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
Meanwhile, De Bracy finds Rowena pacing in the finest room this bachelor’s castle has to offer. He has done himself up with all the dandifying care of the latest Norman fashions. She demands to know her doom as his prisoner; he proclaims that he is her captive, not her jailor. Objecting to being addressed in “the jargon of a troubadour,” Rowena protests that she doesn’t know him. They argue back and forth, De Bracy’s affected, courtly style of language gradually falling away as he grows more annoyed with Rowena’s lack of interest in his romantic protestations. Finally declaring that her own bad manners demand wooing by force rather than courtly language, he threatens that she will never leave the castle unless she agrees to become his wife.
Norman not only in name but in sentiment, Maurice de Bracy tries to woo the Saxon Rowena in the terms of chivalry and courtly love. The social construct of courtly love initially seems to invert the gender hierarchy; in it, a powerful knight feels himself to fall under the possession and power of the woman he loves. He feels overwhelmed to the point of death with love for her, and he invests her with power over his life or death. This is why de Bracy proclaims himself Rowena’s captive, not her jailor. But courtly love invests mostly fictional power in its ladies, as Rowena clearly realizes; in reality, de Bracy has almost all the power. Furthermore, she rejects not just de Bracy's individual suit but the entire idea of courtly love as a Norman innovation—the “troubadours” she maligns were strongly associated with the Normans, especially King Richard’s mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine.
Themes
Rowena declares that she will marry no man who disdains her Saxon upbringing. De Bracy replies that she will never hear Ivanhoe’s proposal, since the wounded knight lies in De Bracy’s power, too. This dismays Rowena, who somehow didn’t recognize Isaac’s and Rebecca’s wounded friend. Seizing on his newfound advantage, De Bracy promises to protect Ivanhoe from Front-de-Boeuf—who has an interest in seeing the man whose land he occupies out of the way—if she agrees to marry him. Unused to having her will opposed, Rowena soon gives in to her helpless feminine nature, throws up her hands, and collapses into tears.
As if to prove Rowena’s point that the power courtly love invests in a woman is fictional, as soon as she fails to follow courtly love conventions and fall in love with him, de Bracy reasserts his real authority and begins to threaten her and those she loves with violence. Abuse and coercion, it seems, are ever the Norman way, despite their appeals to chivalric virtue. And while Rowena doesn’t exactly capitulate, the book depicts her as an essentially powerless woman as soon as someone opposes her will.
Themes
De Bracy feels some compassion but more consternation when faced with Rowena’s tears; he recognizes that he’s pushed her beyond his ability to reason with her, but he doesn’t know how to calm her down. Faced with her grief, he feels his own resolve falter and he wishes he had more fortitude or that she’d been able to retain her haughty bearing. While he tries to console her, they hear the commotion at the castle gates, which De Bracy takes as a welcome excuse to disentangle himself from his botched courtship.
In her weakness, the book claims, Rowena finds power. First, she deviates from the courtly love script by refusing to fall in love with de Bracy; then she deviates from the oppressed Saxon script by refusing to capitulate in order to save Ivanhoe. Ultimately, her refusal to conform to de Bracy’s expectations frustrates his courtship more than anything else she could have done. In this vignette, humorously, it’s de Bracy whom the horns save from trouble, not his lovely captive.
Themes
At this point, Templeton says in an aside to readers, he must offer proof to support his portrait of these “valiant barons” of England as “such dreadful oppressors” who act contrary to the laws of “nature and humanity.” He cites a royal chronicle from the era of King Stephen, which describes Norman excesses including theft of lands, torture of English folks, and women having to disguise themselves as nuns to escape rape. These being well established historical facts, he stands by his book’s depiction as wholly reflective of this moment in English history.
To modern readers (both of Templeton’s own early 19th-century day and of later eras) to whom these abuses of feminine virtue might seem contrary to the laws of chivalrous conduct, Templeton offers another of his explanatory asides, justifying the unsavory elements of his story with historical precedent. This also seems to point toward Dr. Dryasdust’s contention, referenced in the Dedicatory Epistle, that English readers would abandon Templeton as soon as he portrayed their ancestors in a bad light. In this case, Templeton appeals to history to support his fiction, drawing from accounts of the reign of King Stephen (1135–1154) who ruled just prior to King Richard and Prince John’s father, Henry II.
Themes
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