Romanticism was a highly complex literary and artistic movement that began roughly in the mid-eighteenth century and reached its full flowering in the early decades of the nineteenth century. Literary historians usually distinguish between the Romantic movement or Romanticism and a more generic ‘‘romanticism’’ that can be found in later literature, including that written in…
Tag: Ivanhoe
Ivanhoe by Walter Scott: Setting
Relations between England and Scotland had long been tumultuous when Scott was born in 1771. Historically, England had dominated Scotland, regarding it as a possession rather than a partner. Throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, disputes about religion erupted, and many of these disputes continued into the eighteenth century. There was fear in England that…
Ivanhoe by Walter Scott: Symbolism & Foreshadowing
Symbolism One of the chief symbols in Ivanhoe is Front-deBoeuf’s castle at Torquilstone. The name of the castle derives from the word torque, which comes from the Latin word torquere, meaning ‘‘twist.’’ This word is also the origin of the word torture. Torquilstone symbolizes some of the major themes of the novel. It is a…
Ivanhoe by Walter Scott: Themes
Culture Clash Ivanhoe is set against the backdrop of the clash between two cultures, the Saxons and the Normans. Saxon is a catch-all term to refer to several Germanic tribes that migrated to the British Isles beginning in about the fifth century; often the term ‘‘Anglo-Saxons’’ is used. At the time of the novel, the…
Ivanhoe by Walter Scott: Characters
Athelstane Athelstane is a Saxon nobleman and a descendant of the last Saxon king of England. Cedric hopes to marry Rowena to Athelstane as a way of continuing the line of Saxon nobles. While Athelstane, generally a sluggish man more interested in drink and food, wants to marry Rowena, she has no interest in him. …
Ivanhoe by Walter Scott: Summary
Chapters 1–4 The opening chapters of Ivanhoe establish the novel’s historical and social context. King Richard I has been absent fighting in the Crusades, a series of wars fought between Muslims and European Christians over the holy city of Jerusalem. On his way home from the Crusades, Richard has been captured and imprisoned by the…