Maximus: The Tragic Hero In The Film Gladiator

In the 2000 film Gladiator, Maximus, a Roman general, is betrayed and forced to live as a slave in the arenas as a gladiator, where his strength and courage alone can free him from his imprisonment. With the ultimate goal of enacting revenge on Commodus, the emperor who put his family to death, Maximus proves himself on the battlefield by defeating numerous opponents, many very gruesomely, in the name of vengeance attempting to earn a rudiarius (a sword granted as a sign of freedom to gladiators). What must be noted is that there are many other gladiators, larger and more powerful than Maximus that were unable to attain the stardom and glory tied with the name Maximus. Although he too was built strong and a splendid fighter, Maximus also had more courage, standing up to the Romans, lacking fear, and fighting for what he believed Rome should be, avenging his family in the process. The word courage is used very loosely in films of the 21st century, as close to all leading characters are scripted to show ‘courage.’ Michelle Brady, defines a courageous person in her work, The Fearlessness of Courage, as one who “faces and who fears the …show more content…
Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.
In this moment Maximus stands up in front of all of Rome and declares his intentions of revenge without any care towards the repercussions that may follow. Maximus epitomizes courage by handling his fear, especially of bodily harm, putting it behind him, and continuing to fight to reach his ultimate objective of killing the man responsible for the death of his family. All of these events portray a Roman or early-age definition of courage, but what about what we consider courage to be in the 21st