Robert Emmet Statue

The other reviews here have excellently told the story of Robert Emmet, so i will refrain from getting into it… suffice to say that he is a great example of how women constantly get men into all sorts of trouble!
This statue takes its place in Stephens Green near the western edge, it is a nicely weather beaten bronze statue, his stance light and it seems to depict him mid speech.
I never found this to be the most outstanding sculpture, yet the messege that it carries for freedom fighters across the world suggests it carries a lot more power.

It’s funny the way that history gets written, isn’t it?
Robert Emmet wasn’t terribly successful as a patriot. I know that for the entire timeline until we gained independence all patriots would be liable to be considered unsuccessful, but Robert Emmet particularly so.
Anyone in anyway familiar with Irish history will be familiar with the type of circumstances that caused Emmet’s uprising to fail — lack of arms, bad communicating between the various organisations involved, etc etc. But instead of being one of those noble-​but-​ultimately-​doomed endeavours on the scale of ’98 or ’16, Emmet’s 1803 effort was more like a mid-​sized riot.
So it would not be unfair to assume that Emmet would remain but a footnote in this nation’s long and troubled history. And no doubt he would have, had Emmet not the foresight to have a star-​crossed relationship with a girl named Sarah Curran, and had he not made a compelling speech from the dock ordering that no man should write his epitaph until Ireland had taken her place among the nations of the world.
How very eloquent
So Emmet became a romantic hero with a statue of himself on Stephen’s Green, while more effective but less dashing patriots like Pádraic Pearse (leader of the larger-​scale rebellion but with an unfortunate penchant for boys) remain statueless.
The caprices of history, wha’?

Emmet’s a funny one. Tried for treason and hanged in 1803, his famed ‘Speech from the Dock’ is one of the most widely-​recognised speeches of all time. While naturally having a central place in Irish republican mythology, it has been cited by freedom fighters throughout the world as one of the most inspirational pieces of nationalist rhetoric ever spoken. And yet, the most-​hallowed part of that speech — ‘When my country takes her place among the nations of the earth, then and not till then, let my epitaph be written’ — may have never been uttered. Funny how we believe what we want to believe…
However, this statue is one of four dedicated to Emmet’s memory scattered throughout the world, and is testament to his enduring legacy in the minds of Irish people.