3. Жанр исторического романа в творчестве В. Скотта
Жанр исторического романа в творчестве В.Скотта: трактовка истории и форма романа. Концепция средневековья в «Айвенго». История Шотландии в «Роб Рое». Функция фольклора.
Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) was born in Edinburgh, in a family of a lawyer. Since childhood he was interested in the history of Scotland. He was fascinated of al ballads and songs which he heard from working people. He traveled round the villages putting down all songs and legends and he made a collection of them. After school he studied law in his father’s office, but wasn’t interested in it. His first publication was not his own writing but a collection of folk songs. In 1802 “Songs of Scottish border” appeared. This collection became popular; it is used by folklorists and is considered to be a very reliable source. Most of the songs of the collection are ballads. After that he tried himself as a poet (“the Lady of the Lake”). Most poems were connected with the Middle Ages. Then he started to write novels. He published his first novel “Waverly” 1814 anonymously, it had great success. And Scott began a long career as a historical novelist. His most famous novels are “Ivanhoe” written in 1820 and “Rob Roy” (1818). Walter Scott decided to reconstruct and revive the traditions of Middle ages not only in writing, but in society. His house in Abbotsford is a museum in which there are a lot of things connected with that epoch and thus you can touch the history. He wrote more than 25 novels. As his fame grew during this phase of his career, he was granted the title of baronet, becoming Sir Walter Scott. He dies in his house in 1832.
Walter Scott formed the principle of historical novels. Many regard Sir Walter Scott as the first to have used this technique and shaped this form in his novels. All his novels can be divided into 2 large groups: 1) a life of Middle Age Britain 2) about Scotland in the beginning of 1700.
A historical novel is a novel in which the story is set among historical events, or more generally, in which the time of the action predates the lifetime of the author. The historical novel was popularized in the 19th century by artists classified as Romantics. Historical fiction may center on historical or on fictional characters, but usually represents an honest attempt based on considerable research (or at least serious reading) to tell a story set in the historical past as understood by the author's contemporaries. Those historical settings may correspond to the knowledge of later historians. Historical fiction has also served to encourage movements of romantic nationalism.
The aim of historical novel is to study past in order to understand present. And the writers tried to see general and regular in definite and unique events and things.
Walter Scott thought that an author must be close to the historical facts but at the same time we percept history not through events but monuments, things, traditions that come to us, thus we do not change the events but interpret them. To reconstruct the time a writer has to show the way people lived, dressed, talked, ate, thought. Walter Scott was aware of the fact that the book would not be readable; it should be entertaining and thus has an adventurous plot. There is also a love story in his novels, and it has to be in the climax. Conflict is love conflict. Describing ancient times he always tries to put readers into the atmosphere.
From the very first pages Walter Scott makes some accents: we get to know that in the novel it is the time (12th century) when after the Norman conquest of the island, the tensions between Saxons and Normans are at a peak; the two peoples even refuse to speak one another's languages. King Richard is in an Austrian prison after having been captured on his way home from the Crusades; his avaricious brother, Prince John, sits on the throne, and under his reign the Norman nobles have gained their power.
We see a lot of oppositions in the novel that relate to the history of England and the attitude of people from these oppositions to each other: first of all, it is an opposition between the Normans and the Saxons. The Saxons are represented by the family of Cedric of Rotherwood. Cedric is proud of his Saxon heritage, is so loyal to the Saxons that he has disinherited his son Ivanhoe for following King Richard to war. Ivanhoe fell in love with Cedric's high-born ward Rowena, whom Cedric intends to marry to Athelstane, a descendent of a long-dead Saxon king. Cedric hopes that the union will reawaken the Saxon royal line. This is the historical background which is filled with real and imagined characters.
On the other side of the opposition is the king of England Richard I, head of the Norman royal line, the Plantagenets, and Prince John, who wants to rule England. Thus there is an opposition within the Normans: an opposition between two brothers and the fate of the whole country depends on their personal arguments. King Richard I is known as "Richard the Lion-Hearted" for his courage in battle and for his love of adventure. As king, Richard cares about his people, but he comes under criticism--even from his loyal knight Ivanhoe--for putting his love of adventure ahead of the well-being of his subjects. Prince John is a weak ruler who lets himself be pushed around by his powerful Norman nobles. But he reinforces the tensions between the Saxons and the Normans and thus does harm to the people.
As the personal conflict between two brothers influences the development of the country, the personal happiness also depends on the political situation. This refers to the conflict between a father and a son – Cedric and Ivanhoe. Ivanhoe is deeply loyal to King Richard I. He represents the epitome of the knightly code of chivalry, heroism, and honor.
Also there are inner conflicts and oppositions, most of them also depend on the political situation and are closely connected with religion. It is the opposition of the Templars, their canons and the English people and their religion. The Knights-Templars are a powerful international military/religious organization ostensibly dedicated to the conquest of the Holy Land, but in reality is often meddling in European politics. Among the most complex characters in Ivanhoe, de Bois-Guilbert begins the novel as a conventional villain--he and Ivanhoe are mortal enemies--but as the novel progresses, his love for Rebecca brings out his more admirable qualities.
Besides Scott introduces a Jewish family into the novel. But while Isaac of York, though being kind-hearted father, is a stereotypical literary Jew, cut after the pattern of Shylock in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice who loves money more than anything in the world except his daughter. Rebecca is one of most sympathetic characters in the book. Rebecca's love for Ivanhoe is in conflict with her good sense; she knows that they can never marry (he is a Christian and she is a Jew. Still, she restrains her feelings; Rebecca is a strong-willed woman with an extraordinary degree of self-control.
In the fortress of the Templars it is supposed that Rebecca is a sorceress who has enchanted de Bois-Guilbert against his will; the Grand Master of the Templars concurs and orders a trial for Rebecca. A major inaccuracy is that it would be quite impossible for Rebecca to be sentenced to burn for witchcraft in England in 1194. The Church did not undertake the finding and punishment of "witches" until the 1250s.
The novel proposes Ivanhoe, the hero, as a possible resolution to those tensions--not because of anything Ivanhoe does, for he is weirdly inactive for an action hero (he spends more than half the novel on the sidelines with an injury), but for what he is, a Saxon knight and married to a Saxon Lady Rowena who is passionately loyal to King Richard, a Norman king. Unification of the couple serves for unification of political sides. Ivanhoe and Rowena are ideal couple, they have no conflicts, while in case of Ivanhoe and Rebecca there is a least one but important – religion.
Structurally Ivanhoe is divided into three parts, each of them centering around a particular adventure or quest. The first part involves Ivanhoe's return to England in disguise (disguise is a major motif throughout the novel: Ivanhoe, Richard, Cedric, Locksley, and Wamba each mask their identities at some point) and centers around the great jousting tournament held at Ashby-de-la-Zouche. The second part involves Sir Maurice de Bracy's kidnapping of Cedric's Saxon party out of lust for Rowena and centers around the efforts of King Richard (in disguise, of course) and Robin Hood's (Lockley's) merry men to free the prisoners. The third part involves Rebecca's captivity at the hands of the Templars and Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert, and centers around the trial-by-combat which is arranged to determine whether she will live or die.
The period is also represented not only by political events, but different traditions, typical things. They are descriptions of clothes, landscapes, interior of castles. Tournament is very characteristic of that epoch.
Besides the author shows us here Robin Hood under the name of Locksley. Robin and his merry men help Richard to free the Saxon prisoners from Torquilstone and later save the king from Waldemar Fitzurse's treacherous attack. A gallant, witty, and heroic thief, Robin Hood adds extra of adventure, excitement, and familiarity to the story of Ivanhoe. Here is the connection of the other heroes with the people and folklore. Thus, the king is close to his people and Robin Hood is very loyal to him. Depiction of Gurth who wants to be free is the generalization of the whole nation.
Although the general political events depicted in the novel are relatively accurate, the story is heavily fictionalized. Most notably, its depiction of an England in which Saxon and Norman nobles are at odds is highly anachronistic. By the late 12th century, there were no such distinctions among an upper class that generally had a common Norman French culture, with elements of English nobility, mainly due to intermarriage between the two nationalities.
Possibly Scott confused his time period with the late 11th century. Occasionally, a character refers to a father or other near relative who was alive during the Norman Conquest, which was actually 130 years earlier. One inaccuracy in Ivanhoe created a new name in the English language: Cedric. The original Saxon name is Cerdic but Sir Walter committed metathesis.
“Rob Roy” 1818 is a novel about Scotland of the 18th century after the act а 1707 when there was a political plot arranged by Scottish nobility. They wanted to give back power to royal family presented by Jacob. The main opposition here is British vs. Scottish, gained this conflict can be solved in unity. There is also a love story (Rob Roy and Diana). We should also notice that Rob Roy is like Robin Hood who is close to people (a free man, his village was destroyed by British soldiers, he became an outlaw).
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