Throughout history Napoleon was portrayed in many different ways, to some people he was a hero, and to others he was a political tyrant.

        During Napoleon’s rule he gave the people of France many new rights that they had not experienced before, and introduced them to a different type of lifestyle.  Some of the new rights were the right to religious freedom, guaranteed right of equality under the law, the right to own property and the freedom to pursue the work of ones choice. He even abolished serfdom.   Overtime the people of France began to idolize Napoleon and he became known as a clever and benevolent ruler.  Napoleon could easily relate to the people of France.  Even after he was replaced by Louis the 18th the people welcomed him back with open arms.  He continued to give the French victory after victory and became very popular.  

         Although Napoleon was sometimes portrayed as a god, in time his actions were starting to become currupt.  Throughout the years Napoleon was always able to change the rules and bend the truth, to favour himself.   In that way he was very selfish.   He always had a hunger for power which led him to crown himself emperor in 1804.  Instead of letting the pope put the crown on his head, he took it from the pope and crowned himself.   He was very egotistical.  He censored the newspaper to make sure that they only wrote good things about him and made sure that the children were taught about his greatness in school.  Napoleon was not perfect on any account.   When he found that the city of Moscow in Russia was abandoned he returned, and in doing so he deserted many of his troops, most of whom froze to death on the way home.  Before this event Russia the same thing also happened in Spain. When he was faced with difficulty he left and when he returned to France he lied about it.  He told the French people that he had been victorious.  In one of his most famous quotes he showed off a major component of his personality.   “If you wish to be successful in the world, promise everything, deliver nothing.”  

One of the thinks Napoleon cared most about in the world was his son.  In the movie Napoleon said that he would give his heart, his life, anything to see his son.   He also made it clear that he wanted his son to have a good quality of life.  In the movie he said “I would rather have my son dead than have him raised as a captive Austrian Prince.”  Throughout the movie they were able to reveal his caring side when he talked about his son.  It showed that,         although Napoleon was a clever strategist he was also a caring parent, who worried about the welfare of his son.

Overall I have come to the conclusion that Napoleon was very similar to us.  We’re not perfect all the time.   Even though his intentions weren’t always of the purest, he did a lot of good for France and he influenced the whole world in general.   To this day places like Quebec still have laws that were in the Napoleonic code.  There are many qualities that made up Napoleon; he was smart, kind, caring, benevolent, egotistical, compassionate, forgiving, selfish, but most of all he was a real person.