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Robin des bois
Passionné par tous les grands personnages historiques, Alexandre Dumas ne pouvait ignorer la figure de Robin des Bois, très en vogue au XIXe siècle. Le Prince des voleurs et Robin Hood le proscrit racontent les aventures du célèbre héros qui s'est insurgé dans la forêt de Sherwood contre les envahisseurs normands à la fin du XIIe siècle. On retrouvera avec plaisir Petit-Jean, frère Tuck, le sheriff de Nottingham sans oublier bien sûr Christabel et Marianne.
«Nelle prime ore d’una bella mattina d’agosto, Robin Hood camminava di buon passo per uno stretto sentiero della foresta di Sherwood. Era solo, ma aveva il cuore pieno di gioia e una canzone gli era venuta alle labbra.»
«Nelle prime ore d’una bella mattina d’agosto, Robin Hood camminava di buon passo per uno stretto sentiero della foresta di Sherwood. Era solo, ma aveva il cuore pieno di gioia e una canzone gli era venuta alle labbra.»
565 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1873
About the author
Alexandre Dumas
6,892 books13.2k followersThis note regards Alexandre Dumas, père, the father of Alexandre Dumas, fils (son). For the son, see Alexandre Dumas fils.
Alexandre Dumas père, born Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, was a towering figure of 19th-century French literature whose historical novels and adventure tales earned global renown. Best known for The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo, and other swashbuckling epics, Dumas crafted stories filled with daring heroes, dramatic twists, and vivid historical backdrops. His works, often serialized and immensely popular with the public, helped shape the modern adventure genre and remain enduring staples of world literature.
Dumas was the son of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, a celebrated general in Revolutionary France and the highest-ranking man of African descent in a European army at the time. His father’s early death left the family in poverty, but Dumas’s upbringing was nonetheless marked by strong personal ambition and a deep admiration for his father’s achievements. He moved to Paris as a young man and began his literary career writing for the theatre, quickly rising to prominence in the Romantic movement with successful plays like Henri III et sa cour and Antony.
In the 1840s, Dumas turned increasingly toward prose fiction, particularly serialized novels, which reached vast audiences through French newspapers. His collaboration with Auguste Maquet, a skilled plotter and historian, proved fruitful. While Maquet drafted outlines and conducted research, Dumas infused the narratives with flair, dialogue, and color. The result was a string of literary triumphs, including The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, both published in 1844. These novels exemplified Dumas’s flair for suspenseful pacing, memorable characters, and grand themes of justice, loyalty, and revenge.
The D’Artagnan Romances—The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, and The Vicomte of Bragelonne—cemented his fame. They follow the adventures of the titular Gascon hero and his comrades Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, blending historical fact and fiction into richly imagined narratives. The Count of Monte Cristo offered a darker, more introspective tale of betrayal and retribution, with intricate plotting and a deeply philosophical core.
Dumas was also active in journalism and theater. He founded the Théâtre Historique in Paris, which staged dramatizations of his own novels. A prolific and energetic writer, he is estimated to have written or co-written over 100,000 pages of fiction, plays, memoirs, travel books, and essays. He also had a strong interest in food and published a massive culinary encyclopedia, Le Grand Dictionnaire de cuisine, filled with recipes, anecdotes, and reflections on gastronomy.
Despite his enormous success, Dumas was frequently plagued by financial troubles. He led a lavish lifestyle, building the ornate Château de Monte-Cristo near Paris, employing large staffs, and supporting many friends and relatives. His generosity and appetite for life often outpaced his income, leading to mounting debts. Still, his creative drive rarely waned.
Dumas’s mixed-race background was a source of both pride and tension in his life. He was outspoken about his heritage and used his platform to address race and injustice. In his novel Georges, he explored issues of colonialism and identity through a Creole protagonist. Though he encountered racism, he refused to be silenced, famously replying to a racial insult by pointing to his ancestry and achievements with dignity and wit.
Later in life, Dumas continued writing and traveling, spending time in Belgium, Italy, and Russia. He supported nationalist causes, particularly Italian unification, and even founded a newspaper to advocate for Giuseppe Garibaldi. Though his popularity waned somewhat in his final years, his literary legacy grew steadily. He wrote in a style that was accessible, entertaining, and emotionally reso
Alexandre Dumas père, born Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, was a towering figure of 19th-century French literature whose historical novels and adventure tales earned global renown. Best known for The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo, and other swashbuckling epics, Dumas crafted stories filled with daring heroes, dramatic twists, and vivid historical backdrops. His works, often serialized and immensely popular with the public, helped shape the modern adventure genre and remain enduring staples of world literature.
Dumas was the son of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, a celebrated general in Revolutionary France and the highest-ranking man of African descent in a European army at the time. His father’s early death left the family in poverty, but Dumas’s upbringing was nonetheless marked by strong personal ambition and a deep admiration for his father’s achievements. He moved to Paris as a young man and began his literary career writing for the theatre, quickly rising to prominence in the Romantic movement with successful plays like Henri III et sa cour and Antony.
In the 1840s, Dumas turned increasingly toward prose fiction, particularly serialized novels, which reached vast audiences through French newspapers. His collaboration with Auguste Maquet, a skilled plotter and historian, proved fruitful. While Maquet drafted outlines and conducted research, Dumas infused the narratives with flair, dialogue, and color. The result was a string of literary triumphs, including The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, both published in 1844. These novels exemplified Dumas’s flair for suspenseful pacing, memorable characters, and grand themes of justice, loyalty, and revenge.
The D’Artagnan Romances—The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, and The Vicomte of Bragelonne—cemented his fame. They follow the adventures of the titular Gascon hero and his comrades Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, blending historical fact and fiction into richly imagined narratives. The Count of Monte Cristo offered a darker, more introspective tale of betrayal and retribution, with intricate plotting and a deeply philosophical core.
Dumas was also active in journalism and theater. He founded the Théâtre Historique in Paris, which staged dramatizations of his own novels. A prolific and energetic writer, he is estimated to have written or co-written over 100,000 pages of fiction, plays, memoirs, travel books, and essays. He also had a strong interest in food and published a massive culinary encyclopedia, Le Grand Dictionnaire de cuisine, filled with recipes, anecdotes, and reflections on gastronomy.
Despite his enormous success, Dumas was frequently plagued by financial troubles. He led a lavish lifestyle, building the ornate Château de Monte-Cristo near Paris, employing large staffs, and supporting many friends and relatives. His generosity and appetite for life often outpaced his income, leading to mounting debts. Still, his creative drive rarely waned.
Dumas’s mixed-race background was a source of both pride and tension in his life. He was outspoken about his heritage and used his platform to address race and injustice. In his novel Georges, he explored issues of colonialism and identity through a Creole protagonist. Though he encountered racism, he refused to be silenced, famously replying to a racial insult by pointing to his ancestry and achievements with dignity and wit.
Later in life, Dumas continued writing and traveling, spending time in Belgium, Italy, and Russia. He supported nationalist causes, particularly Italian unification, and even founded a newspaper to advocate for Giuseppe Garibaldi. Though his popularity waned somewhat in his final years, his literary legacy grew steadily. He wrote in a style that was accessible, entertaining, and emotionally reso
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August 25, 2026
The “prince of thieves” may in fact have been a group of “princes”; there may have actually been many Robin Hoods, rather than just one. Recent scholarship suggests that, amidst the climate of social injustice and economic uncertainty that characterized life in 12th-century England, there may have been quite a few bandits who took shelter in the vast forests that then dominated the English landscape, and who curried favour with the ordinary people of their regions by sharing with the poor what had been stolen from the rich.
Whatever the truth or truths behind the Robin Hood legend may have been, Robin Hood is always with us; and as I tried to get to know Robin Hood better in preparation for a visit to the Nottingham area, I considered myself fortunate to find this two-part recounting of Robin Hood’s adventures, translated from English to French by Alexandre Dumas and published here in a single volume as The Prince of Thieves: Robin Hood the Outlaw.
Everyone who loves adventure knows the name of Alexandre Dumas. He wrote long, elaborate adventure tales with dashing heroes, beautiful heroines, dastardly villains, and enough derring-do to fill a thousand of the Sunday-afternoon movie serials of yesteryear. Books like The Three Musketeers (1844), The Count of Monte Cristo (1846), and The Man in the Iron Mask (1850) are melodramatic and emotionally manipulative in the extreme – and they are almost impossible to stop reading, once one has started.
Considering Dumas’ affinity for stories that combine adventure, drama, and romance against an historical setting, I must say that I’m not surprised that he was drawn to translating the English novel Robin Hood and Little John; or, The Merrie Men of Sherwood Forest (1838), by Pierce Egan the Younger.
Putting the two novels together, as separated by Dumas for his translation purposes, one finds that The Prince of Thieves works more like an origin story, while Robin Hood the Outlaw provides the title character at the peak of his success as a bandit who fights injustice by working outside of unjust laws.
There are two elements of historical background that always seem to underlie the Robin Hood legend. The first is the social upheaval brought about by the Norman Conquest of 1066. More than a century after William the Conqueror invaded England and won the battle of Hastings, the Saxons who had ruled England still resented being supplanted by their new, French-speaking Norman overlords. The second element is the Crusades – that set of religious wars that took many leaders of England and other countries off to “liberate” Jerusalem, while the subjects of those leaders often suffered under the rule of unjust supplanters back home.
Against that historical context, the emergence of an outlaw hero like Robin Hood in famously-law-abiding England suddenly makes sense. When those who are in power are invading foreign aristocrats who despise an indigenous people’s original culture -when one’s king goes off to fight in a faraway land rather than trying to dispense peace and justice at home – the fantasy of a bandit who imposes a rough form of justice by working outside the law suddenly takes on a decided wish-fulfillment appeal. There are many such criminal anti-heroes in U.S. culture – from Jesse James and Billy the Kid to John Dillinger and Bonnie & Clyde – and Robin Hood represents an interesting English manifestation of the same phenomenon.
The Robin Hood of Dumas’ book is a defrocked aristocrat, a rightful Earl of Huntingdon raised in secret by a humble Saxon couple – quite an Arthurian scenario, come to think. In spite of the injustice and sorrow that he has endured, this Robin Hood retains a remarkable degree of good cheer. Even near the beginning of his adventures, when he and Friar Tuck and Allan Clare (the future “Alan-a-Dale”) are alone and on the run, making their way through a moonlit Sherwood Forest, “Robin, light-hearted as ever, awoke the echoes with song and refrain” (p. 109).
Once Robin Hood has met and befriended Little John and Will Scarlett and begun assembling the Merrie Men in the safety of their Sherwood Forest retreat, situations of capture and escape abound, as when Robin Hood encounters his friend Halbert Lindsay who holds a position inside the castle of the cruel old Norman baron Fitz-Alwine – and yes, if you were wondering, this Baron Fitz-Alwine is the Sheriff of Nottingham, though that is only one of the baron’s titles.
Robin tells Hal of the problems that have resulted from an errant attack on a group of returning Crusaders whom the Merrie Men had mistaken for knights of the Sheriff of Nottingham. The Sheriff has taken some prisoners, and intends to execute them; and when Robin informs Hal that “Among the prisoners there is one that I would save at all costs – Will Scarlett” (p. 202), the reader does not doubt that Robin will find some sort of derring-do way of getting into the Sheriff of Nottingham’s castle and freeing Will Scarlett in some manner that involves extraordinary archery skills.
Another of the Robin Hood exploits that fill this book occurs when Baron Fitz-Alwine, the Sheriff of Nottingham, intends to force his beautiful young daughter Christabel to marry a lascivious old Norman aristocrat, one Sir Tristan – even though Christabel loves the handsome and brave young Saxon nobleman Allan Clare (the future “Alan-a-Dale”). On the intended wedding day, Robin Hood, carrying a small harp and disguised as a wandering minstrel, infiltrates the castle – and, at the crucial moment, interrupts the ceremony:
The minstrel loosed with one hand the girdle which confined his robe, while with the other he raised to his lips a hunting-horn.
“Robin Hood!” cried the Baron.
“Robin Hood! The friend of Allan Clare!” murmured the Lady Christabel.
“Yea, Robin Hood and his Merrie Men,” replied our hero, indicating by a glance a number of foresters, who had stolen up silently and surrounded the escort. (p. 303)
Throughout The Prince of Thieves: Robin Hood the Outlaw, Robin Hood often shows what seems like a preternatural ability to anticipate his enemies’ tactics against him. When the Sheriff of Nottingham, repeatedly thwarted and worsted by Robin, agrees to let the arrogant Norman nobleman Sir Guy Gisborne go into Sherwood Forest to try to capture or kill Robin Hood, the reader is not surprised to see the cordial manner in which Robin greets Sir Guy in Sherwood Forest, knowing all the while that Sir Guy is a dangerous enemy. Situational irony abounds throughout this passage:
“Good morrow, fair sir,” said Robin, approaching the stranger. “One might think, judging by the excellent bow you carry, that you were a fair and honest archer.”
“I have lost my way,” replied the traveller, disdaining to reply to the interrogatory supposition addressed to him, “and I fear much to stray in this labyrinth of cross-roads, glades, and paths.”
“To me, all the forest paths are well-known, master,” replied Robin, politely, “and if you will tell me to what part of the wood you wish to make your way, I will be your guide.”
“I am not making my way to any particular spot,” answered the stranger, examining his interlocutor attentively. “I wish to get near the middle of the wood, for I hope to meet there a man with whom I would fain converse.”
“This man is doubtless some friend of yours?” asked Robin, amiably.
“Nay,” returned the stranger, quickly; “he is a villain of the deepest dye – an Outlaw who doth well deserve the noose.”
“Oh! Indeed,” said Robin, still smiling. “And may one inquire, without indiscretion, the name of this scapegrace?”
“Certainly – he is called Robin Hood. And hark ye, young man, I would gladly give ten pieces of gold to have the pleasure of meeting him.”
“My good sir,” said Robin, “congratulate yourself upon the luck which hath placed you in my way, for I can conduct you into the presence of Robin Hood without putting your generosity to the proof.” (pp. 409-10)
Throughout The Prince of Thieves, Robin Hood emerges as the perfect wish-fulfillment hero. He is not only brave and resourceful but also gallant, unfailingly gallant, with the ladies, while always making clear that his heart forever belongs, truly and completely, to his beloved Maid Marian.
Indeed, Robin Hood’s heroism seems so absolute that I found it to be a surprising and even arbitrary turn, late in the book, when some errors on the Merrie Men’s side of the equation lead to the death of an important character. This plot element seemed almost to have been thrown into the book so that the death of a beautiful woman – what Edgar Allan Poe once called “unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world” – could be incorporated into the later passages of this book.
I can’t help thinking that perhaps Dumas agreed with Poe about the idea of a beautiful woman’s death being “the most poetical topic in the world”, when I think about the fate of the sweet and beautiful Constance Bonacieux in The Three Musketeers. But I found that the novel, which had glided along so smoothly up to that moment, lurched along with a forced heaviness from that point on.
At least that last of the great Robin Hood archetypes – the dying Robin Hood shooting his final arrow – is presented here.
As mentioned toward the beginning of this review, I read The Prince of Thieves: Robin Hood the Outlaw on a visit to Nottingham, England. You can enjoy a really fine plate of fish-and-chips with a New Zealand sauvignon blanc at the Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem pub; it claims to be England’s oldest pub (since 1189), and it is said to be a site from which the Crusaders of King Richard the First, “Richard the Lionhearted,” set out for the Holy Land.
Across the street from the pub is Nottingham Castle – yes, that Nottingham Castle, of Sheriff-of-Nottingham infamy. While the current castle’s architecture post-dates Robin Hood times by about 500 years, it’s still fun to imagine Robin Hood breaking into the castle and rescuing people there; and the castle grounds have statues of Robin Hood, Maid Marian, Little John, Will Scarlett, Friar Tuck, and others from among the usual suspects of Merrie Men lore, to put the visitor in just that sort of imaginative mood.
Whether your vision of Robin Hood hews closer to the portrayal of the character by Douglas Fairbanks, Errol Flynn, Sean Connery, Kevin Costner, Russell Crowe, or any of the other actors who have portrayed Robin Hood in cinema, we can all agree that Robin Hood remains a commanding presence in popular culture. Dumas’ The Prince of Thieves: Robin Hood the Outlaw provides an interesting 19th-century take on this 12th-century folkloric hero who retains every bit of his 800-year-old appeal here in the 21st century.
Whatever the truth or truths behind the Robin Hood legend may have been, Robin Hood is always with us; and as I tried to get to know Robin Hood better in preparation for a visit to the Nottingham area, I considered myself fortunate to find this two-part recounting of Robin Hood’s adventures, translated from English to French by Alexandre Dumas and published here in a single volume as The Prince of Thieves: Robin Hood the Outlaw.
Everyone who loves adventure knows the name of Alexandre Dumas. He wrote long, elaborate adventure tales with dashing heroes, beautiful heroines, dastardly villains, and enough derring-do to fill a thousand of the Sunday-afternoon movie serials of yesteryear. Books like The Three Musketeers (1844), The Count of Monte Cristo (1846), and The Man in the Iron Mask (1850) are melodramatic and emotionally manipulative in the extreme – and they are almost impossible to stop reading, once one has started.
Considering Dumas’ affinity for stories that combine adventure, drama, and romance against an historical setting, I must say that I’m not surprised that he was drawn to translating the English novel Robin Hood and Little John; or, The Merrie Men of Sherwood Forest (1838), by Pierce Egan the Younger.
Putting the two novels together, as separated by Dumas for his translation purposes, one finds that The Prince of Thieves works more like an origin story, while Robin Hood the Outlaw provides the title character at the peak of his success as a bandit who fights injustice by working outside of unjust laws.
There are two elements of historical background that always seem to underlie the Robin Hood legend. The first is the social upheaval brought about by the Norman Conquest of 1066. More than a century after William the Conqueror invaded England and won the battle of Hastings, the Saxons who had ruled England still resented being supplanted by their new, French-speaking Norman overlords. The second element is the Crusades – that set of religious wars that took many leaders of England and other countries off to “liberate” Jerusalem, while the subjects of those leaders often suffered under the rule of unjust supplanters back home.
Against that historical context, the emergence of an outlaw hero like Robin Hood in famously-law-abiding England suddenly makes sense. When those who are in power are invading foreign aristocrats who despise an indigenous people’s original culture -when one’s king goes off to fight in a faraway land rather than trying to dispense peace and justice at home – the fantasy of a bandit who imposes a rough form of justice by working outside the law suddenly takes on a decided wish-fulfillment appeal. There are many such criminal anti-heroes in U.S. culture – from Jesse James and Billy the Kid to John Dillinger and Bonnie & Clyde – and Robin Hood represents an interesting English manifestation of the same phenomenon.
The Robin Hood of Dumas’ book is a defrocked aristocrat, a rightful Earl of Huntingdon raised in secret by a humble Saxon couple – quite an Arthurian scenario, come to think. In spite of the injustice and sorrow that he has endured, this Robin Hood retains a remarkable degree of good cheer. Even near the beginning of his adventures, when he and Friar Tuck and Allan Clare (the future “Alan-a-Dale”) are alone and on the run, making their way through a moonlit Sherwood Forest, “Robin, light-hearted as ever, awoke the echoes with song and refrain” (p. 109).
Once Robin Hood has met and befriended Little John and Will Scarlett and begun assembling the Merrie Men in the safety of their Sherwood Forest retreat, situations of capture and escape abound, as when Robin Hood encounters his friend Halbert Lindsay who holds a position inside the castle of the cruel old Norman baron Fitz-Alwine – and yes, if you were wondering, this Baron Fitz-Alwine is the Sheriff of Nottingham, though that is only one of the baron’s titles.
Robin tells Hal of the problems that have resulted from an errant attack on a group of returning Crusaders whom the Merrie Men had mistaken for knights of the Sheriff of Nottingham. The Sheriff has taken some prisoners, and intends to execute them; and when Robin informs Hal that “Among the prisoners there is one that I would save at all costs – Will Scarlett” (p. 202), the reader does not doubt that Robin will find some sort of derring-do way of getting into the Sheriff of Nottingham’s castle and freeing Will Scarlett in some manner that involves extraordinary archery skills.
Another of the Robin Hood exploits that fill this book occurs when Baron Fitz-Alwine, the Sheriff of Nottingham, intends to force his beautiful young daughter Christabel to marry a lascivious old Norman aristocrat, one Sir Tristan – even though Christabel loves the handsome and brave young Saxon nobleman Allan Clare (the future “Alan-a-Dale”). On the intended wedding day, Robin Hood, carrying a small harp and disguised as a wandering minstrel, infiltrates the castle – and, at the crucial moment, interrupts the ceremony:
The minstrel loosed with one hand the girdle which confined his robe, while with the other he raised to his lips a hunting-horn.
“Robin Hood!” cried the Baron.
“Robin Hood! The friend of Allan Clare!” murmured the Lady Christabel.
“Yea, Robin Hood and his Merrie Men,” replied our hero, indicating by a glance a number of foresters, who had stolen up silently and surrounded the escort. (p. 303)
Throughout The Prince of Thieves: Robin Hood the Outlaw, Robin Hood often shows what seems like a preternatural ability to anticipate his enemies’ tactics against him. When the Sheriff of Nottingham, repeatedly thwarted and worsted by Robin, agrees to let the arrogant Norman nobleman Sir Guy Gisborne go into Sherwood Forest to try to capture or kill Robin Hood, the reader is not surprised to see the cordial manner in which Robin greets Sir Guy in Sherwood Forest, knowing all the while that Sir Guy is a dangerous enemy. Situational irony abounds throughout this passage:
“Good morrow, fair sir,” said Robin, approaching the stranger. “One might think, judging by the excellent bow you carry, that you were a fair and honest archer.”
“I have lost my way,” replied the traveller, disdaining to reply to the interrogatory supposition addressed to him, “and I fear much to stray in this labyrinth of cross-roads, glades, and paths.”
“To me, all the forest paths are well-known, master,” replied Robin, politely, “and if you will tell me to what part of the wood you wish to make your way, I will be your guide.”
“I am not making my way to any particular spot,” answered the stranger, examining his interlocutor attentively. “I wish to get near the middle of the wood, for I hope to meet there a man with whom I would fain converse.”
“This man is doubtless some friend of yours?” asked Robin, amiably.
“Nay,” returned the stranger, quickly; “he is a villain of the deepest dye – an Outlaw who doth well deserve the noose.”
“Oh! Indeed,” said Robin, still smiling. “And may one inquire, without indiscretion, the name of this scapegrace?”
“Certainly – he is called Robin Hood. And hark ye, young man, I would gladly give ten pieces of gold to have the pleasure of meeting him.”
“My good sir,” said Robin, “congratulate yourself upon the luck which hath placed you in my way, for I can conduct you into the presence of Robin Hood without putting your generosity to the proof.” (pp. 409-10)
Throughout The Prince of Thieves, Robin Hood emerges as the perfect wish-fulfillment hero. He is not only brave and resourceful but also gallant, unfailingly gallant, with the ladies, while always making clear that his heart forever belongs, truly and completely, to his beloved Maid Marian.
Indeed, Robin Hood’s heroism seems so absolute that I found it to be a surprising and even arbitrary turn, late in the book, when some errors on the Merrie Men’s side of the equation lead to the death of an important character. This plot element seemed almost to have been thrown into the book so that the death of a beautiful woman – what Edgar Allan Poe once called “unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world” – could be incorporated into the later passages of this book.
I can’t help thinking that perhaps Dumas agreed with Poe about the idea of a beautiful woman’s death being “the most poetical topic in the world”, when I think about the fate of the sweet and beautiful Constance Bonacieux in The Three Musketeers. But I found that the novel, which had glided along so smoothly up to that moment, lurched along with a forced heaviness from that point on.
At least that last of the great Robin Hood archetypes – the dying Robin Hood shooting his final arrow – is presented here.
As mentioned toward the beginning of this review, I read The Prince of Thieves: Robin Hood the Outlaw on a visit to Nottingham, England. You can enjoy a really fine plate of fish-and-chips with a New Zealand sauvignon blanc at the Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem pub; it claims to be England’s oldest pub (since 1189), and it is said to be a site from which the Crusaders of King Richard the First, “Richard the Lionhearted,” set out for the Holy Land.
Across the street from the pub is Nottingham Castle – yes, that Nottingham Castle, of Sheriff-of-Nottingham infamy. While the current castle’s architecture post-dates Robin Hood times by about 500 years, it’s still fun to imagine Robin Hood breaking into the castle and rescuing people there; and the castle grounds have statues of Robin Hood, Maid Marian, Little John, Will Scarlett, Friar Tuck, and others from among the usual suspects of Merrie Men lore, to put the visitor in just that sort of imaginative mood.
Whether your vision of Robin Hood hews closer to the portrayal of the character by Douglas Fairbanks, Errol Flynn, Sean Connery, Kevin Costner, Russell Crowe, or any of the other actors who have portrayed Robin Hood in cinema, we can all agree that Robin Hood remains a commanding presence in popular culture. Dumas’ The Prince of Thieves: Robin Hood the Outlaw provides an interesting 19th-century take on this 12th-century folkloric hero who retains every bit of his 800-year-old appeal here in the 21st century.
May 25, 2018
Que livro mais fofura ❥
Eu me apaixonei por Robin Hood e pelos seus amigos, e eu me senti fazendo parte das aventuras deles pela floresta de Sherwood. Foi bem triste terminar o livro e me despedir de personagens que me alegraram por tantos dias.
Robin Hood é mais do que a história de um homem que roubava dos ricos para dar aos pobres, é uma história sobre amizade, amor, lealdade e determinação.
A gente entende o que levou RH a viver como um outlaw e quais foram as suas motivações para se tornar o "príncipe dos ladrões".
---
Esse foi o meu primeiro contato com a escrita de Alexandre Dumas e eu acredito que comecei pelo livro certo.
Durante a história ele interage com o leitor por meio de comentários, o que eu acho um recurso sensacional em alguns livros e nesse funcionou muito bem. Sem contar que ele me fez rir em vários momentos e quase me fez chorar em outros, também. Mas mesmo em momentos mais tristes, a escrita fazia com que tudo ficasse mais leve.
Enfim, eu super recomendo a leitura pra quem curte clássicos e mitos ingleses, mesmo tendo sido escrito por um francês. :)
Eu me apaixonei por Robin Hood e pelos seus amigos, e eu me senti fazendo parte das aventuras deles pela floresta de Sherwood. Foi bem triste terminar o livro e me despedir de personagens que me alegraram por tantos dias.
Robin Hood é mais do que a história de um homem que roubava dos ricos para dar aos pobres, é uma história sobre amizade, amor, lealdade e determinação.
A gente entende o que levou RH a viver como um outlaw e quais foram as suas motivações para se tornar o "príncipe dos ladrões".
---
Esse foi o meu primeiro contato com a escrita de Alexandre Dumas e eu acredito que comecei pelo livro certo.
Durante a história ele interage com o leitor por meio de comentários, o que eu acho um recurso sensacional em alguns livros e nesse funcionou muito bem. Sem contar que ele me fez rir em vários momentos e quase me fez chorar em outros, também. Mas mesmo em momentos mais tristes, a escrita fazia com que tudo ficasse mais leve.
Enfim, eu super recomendo a leitura pra quem curte clássicos e mitos ingleses, mesmo tendo sido escrito por um francês. :)
February 20, 2016
Décidément, j’ai beaucoup de mal avec le style de Dumas et pourtant j’adore Robin des Bois. Au risque de proférer un blasphème, je ne suis pas une adepte des Mousquetaires mais avec cette duologie sur les aventures de Robin Hood, on touche le fond du fond.
Parmi les trois versions que j'ai lues, celle-ci arrive bonne dernière. Laissez-moi vous expliquer pourquoi.
Enfin entre toutes les incohérences, les aventures répétitives qui se fondent les unes dans les autres, les personnages sans profondeur, et l'absence d'une toile de fond correctement exploitée (malgré le contexte riches d'enjeux politiques, économiques et sociaux qui aurait mérité d'être approfondi), cette lecture s'est avérée (à nouveau) décevante.
Je n'y ai rien retrouvé de ce qui me plaisait dans la légende de Robin des Bois.
Parmi les trois versions que j'ai lues, celle-ci arrive bonne dernière. Laissez-moi vous expliquer pourquoi.
Enfin entre toutes les incohérences, les aventures répétitives qui se fondent les unes dans les autres, les personnages sans profondeur, et l'absence d'une toile de fond correctement exploitée (malgré le contexte riches d'enjeux politiques, économiques et sociaux qui aurait mérité d'être approfondi), cette lecture s'est avérée (à nouveau) décevante.
Je n'y ai rien retrouvé de ce qui me plaisait dans la légende de Robin des Bois.
August 27, 2021
Através desse livro, pude perceber que o que eu conheci quando criança do lendário Robin Hood era apenas uma parte de várias aventuras que aqui são narradas. Apesar de ter achado a leitura arrastada em alguns momentos, gostei desse clássico e achei muito interessante como a história vai muito além do "cara que rouba dos ricos para dar aos pobres". Robin Hood é um herói da sua comunidade, faz justiça aos injustiçados quando estes são desprezados por aqueles que deveriam protegê-los. Eu gostaria muito de ver uma minissérie ou mesmo um filme um pouco maior adaptados dessa versão, já imagino os figurinos de época e o cenário da floresta. Uma leitura que vale a pena ser passada às crianças.
September 16, 2026
I start to understand why Tyndale disliked Robin Hood tales. The first part of this book was decent enough. Dumas creates quite a sympathetic history for our "Prince of Thieves". Then the whole thing, mostly book two, fell off a cliff into a rambling collection of "adventures". If, for a good tale, all you require is action, this would be a great one. But if, for a good tale, you like some sort of coherent narrative and timeline, and some actually believable human interaction, this isn't a good one. Robin, despite the constant worship of all around him, devolves into a petty thief, covering his extortion with the ruse of taxation.
Two and a half stars for the first half, or book, rather, then one star for the rest of it. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, really. It just wasn't a good story or well written.
Two and a half stars for the first half, or book, rather, then one star for the rest of it. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, really. It just wasn't a good story or well written.
April 19, 2026
Entrei esperando uma leitura "antiga" sobre um personagem que inspirou vários dos meus personagens modernos favoritos e saí achando com uma nova admiração e favoritsmo a Robin Hood
Os temas de lealdade, amor, justiça e comunidade são emocionantes e inspiradores, e que só notei o impacto verdadeiro em mim ao chegar ao fim do livro
Tudo é contado com leveza e detalhes que facilitam a leitura e a conexão com a história, que ao chegar em seus picos, me surpreendiam sempre, pois não havia notado o quanto eu estava investido emocionalmente nos personagens e suas histórias
Os temas de lealdade, amor, justiça e comunidade são emocionantes e inspiradores, e que só notei o impacto verdadeiro em mim ao chegar ao fim do livro
Tudo é contado com leveza e detalhes que facilitam a leitura e a conexão com a história, que ao chegar em seus picos, me surpreendiam sempre, pois não havia notado o quanto eu estava investido emocionalmente nos personagens e suas histórias
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 3, 2026
Robin Hood é a personificação do cavalheirismo e do virtuosismo e a floresta de Nottingham é um mundo a parte
August 31, 2021
A história de Robin Hood. Roubar dos ricos e doar para os pobres, enganar nobres e fazer grandes feitos com o arco e flecha. Esse livro possui tudo isso, mas também tem um começo lento e arrastado. Não gostei muito da intriga entre nobres, não me interessou e demorou demais. A comédia trapalhão foi uma surpresa, e de certa maneira combina com os personagens. E por falar neles, são a melhor coisa. Desde Robin devoto a Virgem Maria até Will Escarlate apaixonado. Os únicos membros do bando que deixam a desejar são a Marian, que passou de interesse amoroso para inexistente, e Much, o filho do moleiro. Eu não entendo porque o Much existe. Além disso, é uma história que advoga bastante a favor do casamento. A primeira parte é mais rápida nos acontecimentos, mas como os acontecimentos não são muito interessantes, por se tratarem de problemas de casamento de nobres, não é divertido de ler. A segunda parte é mais uma coletânea de contos interligados do que uma história coesa entre si, e isso deixa as coisas mais divertidas, com cada capítulo tendo um início, meio e fim, mas com um ritmo horrível entre capítulos.
July 13, 2021
Livro muito bom e, como cristão, considero ser uma obra essencial para todo cristão. Ela denuncia os perigos da falsa religiosidade e do abuso de poder (opressão por falsos religiosos e por nobres oligárquicos); fala contra a injustiça social e a necessidade das obras sociais. A narrativa celebra os valores morais, a cortesia, o casamento, a família, o nascimento dos filhos, etc. Há algumas partes meio exageradas, por conta do viés romântico (palidez, excessos, etc.), além de outras partes em que a narrativa acaba sendo muito rápida para assuntos que precisariam ser mais calmamente trabalhados . Do meio para o final, senti que a leitura ficara ainda melhor.
October 13, 2025
Ler esse livro foi uma surpresa agradável. Eu comecei a ler sem muita expectativa, mas à medida em que eu adentrava mais na história eu fui me lembrando de por que eu gosto de ler, me fazendo lembrar de quando eu era mais novo e ficava horas entretido com histórias de aventura e me imaginando no lugar dos personagens.
O livro não é perfeito. Acho que ficou desnecessariamente grande e algumas partes poderiam ter sido tiradas. Também vi algumas pessoas comentando que ele se afasta do estilo do Dumas, por ter sido escrito com a “ajuda” de aprendizes que fizeram a pesquisa história e redigiram algumas partes da trama. Às vezes eu sentia também que a obra nãoIdo no todo, e era só uma sucessão de aventuras desconexas. Mas será que esse sentido é necessário? Ou nós podemos simplesmente apreciar o caráter pitoresco das empreitadas dos heróis?
Apesar dessas e outras críticas, acho que merece cinco estrelas. Não por ser uma obra perfeita, mas por ser excelente em sua simplicidade, e nos transportar de volta às fantasias nostálgicas da nossa infância.
O livro não é perfeito. Acho que ficou desnecessariamente grande e algumas partes poderiam ter sido tiradas. Também vi algumas pessoas comentando que ele se afasta do estilo do Dumas, por ter sido escrito com a “ajuda” de aprendizes que fizeram a pesquisa história e redigiram algumas partes da trama. Às vezes eu sentia também que a obra nãoIdo no todo, e era só uma sucessão de aventuras desconexas. Mas será que esse sentido é necessário? Ou nós podemos simplesmente apreciar o caráter pitoresco das empreitadas dos heróis?
Apesar dessas e outras críticas, acho que merece cinco estrelas. Não por ser uma obra perfeita, mas por ser excelente em sua simplicidade, e nos transportar de volta às fantasias nostálgicas da nossa infância.
January 22, 2023
Este volume reúne os dois livros escritos por Dumas sobre Robin Hood: "O príncipe dos ladrões" e "O proscrito". Os dois trabalhos foram publicados postumamente, incompletos, por isso a obra é cheia de erros de continuidade e finais inconclusos.
Os livros são típicas novelas de cavalaria, relatando aventuras com ação, grandes guerreiros e amores galantes; não é de surpreender, então, que contenham defeitos típicos desse gênero literário: personagens rasos, discursos artificiais, falta de uma trama continuada, entre outros.
Mesmo assim, o livro é divertido e imersivo, e as cenas de ação são bem estruturadas. Certamente não é o trabalho mais memorável e genial de Dumas, mas é um livro no qual é possível viajar.
Os livros são típicas novelas de cavalaria, relatando aventuras com ação, grandes guerreiros e amores galantes; não é de surpreender, então, que contenham defeitos típicos desse gênero literário: personagens rasos, discursos artificiais, falta de uma trama continuada, entre outros.
Mesmo assim, o livro é divertido e imersivo, e as cenas de ação são bem estruturadas. Certamente não é o trabalho mais memorável e genial de Dumas, mas é um livro no qual é possível viajar.
June 8, 2016
Remember Disney's Robin Hood? Yeah, this has nothing to do with it. I bring the animation up since it was my first source on this character when I was a child, but boy was I glad to revisit the English legend! These outlaws suffer terrible disadventures, and Robin's life is permeated with skirmishes against the Sheriff of Nottingham. Both books talk about Robin's early life that made him from proscript to hero. His fights - and epic escapes - are still a part of the collective imaginary of Britain, and the beautiful story of the merry men of Sherwood Forest enchants by its simplicity and with just the right amount of history-turned-legend.
March 18, 2019
Primeiramente, não entendo porque esse livro tem uma média de nota tão baixa, com várias 3 estrelas. Talvez eu devesse dar 4 estrelas, mas para ser sincera, esse livro é tão envolvente, fácil de ler e me fez dar várias risadas com os personagens e suas histórias que eu acho que merece 5 estrelas.
Foi muito interessante acompanhar taaantos anos da vida de Robin Hood e seus companheiros. Claro, não é uma obra genial nem tem histórias inovadoras, mas é impossível não se envolver com as peripécias dos personagens. Estou ansiosa por ler outras obras de Dumas!
Foi muito interessante acompanhar taaantos anos da vida de Robin Hood e seus companheiros. Claro, não é uma obra genial nem tem histórias inovadoras, mas é impossível não se envolver com as peripécias dos personagens. Estou ansiosa por ler outras obras de Dumas!
July 2, 2022
Het Robin Hood verhaal zoals het zelden verteld werd, van geboorte tot dood. Dit boek wordt veel te weinig gelezen, wellicht omdat het onderwerp meteen aan een 'jongesromannetje' laat denken. Dumas is echter een fantastisch auteur ('De graaf van Monte Cristo', 'De drie musketiers') die de middeleeuwse legende tot leven wekt en er een heel eigen interpretatie aan geeft.
October 8, 2022
Eu gosto muito da escrita do Dumas e ele fez um trabalho incrível criando esta versão de Robin Hood, o Robin é um personagem incrível assim como seus companheiros. O problema é que ele prolonga muito os seus livros (sim, ele tem seus motivos), mas do meio para o final as brigas de cão e gato entre Robin e seu arqui inimigo acabam ficando um pouco repetitivas.
February 5, 2019
Que leitura gostosa! Envolvente do inicio ao fim.
May 22, 2020
Sad Robin Hood and Lady Marian dies.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 3, 2020
It was a great homage to the myth of Robin Hood. It is surprisingly not just an adventure, but mostly a love story. The upside is the repetitive stories on the second book.
December 15, 2020
Apaixonante! Simplesmente apaixonante ! Li em menos de um dia kkkk não conseguia nem desgrudar os olhos do livro, recomendo muito
January 28, 2023
leitura descontraida e envolvente bem estilo Alexandre Dumas de qualidade
November 18, 2023
acho que a história é gostosinha e leve de se ler. dumas tem uma escrita boa e fluída. acho que a trama é um pouco repetitiva, mas dá pra terminar de boa.
October 5, 2025
só a morte dele q foi ruim
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