Christopher Columbus

During his lifetime, Christopher Columbus was fortunate enough to gain the favor of the Spanish monarchs of his time, Ferdinand and Isabella, and to have gone on a series of voyages. Though Columbus was fortunate to do this, he unfortunately failed as all of his four voyages ended in failure. His first voyage, taking place in 1492, was to the island of Hispaniola. There he met the native tribe of the Taino and had good relations with them, until the settlers he brought and left exhausted the relationship from their demands of gold and sexual partners. The same disorder took place in his second voyage, during 1496 in Cuba and Jamaica, and soon he was forced to return to Spain to answer charges made against him by the Europeans of the Indies. His third voyage took him to South America, where he thought he had found paradise, but upon his return to Hispaniola he found the settlers openly defying his authority and had enslaved the Taino. He was then turned on and arrested and sent back to Spain to face more charges. His fourth and final voyage made him experience a time of suffering in Panama and shipwrecked in Jamaica. He was soon rescued and returned home, where he later died. In the midst of the despair he faced he managed to record down, seemingly sentimental details of his first voyage, and outrage and hatred for those involved in his second to fourth voyage. The letters he wrote were appealing to emotion, or pathos.

In his first voyage Columbus went to the island of Hispaniola. In his letter to Luis de Santangel, he described what he saw with such awe and amazement. He described the islands as marvelous, and the people who inhabited it innumerable. He also used words like beautiful, and wonder as he talks of the landscape, the animals, and the population. In the end he calls it a marvel.
Though he describe what he saw in such amazement in his first voyage, that changed after years of torment and persecution by his rebellious settlers, as perfectly shown in his letter to the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella. He is writing this on the Island of Jamaica, where he was currently shipwrecked and " alone in my trouble, sick, in daily expectation of death, and encompassed about by a million savages". Here he writes in anger about his situation and the ill wrong dealt him. He says he can't help but to weep every time he thinks about Espanola in its exhausted state, and that not only the person responsible for what happened and his children, but also everyone that was involved should reap the consequences of what happened. He also describes the situation when he, even though the king favored him, was arrested and tortured without a trial or sentence, and how he has been dishonored, and how he wishes punishment to him where punishment is due and the restoration of his honor. He lastly describes how not only is his reputation ruined, but he is ruined spiritually.
Though he had experienced rough times and torment, and a time of peace and serenity, Columbus was still nonetheless a failure, and it's a terrible shame. He was given the chance to sail the world, was favored by the king and queen, but was turned on by his own people, leaving him tired and his reputation destroyed. He led a good, but at the same time a horrible life. He was a failed hero.