So I finally watched this film with my buddy and we had a discussion/debate about whether or not Hopkins was supposed to be a good guy or bad guy. On the one hand, tracking down and punishing witches is an honorable endeavor, on the other, Hopkins seems to have been motivated primarily by money.
shareI think people like him are the reason most people hate religion (in particular Christianity). Christianity as a whole is a very peaceful religion with commandments such as "love thy neighbor," "thou shalt not kill," etc., but people such as Matthew Hopkins twist it into something evil to justify his own selfish desires. In my opinion, people blame the religion as a whole when they should be blaming the individual because I don't think he followed the commandments of the Bible very well at all. He was able to get into a position of power and used this position to blackmail people to have sex with him, torture and murder just for amusement, and many other things. I do believe there are witches in the world, but I don't think killing them is a good solution because as long as they're alive they still have a chance to repent and turn to God. Killing them takes away that chance and sends them straight to Hell.
Burn, witch! Burn, witch! Burn! Burn! Burn!
You really think a man can kill hundreds of "witches" without knowing it's a load of crap? Hopkins murdered innocent people for financial gain, I'd go with villain.
shareGillian, as you state he used fear to get what he wanted. He had no proof of witch craft.
Your second life is never like your first. Sometimes it's even better
On the one hand, tracking down and punishing witches is an honorable endeavorI've read some things on IMDb that have been outrageous and shocking but this is just chilling.
In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summershare
In many ways, this remains my favourite ever imdb post. 7 years down the line, and it still never fails to raise a smile.
Thank you conradthibault, wherever you may be.
I think I could eat one of Bellamy's meat pies
There is no doubt he was a villain.
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