'Ivanhoe' - 1820 first edition
At last! - I have read Ivanhoe from cover to cover, and in the three-decker first edition of 1820 (it was published in December 1819). Over the last 30+ years I have tried (I bought the three decker on 29th June 1981 for £6!), but never got beyond the first few chapters. Why? I simply do not know. Not only is it possibly Walter Scott's most famous novel (apart from Waverley itself?), but I lived in Ashby de la Zouch for 20 years, near where the famous Tournament is based and where streets, buildings and the famous - alas, long gone - Ivanhoe Baths pay tribute to the effect on the market town (for many years a great tourist money-spinner!). Moreover, as a teenager, along with a hall full of other teenage boys, I took part in a mass intake of breath when Elizabeth Taylor (as Rebecca) gazed on Robert Taylor (Ivanhoe) from behind a gauze curtain.
Was the reading worth the wait? More 'yes' than 'no'. 'Ivanhoe' burst on an eager public, not yet satiated after over five years of the Waverley phenomenon. The first edition of 10,000 copies sold out immediately. To English readers, it was more accessible as it lacked the 'strangeness' of the Scottish dialect; the novel added to Scott's European fame as well. As in 'Waverley', there are two heroines - the blonde, upright Rowena and the dark, focussed and passionate Rebecca. There is the dispossessed son; there are the characters who wish to reverse History - like the Jacobites in 'Waverley' and 'Rob Roy' - here represented by the fierce and proud Saxon, Cedric.
There are three great scenes - the Ashby Tournament, the attack on Torquilstone Castle and the Trial by Combat between Ivanhoe and Brian de Bois-Guilbert. These are supported by the greenwood escapades of the outlaws led by Locksley (Robin Hood); the claustrophobic moments in the dungeon of Torquilstone between Front-de-Boeuf and the old Jew Isaac and in the tower between Bois-Guilbert and Rebecca.
The 'disguised' Ivanhoe meets Rowena Cedric receives his son; Richard I looks on
The Tournament at Ashby de la Zouch
Rebecca about to jump? Rebecca at her trial
As John Buchan writes, It is hard for us today to recapture the atmosphere in which 'Ivanhoe' won its resounding success. Historical novels flooded the rest of the century with less able practitioners, such as G.P.R. James, W. Harrison Ainsworth, Bulwer Lytton to name but three, and this has continued into the present century. Scott broke the mould of the mere Gothic 'romance'; yes, his History was more than suspect - Robin Hood, if he ever existed belongs to another century; Edward the Confessor left no descendants (sorry Athelstane!); Ulrica's/Urfied's gods are not Anglo-Saxon (she seems to inherit the Scott 'old hag' characteristics from previous tales - Vile murderous hag! detestable screech-owl! says Front-de-Boeuf ); Cedric and Athelstane do not belong to the 1190s; the regular description of the dress worn by the characters seem copied from history books; there is no sympathy for the Catholic Church (yet Prior Aymer, with his backslidings, is all too true a figure); chivalry is not seen as any defence against the disorder and cruelty of the times (only two characters live by the chivalric code: Richard I and Ivanhoe); the 'death' of Athelstane is not believable!; and so on. BUT - the plot is well done and so are the characters.
Cedric of Rotherwood: Pride and jealousy there was in his eye, for his life had been spent in asserting rights which were constantly liable to invasion; and the prompt, fiery, and resolute disposition of the man, had been kept constantly upon the alert by the circumstances of his situation.
Rowena: if mildness were the more natural expression of such a combination of features, it was plain, that in the present instance, the exercise of habitual superiority, and the reception of general homage, had given to the Saxon lady a loftier character, which mingled with and qualified that bestowed by nature.
Isaac: ...owing to that very hatred and persecution, had adopted a national character, in which there was much, to say the least, mean and unamiable. His failure to reward Higg is unpardonable. Even Ivanhoe was too good a Catholic to retain the same class of feelings towards a Jewess, Locksley's attitude is no better: thou needest not to be told that thy race are held to be accursed in all Christian communities, and trust me that we cannot endure thy presence amongst us. Isaac is, of course, the early 19th century stereotypical Jew - cowardly and avaricious but humanised by his love for his daughter.
Prince John: his own character being light, profligate, and perfidious
Rebecca:...the brilliancy of her eyes, the superb arch of her eyebrows, her well-formed aquiline nose, her teeth as white as pearl, and the profusion of her sable tresses...fell down upon as much of a snow-white neck and bosom... (No wonder Prince John remarks yonder Jewess must be the very model of that perfection, whose charms drove frantic the wisest king that ever lived). Her steadfastness and defiance at Torquilstone is contrasted with Rowena's outbreak of weeping. Her faith is treated with respect by Scott, who idealised her as he did Diana Vernon in Rob Roy.
Athelstane: ...inanimate in expression, dull-eyed, heavy-browed, inactive and sluggish in all his motions, and so slow in resolution...and he was generally called Athelstane the Unready. He is another Scott staple character, always on the look out for 'refreshment'. His behaviour at the end of the book, (Vol. III Chapter XII) is that of a vibrant, communicative leader - not the same man as in Volume I.
Scott's portrait of Richard I (for much of the story, The Black Knight) has 'warts and all'. Richard Plantagenet desires no more fame than his good lance and sword may acquire him... But your kingdom, my Lord, (said Ivanhoe) is threatened with dissolution and civil war...; and later: novelty in society and adventure were the zest of life to Richard Coeur-de-Lion.
Brian de Bois-Guilbert's dismissal of the early, ascetic vows of his Templar Order is well handled (Vol. II Chapter 10)
Final thoughts: I could sympathise to some extent with de Bois-Guilbert; Isaac the Jew was not sympathetically drawn by Scott (e.g. his careful counting out of the acquittance for the suit of armour); Prior Aymer and the Templars were confirmed 'baddies'; the lower order characters were, as always in Scott, drawn with a liveliness not always apparent in their superiors - Gurth and Wamba and Higg son of Snell are little gems. The Clerk of Copmanhurst (Friar Tuck) is another lovingly drawn, fulsome character; the Grand Master Lucas Beaumanoir suitably terrible. The Tournament at Ashby and the attack on Torquilstone are well done. However, Scott was not 'at home' in the England of the 12th century, as he was in his own land of the 17th and 18th centuries - and it was bound to show.
Finally, finally, was Scott talking about early 19th century Scotland and the Hanoverian dynasty here?
Cedric's aversion to the Norman race of kings was also much undermined, - first, by consideration of the impossibility of ridding England of the new dynasty, a feeling which goes far to create loyalty in the subject...
'Ivanhoe' A Historical Drama 1823
No comments:
Post a Comment