How and why have people used parts of Cromwell’s story to
create their own stories?
Over time, many people have used parts of Cromwell's complex and
sometimes confusing story to create their own stories, for different
reasons.
He is such an interesting character, he has had many stages in his
life, ranging from being a Protestant and humble farmer, to a
merciless military leader, to even leading the trial and execution of
his own countries king. As his story is so complex, selections are
made from it. It depends on who you are, where you are from and
what time you were viewing Cromwell from, to wether you have a
favourable or unfavourable opinion towards him. The audience and
purpose of an interpretation affects how he is seen.
Cromwell's story can be presented in many ways; books, poems,
songs, movies, statues and TV programmes. Some people celebrate
Cromwell as a hero of British democracy. For example, in the 19th
century, MP’s put up a statue of Cromwell outside parliament. Also
in recent times he featured on TV as one of the ‘Greatest Britons’.
They are picking his story apart and taking his time in parliament out.
Britain has pride in its democracy, built by educated British people,
they took Cromwell's story's and saw that he had been seen as a
great individual who helped create British democracy.
For Cromwell did fight for the parliamentary Army, and he was one
of the signatories of Charles 1’s death warrant. Although he rules
without Parliament, he is still held up as a parliamentary hero.
Wether this is just to give Britain a great democracy story, is a very
intriguing question. But this just goes to show that his story is so
complex that you can choose how you use and portray him.
However there is also a completely different side to Cromwell. The
people of Northern Ireland have also used Cromwell's story, using
him as an example of how nasty the English are, and why they should
not rule N. Ireland. In the 1960s and 70s Irish nationalists struggling
for rights and freedoms, turned to Cromwell's story, condemning him
as a murderer. The Pouges, a N. Irish band named him the Destroyer
of Ireland, but not without reason. In 1649, Cromwell's New Model
Army killed thousands of royal rebellions in Northern Ireland wanting
freedom from British rule, this was to be remembered for ever, and
had a devastating effect on Ireland. So the descendants of Irish
nationalist will always have a negative view on Cromwell, and
instantly connect him to England, and using his story helped support
and give evidence to their argument.
More recently he has also been seen as an abuser of Human Rights,
though others have argued that in his time there was no such thing
as Human Rights, so why are we judging him on today's standards?
Maybe one of the most often used part of his story is his rise to ‘Lord
Protector’. He became frustrated with parliaments feeble attempts
in the English Civil War, so in 1642, he helped create the New Model
Army, and became the most powerful man in Britain, fighting and
killing the King. Again this part of his story has been used by many
people in different ways. Therefore textbook and Royalists select
parts of Cromwell's story to present him as a Regicide.
You need to look at his story from multiple angles to get a clearer
understanding of why people use his story to create their own. All in
all I think that people use Cromwell's story to create their own
stories because they can select which parts of it to support their
argument, or give evidence for their ideas. They choose his story
because it is so complex, and everyone sees his story differently, and
no matter what your opinion on him is, he makes a good story.