Ivanhoe (Penguin Classics)
by Walter Scott
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Book Summary Information
Author: Walter ScottBrand: Penguin Group USA
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2000-10-01
ISBN: 0140436588
Number of pages: 544
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Book Reviews of Ivanhoe (Penguin Classics)
Book Review: A serious work of literature and culture, not just a romatic adventure story
Summary: 5 Stars
One purpose of this review is to encourage the millions of people who read Sir Walter's Scott's Ivanhoe in a watered-down, condensed version in school to read the complete novel as an adult...and for those of you who have not read it at all to enjoy for the first time this great epic historical novel. When I was 18 years old I saw the movie version of Gone with the Wind and thought it was a grand spectacle about war. When I saw it again 30 years later I realized that the war was just the backdrop for the real meaning--the struggle for existence in a rapidly changing world. Ivanhoe is full of spectacle, but real meaning, in my view has to do with morality and values. For me a key moment in the story happens on pp. 247. Ivanhoe and Rebecca are being held as prisoners in a castle and a large band of men has gathered outside and are preparing to storm the castle to rescue them. The wounded Ivanhoe yearns to join them as Rebecca describes the fighting to him. Noting the bravery of one particular knight Ivanhoe says, "Under such a leader as thou has spoken this knight to be, there are no craven fears, no cold-blooded delays, no yielding up a gallant enterprise...I vow by the name of my bright lady-love, I would endure ten years' captivity to fight one day by that good knight's side in such a quarrel as this!" Rebecca disagrees, "and what is it, valiant knight, save an offering of sacrifice to a demon of vainglory, as a passing through the fire to Moloch?" As a boy, I would have agreed with Ivanhoe; now, having seen the horrors of war (and even as I write this the ongoing death in Gaza) I stand with Rebecca.
It was the year 1193. Richard I, the Lion Hearted, after leading the Third Crusade to rescue the Holy Land from the infidels is on his way back to England when he is imprisoned by Leopold V, Duke of Austria, leaving his younger brother, Prince John, in charge of the country and anxious to secure the throne for himself. But Richard is released and is making his way back to an England that is in turmoil with Saxons eager to throw off the yoke of the conquering Normans, Norman barons carving out independent fiefdoms, and marauding outlaws making things unsafe for everyone.
The cast of characters is all larger than life and can be divided, more or less, into the good guys and the bad guys. The good guys include Cedric of Rotherwood, a patriotic Saxon hoping to restore the Saxons to their former independence; his ward, the Lady Rowena, beautiful, proud and of high birth whom Cedric hopes to wed to Athelstane, a powerful, but slow thinking man who is also of royal Saxon blood; Wilfred of Ivanhoe, the son of Cedric who was disinherited by his father for loving Rowena and who consequently went off with Richard on the Third Crusade; the Black Knight, also known as The Sluggard, a mysterious knight who saves Ivanhoe from defeat in the jousting competition and then goes off without claming the reward for his performance; Locksley (aka Robin Hood), the leader of the outlaw band and an outstanding archer; the Clerk of Copmanhust (Friar Tuck), an erstwhile monk who is a key member of the outlaw group; Isaac of York, a rich Jew whose travails and actions infuse the story; and last and certainly not least, his daughter Rebecca, also beautiful as well as courageous and high minded.
Arrayed against this group are the bad guys, who include Prince John, now in power while Richard is away, but scheming to take the throne for himself; Maurice de Bracy, a Norman knight who lusts after Rowena, Reginald Front-de-Boeuf, another Norman Knight who is anxious to take away Ivanhoe's lands to add to his, Brian de Bois-Guilbert, a Norman knight of the Templar order, that is to say both a military man and a religious one, who hates Ivanhoe and lusts after Rowena and then kidnaps Rebecca; Fitzhugh Waldermar, advisor to Prince John, a lesser character with a Machiavellian-like mentality. Philip and Albert Malvoisan, the latter being a key personage in the Templar organization, Lucas Beaumanoir, the Grand Master (head) of the Templars whose ascetic mentality is affronted by the seeming corruption of this order, and Prior Almer, a religious man who attends to the Norman cause.
Finally, there is Ulrica, who as a young girl lived in the castle of Torquilstone with her Saxon father and brothers. The castle was attacked by Front-de-Boeuf's father and all the men killed and Ulrica kept alive only to serve the sexual and personal needs of the conquerors. She is now old and bitter and she plays a key part in the novel, getting revenge on the Normans.
Ivanhoe is a tale of derring-do highlighted by a jousting tournament, the siege of a castle in which some of the "good guys" were confined, and the trial of Rebecca as a witch which ends in a contest between de Bois-Guilbert and Ivanhoe who acts as Rebecca's champion.
The novel is particular valuable as a guide to the cultural, social and political values of those times. It features two Jewish characters, one of which (Isaac) is largely described in stereotypical terms. But the other, Rebecca, is one of the greatest heroines in fiction. Her courage and steadfastness and kindness stand in mark contrast to the immorality of the men around her. Finally, novel reveals the true nature of the reasons for the Magna Charta which the by then King John was forced to sign. Rather than being an enlightened document of democracy as it is often portrayed in history books, it was really an effort by a power hungry elite (the Norman barons) to advance their own power and wealth at the expense of a capricious monarch.
Five stars all the way, but read it as a serious work, not a romantic adventure.
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