How far do you agree that the Patriot and the Pied Piper are heroes?

Both the Pied Piper and Patriot could be considered heroes because of the acts they have performed for others, such as ridding a town of rats or going to war for a country, however their behaviour suggests that neither are heroes. They both appear to be amoral in their attitudes and are not selfless in their acts and could not be considered heroes.

They could be interpreted as heroes due to the acts they perform for others. The Piper introduces himself as someone who had saved many people over the world including ‘the Cham’ and the ‘Nizam’. Browning has included these to also add to the mystery surrounding the Piper as it shows that he travels a lot and makes his background even more untraceable. The Piper then goes on from saving the town from the ‘Rats!’ Also in the Patriot, the character goes to war for the people of the town who cheer him out and call him a hero and the things his does there, ‘it was I who leapt for the sun’ appear to be selfless because he suggests giving it to ‘loving friends to keep’ when he asked for it from the crowd.

However they may not be considered heroes because they don’t do anything heroic. The Patriot is being sent to death for having nothing ‘left undone’ suggesting that he has committed many crimes during the war and none of them for a heroic cause. He also appears only be interested in himself as when the crowd cheer him on he asks them to ‘give me your sun from yonder skies!” Browning also references Icarus as he ‘leaped at the sun’ this suggests his flaw is in his hubris. The Piper also has a self interest in his job, he asks for a ‘thousand guilders’ to do the job instead of being selfless. It is only when he is not given the money that he turns against the town that he had saved and take the children.

The amoral attitudes of the character show that they aren’t heroes. The Piper is amoral as he takes the children in revenge when he isn’t paid and while he doesn’t drown them he leads them far away with no concern seeing as he warning them that there would be consequences if he wasn’t paid. Alternatively the Patriot says that he will ‘harvest, what I reap’ suggesting that he knows what he has done but doesn’t care as he believes that ‘God shall repay’ him for what he has done.

Overall the characters do not appear heroic because of their intentions being self-centred and immoral.