goes on in Sherwood Forest is significantly less realistic than the rest of the novel which even itself strays far from the path of realism to remain within the environs of romanticism and nostalgia.
“The Wooing of Sir Keith”
That ballad which takes up several pages ends with a moral which is fairly is fairly summed up in the symbolic deconstruction afforded by Will Scarlet. The story in which a hideous woman who must be kissed turns out to be a beautiful woman is symbolic of the difficult responsibilities as well as the good fortune which befalls great leadership. Since Robin is situated as this exemplar of virtue, he is also the icon of leadership and so the story is really an allegorical description of him.
Disguises
Robin and several other of his Merry Men often take to wearing disguises in order to carry out their sneaky plans to fight the power. The disguises prove valuable in facilitating these plans as they enjoy strikingly good luck in not being seen through. Though outlandish in a book taking a realistic attitude toward events, when romanticized the luck becomes symbolic. The symbolism suggests quite strongly that those wearing disguises without drawing attention possess the sort of invisibility within the social structure that on the one hand denies them access to the better things in life, but on the other allows them to easily fool those who consider themselves superior.
