The Realization of a Dream: A Moral Metamorphosis
In Gladiator (Ridley Scott, 2000), Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe), a decorated
general in the Roman army named as heir apparent by Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius (Richard
Harris), faces execution for refusing to assist the latter’s son Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), who has
killed his father in order to usurp the imperial throne. Escaping the execution through a series of expert
combative moves, Maximus returns home only to find his wife and son burned to death and his farm
and house burned to the ground as a result of Commodus’ orders. Subsequently enslaved as a gladiator,
Maximus embarks on a journey—initially for revenge and ultimately for the Roman Republic—and in the
process proves himself to be a greater leader than Emperor Marcus Aurelius.
During his reign, Marcus Aurelius, realizing the barbaric and evil nature of the gladiatorial
games, banned them from his empire. Yet in Zucchabar, a Roman territory in northern Africa too distant
to warrant the legionnaires required for proper law enforcement, the games continue. Captured and
sold into slavery as a gladiator owned by Proximo, a former gladiator freed by Marcus Aurelius, Maximus
is forced to participate in two gladiatorial games in Zucchabar. Before his first battle and throughout the
training that precedes it, Maximus refuses to fight because he believes he has lost everything worth
living for and essentially wants to die. However, minutes before the first game, Proximo tells his
gladiator-slaves that although they will certainly die in the upcoming battle, they nevertheless have in
their power to determine how they meet death and how they will be remembered: as either a coward
or a hero. Proximo’s courage-summoning lecture persuades Maximus to fight in order to preserve his
self-image. As an additional motive to fight, Maximus finds himself chained to a fellow slave, Juba
(Djimon Hounsou), whose own life relies on Maximus’ willingness to compete. Relying on each other,
Maximus and Juba win by killing all opposing gladiators. As a result of the crowd’s amazement with
Maximus’ impressive performance, the crowd views him as a hero, and thus he has formed of beginning
of his influential relationship with the diegetic audience.
After surviving the second gladiatorial contest in Zucchabar by single-handedly and swiftly
slaying multiple gladiators, Maximus angrily throws his sword into the crowd and contemptuously cries
“Are you not entertained? Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here?” In response,
despite his chastising remarks directed at them, the crowd responds by rising to its feet and chanting
“Spaniard, Spaniard, Spaniard…,” the designation they have assigned him. Following the second game in
Zucchabar, Proximo tells Maximus to woo the crowd instead of denigrating it. He additionally tells
Maximus that they will travel to Rome to fight before the emperor in the Coliseum because Commodus
has reinstated the gladiatorial games in order to commemorate his father, Marcus Aurelius. Maximus’
motivation now revolves around personal vengeance, as he recognizes the opportunity to fight before
Commodus, win the crowd, and ultimately kill Commodus.
Commodus’ support of the gladiatorial games allows Proximo to take his gladiators and his
business from the outskirts of the Roman Empire to the very heart of Rome, the Coliseum. The first
gladiatorial game in Rome reenacts the Second Battle of Carthage, in which Maximus and his fellow
gladiators represent Hannibal’s Barbarian horde, Rome’s archenemy destined for slaughter. Through a
cunning display of leadership, Maximus transforms the hodgepodge of under-matched gladiators into a
single unit of men fighting together and thus allowing the Barbarian horde to defeat the far superior
Roman army contradicting the historic outcome. Despite the fact that Maximus represents a hated
enemy, the crowd cheers for Maximus’ victory, proving that Maximus has through leading by example
successfully challenged the Romans’ self-image as an enslaving and indomitable empire. Thus, Maximus
has begun to make the Roman people realize Marcus Aurelius’ dream of a new Rome in which their
long-held belief in Rome’s superiority undergoes a transformation; that is, they begin to see the
defeated enemies of Rome not as lowly captives warranting enslavement but rather as individuals with
potential human worth. Maximus control of and relationship with the members of the diegetic
audience has been fortified to the point that they are incipiently willing to root against their heritage as
merciless dominators and to believe in this humble and merciful vision of Rome in order to support the
underdog and their new hero Maximus. Commodus, impressed with Maximus’ performance, demands
to meet the masked gladiator. Entering the arena accompanied by his posse of heavily armed soldiers
as protection, Commodus confronts Maximus, demanding his name. Maximus responds by unmasking
himself and promising to avenge the deaths of his wife and son. As Commodus motions for his troops to
close in and kill Maximus, the crowd chants “Live, Live, Live…” and thereby forces Commodus to spare
Maximus in order to satisfy public opinion and maintain his fragile power. As Lucilla (Connie Nielsen)
lat4er says when she meets with Maximus in order to scheme for the assassination of Commodus and
transfer of power from the emperor to the senate, “Today I saw a slave become more powerful the
Emperor of Rome.”
Because she thus recognizes the power Maximus holds over the Roman public, Lucilla meets
with Maximus in an attempt to convince him to aid in killing Commodus and returning the power to the
Senate. The jaded and disillusioned Maximus initially refuses Lucilla’s plea, but prior to his battle with
Tigris of Gaul he tells Proximo, “Marcus Aurelius had a dream that was Rome, Proximo. This is not it!
This is not it!” As he enters the arena, then, Maxiums’ motivation for fighting has transformed from
selfish reasons—survival in order to enact revenge—to a selfless purpose—fulfilling a dead man ‘s last
request to restore Rome to its envisioned status in which the power belongs to an enlightened people
rather than a corrupt emperor. Relying on his new found selfless motivation, Maximus enters the arena
to confront the undefeated gladiator, Tigris of Gaul, who is assisted by animal handlers directing chained
tigers to attack Maximus as he engages with his foe. After disarming and disabling Tigris, Maximus holds
his battle axe inches from Tigris’ exposed neck, waiting for Commodus to decide whether he should live
or die. The crowd makes this determination when it erupts in a deafening chant of “Kill! Kill! Kill!” In
agreement with the crowd, Commodus gives Maximus the thumbs-down signal to kill. Maximus raises
his weapon to execute the command of the crowd and the Emperor, but then he dramatically drops his
weapon and walks away from his enemy. These actions prompt one man in the crowd to loudly
proclaim “Maximus, Maximus the merciful!” and the rest of the crowd takes up the chant as well. In the
first battle in Rome, Maximus wins the crowd; now, in the second battle in Rome, he bravely instructs
them by his moral example, even though he risks their displeasure and the Emperor’s by defying both.
Lastly, in the third and final gladiatorial game in Rome, Maximus must fight against Commodus
himself in a battle-to-the-death duel in the coliseum in front of over 50,000 Roman spectators. Prior to
the match, Commodus, knowing he cannot defeat Maximus in a fair fight, maintains his cowardly ways
by stabbing Maximus in the chest. After ordering Quintus (Tomas Arana) to conceal Maximus’
debilitating wound, Commodus and Maximus enter the arena to a crescendo cheering and chanting of
Maximus’ name. With the fight moments away, the noise dies down as the crowd anticipates the epic
duel. At the sight of the first stabs and parries, the crowd with the “oohs” and “ahs” that customarily
greet an exciting sporting event; however, as the battle ensues these sounds of amazement and wonder
vanish and are replaced with dreadful silence, interrupted only by murmurs of regret and disapproval
characteristic of a horrific tragedy. This condemning silence represents the Roman people’s moral
metamorphosis from blood-thirsty thrill-seekers to an enlightened people with a newfound
understanding of right and wrong. Furthermore, their silence signifies that the people are ready to
assume the responsibility of self-government as a result of this newly developed moral enlightenment.
The crowd’s disapproval of the duel between Maximus and Commodus, and thus gladiatorial games in
general, exemplifies the reason that Maximus is a better leader than Marcus Aurelius. While the
murdered Emperor possessed a seemingly infinite amount of Wisdom, knowledge, and enlightenment,
he lacked the charisma, demeanor, and popular following necessary to change the people’s morality;
therefore, he could only enact laws against what he saw as wrong, such as the gladiator games.
Conversely, Maximus’ charisma, demeanor, and respect he has earns as a famed gladiator enables him
to transforms the hearts of the people and thus create a self-regulating population who do not need
prohibitive laws to guide their behavior. Essentially, Maximus’ ability to transfer humane and moral
enlightenment to the people makes Maximus a superior leader to Marcus Aurelius.