Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine

Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine

Mariupol State University

English and literature chair

Sir Walter Scott

Ivanhoe

Written by

Klets L.S.,second year,

Specialization «English and literature».

Mariupol – 2013

Biography of Sir Walter Scott. Walter

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832), Scottish writer and poet and one of the greatest historical novelists.Scott was born on August 15, 1771, in Edinburgh as the son of a solicitor Walter Scott and Anne, a daughter of professor of medicine. An early illness left him lame in the right leg, but he grew up to be a man over six feet and great physical endurance. Scott's interest in the old Border tales and ballads had early been awakened, and he devoted much of his leisure to the exploration of the Border country. He attended Edinburgh High School and studied at Edinburgh University arts and law. Scott was apprenticed to his father in 1786 and in 1792 he was called to the bar. In 1799 he was appointed sheriff depute of the county of Selkirk. In 1797 Scott married Margaret Charlotte Charpenter. They had five children. In 1802-03 Scott's first major work,Minstrelsy Of The Scottish Borderappeared. As a poet Scott rose into fame with the publication of The Lay Of The Last Minstrel (1805) about an old border country legend. It became a huge success and made him the most popular author of the day. It was followed by Marmion (1808), a historical romance in tetrameter. The Lady In The Lake appeared in 1810 and Rokeby in 1813. Scott's last major poem, The Lord Of The Isles, was published in 1815. In 1806 Scott became clerk to the Court of Session in Edinburgh. To increase his income he started a printing and publishing business with his friend James Ballantyne. The enterprise crashed and Scott accepted all debts and tried to pay them off with his writings. In the 1810s Scott published several novels. From this period date such works asWaverley (1814), dealing with the rebellion of 1745, which attempted to restore a Scottish family to the British throne. Scott continued with Guy Mannering (1815) andTales Of My Landlord (1816). Rob Roy (1817) a portrait of one of Scotland's greatest heroes, sold out its edition of 10 000 copies in two weeks. The Heart of Midlothian appeared in 1818 followed by The Bride Of Lammermoor (1819) and A Legend Of Montrose (1819). Ivanhoe (1819) set in the reign of Richard I is perhaps the best known of Scott's novels today. In the 1820s appeared Kenilworth (1821), The Fortunes Of Nigel (1822), Peveril Of The Peak (1823), Quentin Durward (1823), The Talisman(1825), Woodstock (1826), The Surgeon's

Daughter (1827), and Anne Of Geierstein(1829). In 1820 Scott was created a

baronet. A few years later he founded the Bannatyne Club, which published old Scottish documents. Scott visited France in 1826 to collect material for his Life Of Napoleon, which was published in 9 volumes in 1827. His wife, Lady Scott, died in 1826, and the author himself had a stroke in 1830. Next year Scott sailed to Italy. After his return to England in 1832, he died on September 21. Scott was buried beside his in Dryburgh Abbey.

Summery

Four generations and approximately one hundred years had passed since the decisive Battle of Hastings in 1066. Richard the Lion-Hearted (1157-1199), now King of England, on returning from the Crusades, was made prisoner of the Duke of Austria, abetted by the machinations of Richard's brother, Prince John. Prince John hoped, by the help of his Norman confederates, to seize the throne.

Wilfred of Ivanhoe, son of Cedric, had been disinherited by his father for two reasons: because of his allegiance to Richard, the exiled King of England, and because of his romantic interest in Rowena, ward of Cedric, whom Cedric intended as bride to Athelstane, a descendant of Saxon royalty.

In the guise of the Disinherited Knight, Ivanhoe wins the tournament at Ashby-de-la-Zouche with the aid of the Black Knight and crowns Rowena his Queen of Beauty and Love. He suffers severe wounds in the contest and is ministered to by Rebecca, daughter of the Jewish moneylender, Isaac of York.

On the way home from the tournament the Saxon party, together with the Jews and the wounded Ivanhoe, are captured by De Bracy, who fancies Rowena as his wife. They are taken to the castle of Front-de-Boeuf and imprisoned there. The Black Knight, Locksley and his band, Cedric, and others attack the castle and, with the help of Ulrica, an old Saxon hag, succeed in freeing the prisoners. Brian de Bois-Guilbert, Knight Templar, escapes to Templestowe, taking Rebecca with him.

Rebecca, accused of sorcery, is sentenced to die as a witch. Ivanhoe champions her in a trial by combat against the unwilling Bois-Guilbert. Rebecca is set free when the Templar falls dead from his horse.

The Black Knight reveals himself as King Richard, Ivanhoe and Rowena are married, and Rebecca and her father leave England for Granada.

Retell

Wilfred of Ivanhoe is disinherited by his father Cedric of Rotherwood for supporting the Norman King Richard and for falling in love with the Lady Rowena, Cedric's ward and a descendant of the Saxon Kings of England. Cedric had planned to marry her to the powerful Lord Aethelstane, pretender to the Crown of England through his descent from the last Saxon King, Harold Godwinson, thus cementing a Saxon political alliance between two rivals for the same claim. Ivanhoe accompanies King Richard on the Crusades, where he is said to have played a notable role in the Siege of Acre.

The book opens with a scene of Norman knights and prelates seeking the hospitality of Cedric. They are guided there by a palmer, who has recently returned from the Holy Land. The same night, seeking refuge from inclement weather and bandits, Isaac of York, a Jewish moneylender, arrives at Rotherwood. Following the night's meal, the palmer observes one of the Normans, the Templar Brian de Bois-Guilbert, issue orders to his Saracen soldiers to follow Isaac of York after he leaves Rotherwood in the morning and take him captive to a noble's castle.

Isaac of York offers to repay his debt to the palmer by offering him a suit of armour and a war horse to participate in the tournament at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, where he was bound. His offer is made on the surmise that the palmer was in reality a knight, York having observed his knight's chain and spurs (a fact that he mentions to the palmer). The palmer is taken by surprise but accepts the offer.

The story then moves to the scene of the tournament, which is presided over by Prince John, King Richard's younger brother. Other characters in attendance are Cedric, Aethelstane, Lady Rowena, Isaac of York, his daughter Rebecca, Robin of Locksley and his men, Prince John's advisor Waldemar Fitzurse, and numerous Norman knights.

On the first day of the tournament, a bout of individual jousting, a mysterious masked knight, identifying himself only as "Desdichado" (which is described in the book as Spanish for the "Disinherited One", though actually meaning "Unfortunate"), makes his appearance and manages to defeat some of the best Norman lances, including Bois-Guilbert, Maurice de Bracy, a leader of a group of "Free Companions" (mercenary knights), and the baron Reginald Front-de-Boeuf. The masked knight declines to reveal himself despite Prince John's request, but is nevertheless declared the champion of the day and is permitted to choose the Queen of the Tournament. He bestows this honour upon the Lady Rowena.

Since the latter has departed, he is forced to declare Desdichado the champion. At this point, being forced to unmask himself to receive his coronet, Desdichado is revealed to be Wilfred of Ivanhoe himself, returned from the Crusades. This causes much consternation to Prince John and his court who now fear the imminent return of King Richard.

Because he is severely wounded in the competition and because Cedric refuses to have anything to do with him, Ivanhoe is taken into the care of Rebecca, the beautiful daughter of Isaac, who is a skilled healer. She convinces her father to take him with them to York, where he may be best treated. The story then goes over the conclusion of the tournament including feats of archery by Locksley.

Meanwhile, de Bracy finds himself infatuated with the Lady Rowena and, with his companions-in-arms, makes plans to abduct her. In the forests between Ashby and York, the Lady Rowena, Cedric, and Aethelstane encounter Isaac, Rebecca, and the wounded Ivanhoe, who had been abandoned by their servants for fear of bandits. The Lady Rowena, in response to the requests of Isaac and Rebecca, urges Cedric to take the group under his protection to York. Cedric, unaware that the wounded man is Ivanhoe, agrees. En route, the party is captured by de Bracy and his companions and taken to Torquilstone, the castle of Front-de-Boeuf. However, the swineherd Gurth, who had run away from Rotherwood to serve Ivanhoe as squire at the tournament and who was recaptured by Cedric when Ivanhoe was identified, manages to escape.

The Black Knight, having taken refuge for the night in the hut of a local friar, the Holy Clerk of Copmanhurst, volunteers his assistance on learning about the captives from Robin of Locksley, who had come to rouse the friar for an attempt to free them. They then besiege the Castle of Torquilstone with Robin's own men, including the friar and assorted Saxon yeomen whom they had managed to raise due to the hatred of Front-de-Boeuf and his neighbour, Philip de Malvoisin.

When the besiegers deliver a note to yield up the captives, their Norman captors retort with a message for a priest to administer the Final Sacrament to the captives. It is then that Cedric's jester Wamba slips in disguised as a priest, and takes the place of Cedric, who then escapes and brings important information to the besiegers on the strength of the garrison and its layout.

Then follows an account of the storming of the castle. Front-de-Boeuf is killed while de Bracy surrenders to the Black Knight, who identifies himself as King Richard. Showing mercy, he releases de Bracy. De Bois-Guilbert escapes with Rebecca while Isaac is released from his underground dungeon by the Clerk of Copmanhurst. The Lady Rowena is saved by Cedric, while the still-wounded Ivanhoe is rescued from the burning castle by King Richard. In the fighting, Aethelstane is wounded while attempting to rescue Rebecca, whom he mistakes for Rowena.

Meanwhile Cedric organises Aethelstane's funeral at Coningsburgh, in the midst of which the Black Knight arrives with a companion. Cedric, who had not been present at Locksley's carousal, is ill-disposed towards the knight upon learning his true identity. However, King Richard calms Cedric and reconciles him with his son, convincing him to agree to the marriage of Ivanhoe and Rowena. Shortly after, Aethelstane emerges – not dead, but having been laid in his coffin alive by avaricious monks desirous of the funeral money. Over Cedric's renewed protests, Aethelstane pledges his homage to the Norman King Richard and urges Cedric to marry Rowena to Ivanhoe; to which Cedric finally agrees.

Soon after this reconciliation, Ivanhoe receives word from Isaac beseeching him to fight on Rebecca's behalf. Upon arriving at the scene of the witch-burning, Ivanhoe forces de Bois-Guilbert from his saddle, but does not kill him. However, the Templar dies "a victim to the violence of his own contending passions," which is pronounced by the Grand Master as the judgment of God and proof of Rebecca's innocence. King Richard, who had left Kyningestun soon after Ivanhoe's departure, arrives at the Templar Preceptory, banishes the Templars and declares that the Malvoisins' lives are forfeit for having aided in the plots against him.

Fearing further persecution, Rebecca and her father leave England for Granada. Before leaving, Rebecca comes to bid Rowena a fond farewell. Finally, Ivanhoe and Rowena marry and live a long and happy life together, though the final paragraphs of the book note that Ivanhoe's long service ended with the death of King Richard.

Main character

Wilfred of Ivanhoe is our hero (obviously, since his name is the title of the book). He's a knight from a Saxon family recently returned from the Crusades in the Middle East. He's also estranged from his father, Cedric, who refuses to forgive Ivanhoe for leaving behind his family in England to follow the Norman King Richard I to war. Not only is Ivanhoe a brave warrior and a stubborn cuss (since he's willing to disobey his father to go off and fight in foreign lands), he is also a great lover of the ladies. Saxon noblewoman Rowena is head over heels for Ivanhoe, and Rebecca also falls for him at first sight. As a strong warrior and lady-killer, Ivanhoe is perfectly set up to be the center of a plot-driven novel like Ivanhoe. He's clearly a good guy, but he's not a deep thinker with a complex personality. He helps Isaac travel through the forest safely when Bois-Guilbert plans to rob him early on in the book. He confronts the bullying Normans at the tournament at Ashby and wins the honors of the contest for the English. He stands by King Richard I and encourages him to hurry up and take back his throne from Prince John. And he rides to Rebecca's rescue at the end, even though he's injured, because Ivanhoe owes her big time.

Still, Ivanhoe is not all good. As a villain, Scott makes Bois-Guilbert an interesting character by giving him a few good traits mixed in with his general badness. He does the same with heroic Ivanhoe by giving him some bad points among the good. By far Ivanhoe's worst character trait is his anti-Semitism. Even though Rebecca is very good to Ivanhoe, he cannot overcome his negative prejudices about Jewish people when he talks to her.

Scott emphasizes that Ivanhoe is a man of his time; he shares the same anti-Jewish prejudices as many of the other characters in the book – prejudices that were widespread during the Middle Ages. But that doesn't excuse the way Ivanhoe hurts Rebecca with his sudden change of manner when he realizes that she is Jewish.

Scott describes Rebecca's pain thoroughly: she expects this kind of cold response from Ivanhoe, she braces herself for it, but once Ivanhoe's rejection comes it still really hurts her feelings. She likes him, and she can't stop liking him even though he is prejudiced against her people.

The fact that Scott portrays Rebecca's disappointment in Ivanhoe shows us how seriously he wants us to take Ivanhoe's prejudices. Scott doesn't gloss over Ivanhoe's flaws as an individual. Ivanhoe's prejudices may make him more rounded and three-dimensional as a character, but they also truly make us think less of him as a person. Scott is honest enough to acknowledge that a 12th century Christian Englishman would be very likely to be prejudiced against Jews. He's being historically accurate, even if it's painful for us to see such overt prejudice in the hero of our novel.

Vocabulary:

1. disinherit – лишать наследства;

2. supporting – поддержка;

3. descendant – потомок, порожденный;

4. cementing – цементирование, скрепление;

5. rivals – конкуренты, соперники;

6. claim – требование;

7. siege – осада;

8. knights – посвящать в рыцари, рыцарь;

9. prelates – прелат (религ.);

10. inclement – ненастный;

11. captive – пленник;

12. peril – опасность;

13. swineherd – свинопас;

14. recalcitrant – упорный, стойкий;

15. occur – происходить, случаться;

16. bound – связанный, обязанный;

17. surmise – предположение;

18. chain – цепь, приковывать;

19. spurs – поощрять, побуждать, шпора, пришпоривать;

20. attendance – обслуживание присутствие;

21. declines – снижение;

22. despite - не смотря на;

23. permit – разрешать, позволять;

25. bestows – даровать;

26. realm – королевство, область;

27. vanquish – побежденный;

28. beset- окружать;

29. foes – противники;

30. sobriquet – прозвище;

31. rescue – спасать;

32. accolades – почести;

33. vanish – исчезать;

34. unmask – разоблачать;

35. coronet – диадема;

36. consternation – испуг;

37. court – ухаживать, суд, двор, корт;

38. imminent – неизбежный;

39. wound – ранить, проветривать;

40. skilled – искусный, опытный;

41. healer – целитель;

42. convince – убеждать;

43. conclusion – заключение;

44. archery – стрельба из лука;

45. infatuate – сводить с ума;

46. abduct – похищать, отводить;

47. encounter – столкновение;

48. abandon – отказываться, оставлять;

49. route – маршрут, дорога, направлять;

50. refuge – убежище

51. friar - монах

52. volunteers - добровольцы

53. the captives - пленники

54. rouse – солить, пробуждать

55. attempt - попытка

56. besiege - осаждать

57. hatred - ненависть

58. rebuff – отказывать, отклонять

59. ransom – выкуп, искупление

60. farthing - грош

61. retort – парировать, возражение

62. Sacrament - причастие

63. jester - шут

64. disguised - маскировать

65. strength – сила, финансовая мощь

66. garrison – размещать войска, гарнизон

67. layout – расположение, макет, разметка

68. storm – штурмовать штурм

69. dungeon - темница

70. convey – передавать, перевозить

71. flee – бежать, сбежать

72. umbrage - обида

73. violation - нарушение

74. vows - клятвы

75. a trial – испытание, суд, пробный

76. witchcraft.- колдовство

77. flawed – некорректный

78. combat – бой, сражаться

79. devastated - опустошать

80. procure – обеспечивать, заготавливать

81. funeral - похороны

82. midst – среда, середина

83. carousal - пирушка

84. reconciles – урегулировать, примерять

85. convincing - убеждение

86. coffin – класть в гроб, гроб

87. avaricious - жадный

88. renew - обновлять

89. pledges – залог, обещать

90. homage – уважение, преклонение

91. reconciliation – согласование. сверка

92. beseeching – умолять, молить

93. aid - помогать

94. persecution - преследование

95. obviously - очевидно

96. estranged – раздельно проживающий

97. disobey – не повиноваться

98. rob - грабить

99. a villain - злодей

100. traits - черта

101. prejudices – наносить ущерб

102. emphasizes - подчеркивать

103. braces – скоба, окружать

104. rejection - отклонение

105. flaws – портить, недостаток

106. approximately - приблизительно

107. the decisive - решающее

108. machinations - махинации

109. to seize - захватывать

110. allegiance - преданность

111. intend - намериваться

112. the guise - облик

113. suffer – переносить, болеть

114. severe – серьезный, тяжелый

115. wound - рана

116. minister - служить

117. moneylender - ростовщик

118. sentenced - приговаривать

120. unwilling - упрямый

121. a solicitor - поверенный

122. endurance – усталостный, выносливость

123. strife - борьба

124. uprightness - непорочность

125.minister - министр, служить

126. chivalry - галантность

127. restoration - восстановление

128. decency - благопристойность

129. disdain - презрение

130. smothered - душить, задушить

131. desperately - отчаянно

132. mentioned - упоминать

133. corrupt – коррумпированный, развращать, портить

134. exploits – эксплуатировать. дияние

135. demand - требование

136. array -выстраивать

137. disbelief - недоверие

138. refuse отказывать

139. usher – сопровождать. швейцар

140. the reluctant - неохотный

141. paramour – любовник. любовница

142. purporting – значение. подразумевать

143. narrative- рассказ. Изложение

144. injured - травмированный

145. persuades - убеждать

146. rebellious - непослушный

147. tension – напряженность. натягивать

148. suspense - приостановка

149. the climax- кульминация. высшая точка

150. resourcefulness - изобретательность

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