William Wallace is in many ways embodies the existentialist ideal

Rating: Null/10 (30 December 1998)

"Every man dies; not every man truly lives." These words could just have easily been spoken by Sartre, or Camus. Wallace is, like ChÃ© Guevara (notably praised by Sartre), a martyr. He dies so that his country can be free. Through his life his actions justify his existence. Existentialism is at heart, I think, an effective use of free will. While, according to this doctrine, we are not granted existence simply for being born, we are given free will. It is the exercise of this free will which will or will not justify our existence. Existentialism deals with your ideas, not so much what they are, but instead what you do about them. Wallace's passion and zeal cause him to sacrifice his life for his beliefs. He fought against nearly impossible odds, and, in many ways, lost (he did die painfully, he was betrayed, etc.) But it is not that he fought against impossible odds, but that he _fought_. In a world filled with complacency, Braveheart romanticizes action and thus courts the hero inside us all.