Character Analysis
John Cleese claims he based Robin Hood on Prince Charles: a polite, bland, super awkward guy forced to interact with the common folk as part of his work.
As with Napoleon, he exists as a kind of punchline. We all think of Robin Hood as a swashbuckling hero: the guy who takes action when liberty is threatened, swinging through windows and sword fighting the Sheriff of Nottingham when he's not planting arrows into their targets from 1,000 yards away. (Like so.)
This is so not that guy. This dude is like your homeroom teacher trying so hard to be pals with everybody, but since he's not very good at it, he turns what should be a normal conversation into something weird. Watch this Robin Hood try to talk to the dwarves about their haul:
ROBIN HOOD: And you're a robber, too? How long have you been a robber?
STRUTTER: Four foot one.
ROBIN HOOD: Good Lord! Jolly good! Four foot one? Well, th-th-th-that is a long time, isn't it?
Yeah. Awkward.
But, as usual, there's a larger point to all of it. Since Robin Hood ends up relieving the dwarves of their gold, he demonstrates that their schemes and plans don't amount to a whole lot, and with the late-inning revelation that the Supreme Being is watching it all very carefully, Robin Hood's role becomes a lot more apparent.
"Man plans, God laughs," goes the saying, and this bland little prince of thieves is here to make sure the dwarves understand that.