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
Having tarried too long over their midday meal, Cedric and his party find themselves on the verge of the bandit-plagued woods near nightfall. Still, they press on, trusting both in the sympathy of the mainly Saxon outlaws and their own strength. They hear cries of distress and soon come upon Isaac and Rebecca next to an abandoned horse litter. Isaac explains that he hired six bodyguards to convey himself, his daughter, and their injured friend through the woods, but when these bodyguards heard a report about a large band of armed outlaws, they took the horses and ran, abandoning Isaac and Rebecca to their fate. Isaac asks if they might join Cedric’s party, and although Cedric denies them this boon, he does offer to have two of his men escort father and daughter to the nearest town.
Cedric’s bravado contrasts sharply with Isaac’s and Rebecca’s concerns and reminds readers that while ignoble Normans oppress everyone in England who doesn’t belong to their group, some people are more vulnerable than others. Cedric shows grudging charity toward the Jewish father once again, betraying the small-minded tribalism that earlier led him to disown his own son. At this point, Cedric cares only for those who are completely aligned with his own views and political agendas. Although he doesn’t actively oppress anyone, he’s only marginally better than the Normans. In this way, the book yet again points to the limitations of his views and gestures toward its preferred (and the historical) solution of merging the two groups together into a strong English identity.
Themes
Rowena seconds Cedric’s plan until Rebecca appeals to her personally. Then Rowena insists that they be allowed to join the company and asks Rebecca to ride next to her. In the party’s haste to rearrange themselves, Wamba loosens Gurth’s bonds, and he quietly slips away into the woods. When Cedric’s attendants notice his absence, they decide to let the bandits take care of him rather than look for him themselves.
When Rowena welcomes Rebecca into the group, her action instigates a long series of events that will slowly bring the domestic world of Cedric’s family and the broader community of England back to order (although Rebecca herself, as readers will later see, won’t fully benefit from these shifts). Gurth’s escaping Cedric’s wrongful imprisonment is the first of these events.
Themes
Soon the path narrows so significantly that the party can hardly ride two across, and where it narrows even further, a band of masked men wearing yeoman’s green and shouting “For England!” jump from the undergrowth in attack. Cedric reacts quickly, but rashly, and although he pins his first attacker to an oak tree, he overswings his sword against a second and gets it—and himself—stuck in an oak tree. In contrast, the bandits surround and disarm Athelstane before he can even summon the energy to draw his sword. In the confusion, Wamba relieves one of Cedric’s trembling servants of his sword, fends off several attackers, and escapes into the undergrowth where he quickly stumbles upon Gurth and Fangs.
Only supreme confidence in their shared Saxon identity would lead Cedric and his party to risk such a natural ambush point; unfortunately for them, they’re not attacked by Saxons but Normans, whose abuse of their power now includes trying to pin their own bad deeds on their Saxon subjects. And the book draws readers’ attention to the excellent characterization of both Athelstane and Cedric it provides in this moment, as their actions perfectly encapsulate their personalities—one is too prone to fight, and the other is too slow to arms. Wamba also gets to show his true colors in this moment, revealing a braver (and more competent) man than readers have previously seen.
Themes
Wamba describes the ambush to Gurth, who immediately proposes they rush to Cedric’s aid—his anger at his former master as quickly forgotten as it was kindled. But while they debate their next steps, another man orders them to stop. Gurth recognizes the voice of the head bandit he encountered on the tournament’s first night; Wamba recognizes the prizes won by the yeoman archer Locksley. The man refuses to identify himself, but he offers to reconnoiter the scene for the pair of Cedric’s faithful servants. He returns after a few moments to report that his men cannot take on the bandits without reinforcements, but that the servants should not fear for their master’s safety. Promising to help raise the necessary force, Locksley bids Gurth and Wamba to come with him.
Deep in the woods, a Saxon rescue party begins to coalesce as Locksley—previously highlighted as the yeoman archer who stood up to Prince John and the gallant bandit who refused to steal from a fellow Saxon—joins Wamba and Gurth. Although the book primarily presents Norman oppression through the experiences of the elite—Rowena, Athelstane, Cedric, and (to a lesser extent) Ivanhoe—Locksley’s banditry points to the ways that Norman greed affects all classes of society, even the medieval middle class. Their success or failure will foreshadow the success or failure of the Saxon cause in England.
Themes
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