Ivanhoe in Sir Walter Scott Appreciation

Oct 05, 2024 Brian E Reynolds rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Ivanhoe is a historical novel by Walter Scott published in 1819 as the 10th of his 28 Waverley novels. Up until Ivanhoe, Scott's practice was to set his Waverley stories in Scotland and in fairly recent past of the 19th or 18th Century. With Ivanhoe, Scott changes the setting to England and farther back in time to the late 13h Century when Prince John ruled while his brother King Richard was off fighting in the Crusades and then imprisoned on the mainland. Scott did choose to return to such an e Ivanhoe is a historical novel by Walter Scott published in 1819 as the 10th of his 28 Waverley novels. Up until Ivanhoe, Scott's practice was to set his Waverley stories in Scotland and in fairly recent past of the 19th or 18th Century. With Ivanhoe, Scott changes the setting to England and farther back in time to the late 13h Century when Prince John ruled while his brother King Richard was off fighting in the Crusades and then imprisoned on the mainland. Scott did choose to return to such an early time period setting in some later Waverly novels, probably because Ivanhoe became one of Scott's best-known and most influential novels. Ivanhoe has over 9 times the number of Goodreads ratings as the next most rated Scott novel, Rob Roy.

The story is about the life of Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe, a Saxon knight who returns to England after having fought bravely and loyally beside Richard the Lionhearted in the Crusades. He has been disinherited by his father, Cedric, for falling in love with Cedric’s ward and his childhood friend, Rowena, who was betrothed to another. Ivanhoe travels in disguise and soon becomes a torn in the side of Prince John getting involved with Robin Hood and his Merry Men and rescues wealthy Jewish moneylender Isaac of York and his beautiful and brave daughter, Rebecca.

Soon Ivanhoe, Robin and his men and the mysterious Black Knight are in conflict with a cadre of Prince John supporters as Prince John tries to solidify his rule in the event of Richard’s return. Included in the conflict are forest-set ambushes and captures, an exciting assault on a castle and an Inquisition type witchcraft trial brought by the Knights Templars, a group depicted as fairly evil in this novel.

There is also an exciting tournament with jousting and archery that, along with a few other book events, were used in the 1939 movie The Adventures of Robin Hood. While it seemed like heavy borrowing from Ivanhoe by that movie’s writers, some of these plot vignettes were likely well-known ones handed down in folklore and first published in half-penny pamphlets available to the masses.

The novel’s characters were well-drawn, diverse and a very entertaining group. Ivanhoe is not the most fleshed out character in the novel. He is absent from the action for much of the book. But, while other characters got more ‘stage time’ and more interesting dialogue, Ivanhoe was still the central heroic character that the plot revolved around. As I had been warned of it several times by a Goodreads friend, Ivanhoe’s reduced presence was not unexpected.

The characters and story events all added up to, except for a slow first chapter, a fairly well-paced action-filled adventure. Scott’s writing was splendidly descriptive, but the narrative did get a bit turgid and wordy at times. I did think his style and wording, while smoother than I anticipated, was a bit more reminiscent of late 18th century authors than his contemporary Jane Austen’s.

Overall, it was a surprisingly enjoyable read, even a page turner at times. Out of the three novels I was reading at the time, it was the one I most looked forward to reading. I rate it as 4 stars. ...more

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Dec 08, 2014 Tracey rated it it was amazing

Shelves: owned-books, all-time-favourites

If you haven't read any Scott then at least read Ivanhoe.

One of the most important things to know to understanding Ivanhoe is how the Norman Invasion of 1066 effected the Anglo-Saxon and Briton people. For almost 300 years afterwards, Norman French was the 'acceptable' language and Normans and Saxons did not intermarry. In several places the Normans, to prove a point, sallied out from their castles and wiped out the local population, men, women children. In others they were treated little bette If you haven't read any Scott then at least read Ivanhoe.

One of the most important things to know to understanding Ivanhoe is how the Norman Invasion of 1066 effected the Anglo-Saxon and Briton people. For almost 300 years afterwards, Norman French was the 'acceptable' language and Normans and Saxons did not intermarry. In several places the Normans, to prove a point, sallied out from their castles and wiped out the local population, men, women children. In others they were treated little better than slaves. The Romans and the Anglo-Saxons did not do this. They integrated with the people after initial struggles. They also allowed some sovereignty to local chiefs/kings. Ivanhoe is at it's core a story of an oppressed people struggling to keep their identity, their beliefs and customs, language and freedom.

Scott's writing is great and the story interesting if not always historically accurate. He mentions marriages between Saxon and Norman which were very rare. Also, King Richard was only in England for 6 months out of his 10 year reign and spent his time there exacting increased taxes from the people to fund his crusades. He was a giant of a man who was known as the Lion Heart but he really was not that beloved of the people. However, Scott's portrayal of John is pretty accurate except that he probably died of dysentery and not a 'surfeit of peaches.'

Scott's depiction of the Jew, Issac of York, is very stereotypical and yet his depiction of his daughter, Rebecca, was a brave move at a time when Jews were still seen as less than Christians. Since Christians were not allowed to loan money for interest and this was the only profession open to Jews, then this image of being money greedy was forced upon them. Maybe Scott wanted to balance the view of Jews and made in Rebecca one of the finest heroines in literature as will be seen later in the book.
The Jews were totally expelled from England in the Edict of Expulsion, a royal decree issued by King Edward I of England on 18 July 1290, expelling all Jews from the Kingdom of England. The expulsion edict remained in force for the rest of the Middle Ages. The edict was not an isolated incident, but the culmination of over 200 years of increased persecution.
Not until 1856 were Jews given equal rights in England. Scott did a very brave thing making Rebecca, a Jewess, the heroine of the story. Another of the great reasons to love Scott.

Scott studied chivalry before writing the book and it shows in a lot of Ivanhoe. However, Scott had the Knights; Bois-Guilbert, De Bracy and Front-de-Bouef all display non chivalrous behaviour whereas Cedric's followers, his jester and swineherd, the most. Interesting? Was Scott saying chivalry is more to do with the heart than the taking of an oath?

The story is close to my heart being staged close to where I grew up and full of Scott's wisdom and enlightenment. Love the story.

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Aug 12, 2015 Tom rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

An amazing story. Sir Walter Scott is a master storyteller, and I enjoyed every single page of this classic. Though there are a ton of archaic, obsolete words that I had to look up, even the language gave the story an old feel, something you want to experience for a book written 200 years ago, and which is, in time, set more than 800 years ago. One scene near the end floored me, the near-premature burial of one of the characters, something that almost happened to Scott's own mother before he was ...more

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