In Ayn Rand's classic Atlas Shrugged, Robin Hood is the embodiment of the ideal the author wishes to see destroyed in two intertwined ways. First, he robbed the rich to give to the poor. Holding this up as a heroic act makes taxation seem moral, and contributes to the idea that the rich have no right to their wealth. Second, he gives altruistically, when Rand's ideals emphasize a conscious and deliberate selfishness. Robin Hood makes all the bad government policies in the world seem good-hearted; that's why he must be destroyed.