Highwayman: Have Your Say

1. Do you think the choice Bess makes (to warn the Highwayman by taking her own life) is stupid or inspiring?

I think that it’s a bit of both, to be honest. I think that her choice was stupid because, in the end, the Highwayman died anyway, but also, it was inspiring because it showed how courageous she was, and it also showed what she was willing to do for the Highwayman. Another reason that it was stupid is because if the Highwayman hadn’t also died at the end, they wouldn’t have been together, and isn’t that what it was all about? Perhaps though, Bess knew that the Highwayman would go back to where the King George’s men were, so she knew they would be together at the end. Personally, I think that it was quite a risky decision because Bess could have died for nothing.

2. If you made a movie of this, who would you cast as the highwayman? How about Bess?  

I think that as the Highwayman I would cast Johnny Depp because he’s good at acting as that kind of creepy, sort of mysterious, criminal kind of acting. As Bess, I think I would cast Lilly Singh, because she matches the description of Bess: She has long black hair and near-black eyes.

3. Have you ever admired a criminal? Do you think it's OK to make robbers into heroes?

I don’t think I have ever admired a criminal because criminals are generally bad people. Although, they still do have hearts, and if they believe something is right, they will act upon it, like most humans would. Personally, I do not admire the Highwayman, as he stole from seemingly innocent people, although he did do something very courageous at the end when he went back to the inn. I think when you are making a character the “hero”, it’s important to think about the characters past/backstory, and whether or not they prove themselves.

4. Why do you think people tell ghost stories? Is the ghost story in this poem meant to make us scared? Happy? Sad?

I think people tell ghost stories generally for entertainment. Some people find scary/ghost stories entertaining, and some don’t. I don’t really think that this is a very scary story personally, it’s more of a tragedy.

5. How do you feel about tragic stories? Would you switch this ending for a happy one if you could?

Personally, I think tragic stories are never really aimed at children, so I don’t read many. Tragic stories usually have a moral to them, it’s just told in a different way to happy-ended stories. Personally, I don’t mind tragic stories, because not everything is happy, and that is a lesson that everyone needs to learn. Just as long as you can still see the bright side of things! I don’t really think that the end of the Highwayman was tragic because, in the end, Bess and the Highwayman got to be together. The story could have had a happier ending where they both lived, but I think that would have taken away the moral, and it wouldn’t have shown how much Bess loved the Highwayman, and what she was willing to do for him.