Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Ivanhoe, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Merits of Chivalry
Disguise and Discovery
Inheritance and Displacement
The Vulnerability and Power of Women
History vs. Romance
Summary
Analysis
Lawrence Templeton, naming himself as author of the following story, writes a letter to the Reverend Dr. Jonas Dryasdust explaining his literary project. Templeton worries that Dryasdust will consider the unworthy book as little better than an “idle novel [or] romance.” He recalls Dryasdust’s contention that a contest between an English historical novelist and a Scottish one would be unfairly weighted towards the Scot, since the interesting parts of English history lie too deep in the past to appeal to modern audiences and he doubts that English readers would willingly accept the idea of their ancestors practicing barbaric customs.
The book begins with a letter discussing the uses and limitations of historical fiction, a somewhat underrated genre in the era in which Ivanhoe was published. Still, the contemporaneous and enduring popularity of Walter Scott’s historical novels argues at least as eloquently as this letter. In general, Lawrence Templeton (both a character created by Scott, with his own backstory, and Scott’s pen name) considers a difference between the past and the present as historical fiction’s primary obstacle.
Themes
On the contrary, Templeton contends, although it may be harder to glean sufficient hints about the “private life of [English] ancestors” from “musty records and chronicles,” a sufficiently wide survey of the available materials can, indeed, paint a vivid picture of the past. And he feels confident that if he has painted a “true picture of old English manners,” his countrymen will accept it. Finally, he answers Dryasdust’s final argument—that scholars make bad storytellers—with a list of men accomplished in both spheres, among whom Templeton hopes to merit inclusion.
Part of Templeton’s claim rests on the idea that history is interesting in itself; the author of Ivanhoe clearly read a lot of medieval history and romance, and his background knowledge is apparent in lengthy passages describing the rules of a joust, medieval clothing, and the differences in décor between Norman and Saxon houses. Although modern historians have found many inaccuracies in Ivanhoe’s portrayal of the Middle Ages, the vivid and largely correct world of the book has inspired generations of readers.
Themes
Templeton admits that he cannot claim complete and total accuracy in his depiction of medieval customs—doing so would render the work unreadable—but he notes that all good fiction makes careful choices to facilitate readers’ understanding and interest. Successful translations of exotic books like The Arabian Nights depend on a careful mixture of accuracy and literary license; moreover, the best historical fictions both highlight the strangeness of the past and acknowledging the similarities of “manners and sentiments” across eras. To prove this point, he notes how familiar the emotions and situations in, say, Chaucer, can seem to modern readers who muddle through the language. Strange though their customs may have been, people in the past were still people.
The main reason Templeton gives for historical fiction’s importance—that by presenting fictional stories, the novelist humanizes the past in a way that cultivates the reader’s interest and empathy—points to the book’s enduring appeal over the two centuries since its publication. Some of the practices and attitudes it portrays might strike the modern reader as barbaric (for instance, the persistent and often violent antisemitism Rebecca and Isaac face throughout), yet the characters also model courage, compassion, and kindness.
Themes
In striking this balance, the writer faces a steeper challenge than other artists, since he must paint with words. And in this arena, Templeton admits his work may fall short of Dryasdust’s exacting standards. While he carefully avoided the inaccurate use of modern ideas, he may have conflated different eras of the past to paint a vivid picture. But he expects only specialists, not general readers, to note these mistakes.
Templeton also anticipates the scholars nitpicking the tiny details he may get wrong—he openly admits to some anachronism (employing ideas or events or fashions from other eras) where it helps his readers to better understand his characters and the lessons their lives have to offer, or where doing so makes his book more compelling. He argues for the use of facts as long as they don’t impede readers’ enjoyment or their grasping of the novel’s main claims.
Themes
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Templeton closes his letter by describing his primary source, a single manuscript he found in the possession of Sir Arthur Wardour. He expresses his hope that he has explained, if not vindicated, his attempt. Then, after a paragraph of personal considerations and social gossip, he bids Dryasdust farewell. A footnote complains that it took more than a year for the letter to reach Dryasdust thanks to the poor state of the postal service.
Scott, through Templeton, gives a veneer of historical accuracy when he describes the manuscript in which Templeton allegedly found the story of Ivanhoe. And the letter’s gossipy closing reminds readers of the era in which it was composed, anticipating a future in which the historicity of the novel would be doubly layered by the medieval past it invokes and the early 19th-century world in which it was composed.
Themes
