Richards' Analysis

  Richards' analysis was fairly accurate to the movie and the point of the story.  He mistakenly talks about how Esther and Ben Hur met.  It was not a pigeon, but a dove that Esther bought and how it flew away from her and then Ben recaptures it and gives it back to her.  Richards mentions the arrest of Ben, but does not explain who imprisoned him specifically.  It was Messala his former friend who accuses Ben of attempted murder of the new governor, even though it was an accident and they were both former friends.  A reason Messala might have done this is because Ben earlier said that he is not a Roman but a Jew which Messala took as treason.  Richards should have mentioned this plot point in his analysis since it plays into the fact the Ben swears vengence on Messala.