Ivanhoe / Sir Walter Scott

 

3.5 stars out of 5

This was my DWS birthday book selection, Sir Walter Scott being an August baby. I went into it knowing that it was about knights and chivalry, but there is much more to it.

First things first: there is a TON of anti-Semitism. Scott portrays his Jewish characters very schizophrenically, alternating between sympathizing with them and depicting them stereotypically as grasping and money loving. There are scenes directly equivalent to The Merchant of Venice with Isaac of York trying to decide between his daughter and his money. Rebecca is depicted as virtuous, skilled, and possessed of wisdom, while her beauty makes her the desire of lecherous men. Still, she does not receive the affection that she desires from a particular English knight. That two centuries later we still have people who hate Jews and Muslims beggars belief. 

I think the reason for this novel's longevity is Scott's incorporation of the elements of the Robin Hood tale. Once I realized that Richard the Lion Hearted and Prince John were involved, I hied me off to Wikipedia to learn more. Sure enough, it was Scott who consolidated the details of earlier legends into the storyline we all are familiar with today. The Merry Men, dressed in green, robbing from the rich and giving to the poor, Friar Tuck, Allan-a-Dale, feats of marksmanship, opposition to Prince John—he melds it all together into a unified story that seems to have grabbed our imaginations.

The part that we have let go of is the Saxon-Norman rivalry which Scott layers into the mix. I'm sure that such discords existed at some point in history, but Scott was apparently trying to make a point about such prejudices to his contemporaries. Nowadays it doesn't hurt the story, but it doesn't really help it much either.

The writing is florid by today's standards, but still very readable. There are some odd sentence constructions and word spellings, but for a book that is over 200 years old, it is still entertaining. There are bits that are predictable to the modern reader, especially those familiar with the Robin Hood story, but it would have been new and exciting when it was first published. I've been nervous of Scott's writing until now, but I have the courage to try more of his work after enjoying this one.