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
Despite—or perhaps because of—the grave danger they face, Rebecca feels a “keen sensation of pleasure” at being reunited with Ivanhoe. She examines his wound, her touch betraying deeper feelings than she would voluntarily admit. When Ivanhoe asks, “Is it you, gentle maiden?” a scarcely audible sigh escapes her lips. Her heart jumps when he calls her by name, but she reminds herself sternly that he regards her, a Jewish woman, as less valuable than a horse or a dog. She gives him a brief history of the party’s capture, then tells him that a priest has arrived who might have more news. And that’s how she and Ulrica come to lie in wait for Cedric.
Readers can see that Rebecca isn’t being entirely honest with herself—the thrill she feels in Ivanhoe’s presence comes at least in part from her feelings for him. But because she cannot ever act on them, separated as they are by the gulf of their differing religions, she transfers her excitement to the present dangers. She shows all the symptoms of love. But, in sharp contrast to the man who claims to love her, Sir Brian, she takes control of her actions even when she cannot tell her heart what to do.
Themes
The priest never arrives, and presently Ivanhoe and Rebecca hear the clamor of knights preparing for battle. Intent on keeping Ivanhoe still and in bed, Rebecca says she will go to the window and keep him informed about the fight. Ivanhoe frets that she risks injury or death and begs her to take down a shield from the wall for protection. Displaying her usual courage, Rebecca takes up her post at the window, which gives her an excellent view. She sees hundreds of archers lurking in the shadow of the nearby forest and reports that the attackers seem to be under the command of a Black Knight whom Ivanhoe doesn’t recognize.
Sir Brian earlier claimed that part of his attraction to Rebecca arose from their similar temperaments. Yet, she and Ivanhoe seem to have more in common—first and foremost, they’re both courageous and calm in the face of danger. In this moment, Ivanhoe betrays his chivalric attention to the safety of the vulnerable (women) when he insists that Rebecca shield herself. But he also betrays his knightly thirst for glory in the keen interest he shows in the battle. Rebecca’s description of the fighting provides the context for one of the book’s most detailed explorations of chivalry and its value.
Themes
As Rebecca watches, the Saxon forces charge at the castle and the archers loose their arrows in a deadly barrage. When Rebecca peeps through the window again, she sees the Black Knight fighting toward the gate. She describes the attackers breaching the wall and Front-de-Boeuf meeting them. She tells Ivanhoe when Front-de-Boeuf briefly overpowers the Black Knight and when the Black Knight regains the upper hand. Defenders drag the injured Front-de-Boeuf inside as the advantage turns from the attackers to the defenders and back again and men die in droves. Ivanhoe grows more and more excited.
Rebecca, standing at the window, quickly understands that bloodshed and violence lie at the root of chivalry, no matter how pretty the language used to describe it, or strict the rules and values used to contain and direct it. While there’s something undoubtedly impressive about the strength and courage the Black Knight and Front-de-Boeuf show, there’s also something wasteful in their contest, since one of them likely faces death.
Themes
Soon, Rebecca reports that the Black Knight is taking his axe to the gate. Ivanhoe can think of only one man who would dare such a thing and he again asks Rebecca if she can see any other distinguishing features on the man. She can discern nothing except the magnitude of his martial spirit—she says he rushes to battle as if it were a feast and he were starving. She finds watching him fight both marvelous and horrifying. Ivanhoe swears he would endure 10 years’ captivity to fight by such a man for just one day, and Rebecca asks how he can be so hungry for battle, having so recently been a victim of its violence. He explains that victory, honor, and the love of battle nourish all true knights. Nothing more and nothing less than eternal glory will satisfy them.
Ivanhoe clearly has suspicions about the Black Knight’s true identity, based in part on his physical characteristics (his tall height, his broad shoulders) but mostly based on his courageous attitude in battle. Like Ivanhoe, the Black Knight becomes one of the most compelling arguments for the value of chivalry in the book, insofar as his expertise and skill as a knight frequently do serve to protect the powerless, rescue the helpless, and chastise the arrogant. When Rebecca questions Ivanhoe directly about what chivalry has gotten him other than pain and suffering, he points to glory and honor. But his argument never reaches beyond internal justifications—chivalry defines success in war as glory, then excuses violence as the path toward glory. Ivanhoe’s answer skips over Rebecca’s real question about how to measure chivalry against other values like romantic and familial love or social cohesion.
Themes
Get the entire Ivanhoe LitChart as a printable PDF.
Rebecca can’t understand this bloodlust and Ivanhoe retorts that only a Christian can feel the true power of chivalry. Somewhat chastened, Rebecca nevertheless knows that she and her people possess vast reserves of courage, even if Ivanhoe doesn’t believe it. She turns to find that Ivanhoe has exhausted himself in his excitement and fainted. She looks on his handsome face, then forces herself to imagine it in old age and death as she berates herself for caring more about him than she does about Isaac. Vowing to tear her foolish affection from her heart, she wraps herself in her veil and turns her face away from the slumbering knight.
When Rebecca presses Ivanhoe further, he shuts down the debate by citing their irreconcilable religious differences—and then he falls asleep. The question remains unsettled; readers must judge for themselves whether they agree with Ivanhoe or Rebecca. However, the book unquestionably values the courage, self-control, and personal mastery Rebecca shows by controlling her impossible romantic feelings, in sharp contrast to Sir Brian.
Themes
