Hazel: An Unassuming Leader

Often, people come to power through selfish actions such as Claudius from the play Hamlet (Shakespeare). However, this was not the case with Hazel the rabbit. He lived in an environment that probably was intended to be a portrayal of human society. In the novel Watership Down, the peaceful life of a rabbit warren was suddenly disturbed by the horrifying dream that a lowly rabbit Fiver had. Hazel was worried by it and took action by contacting the warren’s chief rabbit, Threarah. He went to the authorities first to solve the problem. That was not the attitude one would expect of an independent thinker such as Hazel. He was not greedy of the leadership position as humans such as Claudius who killed to become a king. Only when he realized Threarah would not help him, did Hazel initiate the mass exodus of rabbits.

There were various reasons for Hazel to take leadership of rabbits. Some of those motives could lead the reader to doubt the rabbit’s actual intention was to save the warren instead of his own life when he led them off. It is clear Hazel would have had a hard time safely traveling after leaving the warren with just Fiver and himself. Those potentially selfish reasons may have been his motivation at first. But as the plot develops, it becomes clear that Hazel is willing to sacrifice himself if he needs to so that they may continue living. He also might have desired to establish a warren that treated all rabbits with respect. Earlier on, two large rabbits from the owsla had stolen a choice morsel of food from him and his younger brother. Maybe he was actually motivated by a vision for a fairer environment in which rabbits could live. Later, it was shown that he respected his followers’ opinions at Watership Down and turne...

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...ry while the evil Claudius had very little qualities to start with that could possibly better his citizens. When Hazel had knowledge learned of the potential impending catastrophe, he was intelligent and able to think independently of others, including his chief. Watership Down would have been a tale of a massacre had its author Richard Adams decided not to make Hazel decided to set out on his own against Thereah’s advice. It was Hazel’s balanced yet independent thinking that made him the ideal leader.

Works Cited

Adams, Richard. Watership Down: a Novel. New York: Scribner, 1972.

Gerth, Ben. 1998. www.graphics.stanford.edu. 10 3 2011 .

ProQuest CSA . "A Sense of Community in Richard Adams' Watership Down." SIRS Renaissance (2008).

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003.