Was Oliver cromwell a hero or villain?

Answer 1

Oliver Cromwell: Hero or Villain?

Oliver Cromwell, a man one may hate or love. Cromwell, a strong leader of the civil war but a man of pure evil to some eyes. But yet to this day, we still cannot make up our minds of whether the man about three-hundred and fifty years before our time was a wondrously strong hero or a wicked villain. In this essay, I will explain why there are so many mixed opinions linked to Oliver Cromwell and my own opinion of Cromwell.

So, we have already discovered that Cromwell was loved and hated like marmite. But, does marmite spread easier than his love? Because of what he did to the Irish, Some people would call him nothing more than a murderer, well there is a point, and he did kill 40 percent of Ireland population. That was easily said if you were a royalist. A quote of one royalist is 'that idiotic 'lord protector' slaughtered our good king, only to act the role of a king, and badly!' using the word 'slaughtered' makes it sound as though he brutally murdered the innocent king, and emphasising the word act shows that he didn't actually really do the role of king properly. He took land from Catholics and made them move west of the Shannon to the less fertile land of Connaught. "To Hell or to Connaught" was his famous saying. He was often cruel and tyrannical and is now one of the most hated figures in Irish history. When he was finished Catholics owned less than ten percent of the land in Ireland where they made up over eighty percent of the population before. But for the first time since the thirteenth century, he allowed Jews to settle in Brittan, so, it wasn't all bad.

Oliver Cromwell was a true man, when he was getting portrayed, he asked the artist to paint what he saw (including his poor features), not as the artist would normally do, as royalty like to be pictured better that in reality. Cromwell was also a fair man and did his upmost for what he believed was the best thing for him to do, although at times he may have forgotten that he was not the only person in the world, as he did sometimes lose the ability to think of what harm he was doing to others. When Oliver Cromwell ruled, as lord protector, it was a very religious time, especially towards Christmas for reasons like;

He only allowed people to fast at Christmas, and, Christmas decorations were made illegal. Sunday, the day of rest was also made very serious, as they were no longer allowed to work on this special day of peace. But, if you were caught working on a Sunday you would be whipped. In the seventeenth century the average daily wage was about one shilling. Losing this seventh day decreased an average workers weekly salary to only six shillings which is about thirty pence in pounds and pennies. But the thing is, little boys who were playing football were whipped if they were caught playing football on a Sunday.

The Quote That Proved It All 'Everyone praised him so' this quote is extremely reliable, as this is said by his enemies, Samuel Pepys, a member of the government! The way that he mentions 'everyone' suggests even his enemies admire his capability and good leading skills.

Answer 2

I think he was a villain.