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
Now the tale backtracks necessarily to trace the adventures of King Richard (once again disguised as the Black Knight), who took Ivanhoe to a nearby priory where he could continue to recuperate. The two spoke privately for a while before the Black Knight, accompanied by Wamba as a guide, prepared to set forth for Coningsburgh and Athelstane’s funeral. He plans for Ivanhoe to join him there, after he’s had a few more days to recover. But no sooner has King Richard left than Ivanhoe orders the prior to give him a horse. He has a premonition of approaching evil, besides which, Rebecca’s medicine is uncommonly effective. The reluctant prior eventually lends him a horse and, with Gurth acting as squire, the young knight sets out.
Although readers and a select few men (Ivanhoe, de Bracy, Prince John, and Prince John’s closest advisors) now know the Black Knight’s identity, he reassumes his disguise both to protect himself until he can raise and army and because—as the book implies here and will later state outright—he enjoys a life of knight-errantry. A king should not risk his life in this way, since the wellbeing and fate of the kingdom depend on his own safety. This—plus their personal friendship—animates Ivanhoe’s worried pursuit.
Themes
Meanwhile Wamba and King Richard ride merrily through the forest. Wamba now has a real sword at his side, despite being a “fool”; Templeton assures readers he wasn’t so much actually witless as prone to an anxious, irritable restlessness in both body and mind that made it often difficult for him to attend to any task—or thought—at hand for long. Together, the companions sing love-songs to pass the time.
Accepting Wamba (once called “witless” but now thought capable of handling a sword) thanks to his brave actions at Torquilstone and before shows Richard’s ability to judge a person by their character rather than their title. This bodes well for Saxon interests, since the Normans’ actions in Richard’s absence haven’t shown them in a good light.
Themes
Eventually, they fall to discussing Locksley and his woodsmen. Wamba shares some proverbial wisdom with King Richard. If you entertain a Saxon with a full wine-pitcher or walk in the woods with a full purse, you’ll quickly find your vessels empty. King Richard expresses shock at Wamba’s suggestion that Locksley and his companions are thieves. Wamba replies that they are, even if they strive to keep a clean balance sheet with Heaven by balancing out robberies with good deeds. But they’re not the worst danger of the wild places; Philip Malvoisin’s followers are far more violent and dangerous.
Evidently, King Richard doesn’t consider the woodsmen’s pillage of Torquilstone theft, so he’s surprised to find such allegations leveled at men whom he considered to be paragons of fairness and justice. It’s clear that, although he’s been disposed by his own brother, he doesn’t yet fully grasp the degree of corruption of which Norman nobility are guilty. Wamba draws his attention to this, too, foreshadowing the impending restitution of Saxon rights.
Themes
When King Richard boasts that he fears no man, Wamba relieves him of the bugle, worried that he might need to call for backup. Soon, Wamba spots a potential ambush, and just as he warns Richard, arrows rain down on them from a nearby thicket. Richard charges into the thicket and attacks the ambushers, six or seven armed men under the command of a knight in blue, who mortally wounds Richard’s horse. Wamba sounds the bugle as Richard braces his back to an oak tree to face his attackers. The knight in blue prepares to charge, intent on pinning Richard, but cannot after Wamba hobbles his horse’s legs.
When Wamba sensibly relieves Richard of Locksley’s bugle, he suggests that a certain foolhardiness may lie at the root of chivalry. Likewise, while the book generally celebrates King Richard’s chivalric spirit, it does occasionally offer evidence that this might be a weakness, too.. The debate about the value of chivalry continues, unresolved. And, as ever, an important component of the debate revolves around how well a knight does or does not embody chivalric virtues. By assuming a disguise to lay an ambush, the blue-clad knight shows himself in an unchivalrous light.
Themes
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Just then, Locksley, the Cleric of Copmanhurst, and several of their companions burst into the clearing. They help the Black Knight (King Richard) subdue his attackers. He demands the identity of the knight in blue, who reveals himself as Waldemar Fitzurse. Richard takes Fitzurse aside and demands to know the meaning of the attack; Fitzurse confesses that Prince John ordered it. Although Fitzurse proudly and pointedly refuses to beg Richard to spare his life, Richard lets him go, giving him three days to leave England forever. Then, turning to Locksley, he orders the woodsmen to let Fitzurse leave unharmed, revealing himself to them as King Richard.
Locksley and his men render aid to the Black Knight, suggesting that for all his martial prowess and personal excellence, Richard I cannot successfully rule England without embracing the Saxons to a greater degree than his predecessors. Fitzurse attacked Richard in what amounts to an inglorious assassination attempt; his refusal to beg for his life shows that he understands the severity of this breech of chivalric conduct, which favors knights competing openly and fairly. In response, Richard gallantly spares his life.
Themes
The woodsmen bow to their king as he pardons their misdemeanors and thievery. Locksley confesses that he is none other than Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest, the “King of Outlaws.” Wamba mutters that the mice will play when the cat’s away, causing King Richard to note his presence with surprise. Wamba proudly explains how he helped by hobbling Fitzurse’s horse. Then they hear the Cleric (whom most stories of Robin Hood call “Friar Tuck”) fall to his knees in prayer, begging forgiveness for fist-fighting with his sovereign. Richard not only grants forgiveness but names him warden to the royal forests of Warncliffe. And as the company prepares to ride, two men appear.
The Cleric of Copmanhurst is technically guilty of Fitzurse’s crime—an attack on the rightful king, even though Richard was disguised at the moment. But, showing characteristic good humor and fighting spirit, King Richard forgives him not just for that offense but for the other extremes to which Norman abuses of power drove him—such as thievery and poaching. He then begins to reassert his royal rights and to set things in his kingdom back to order by placing the cleric in charge of the royal deer—the implication being that Richard has the right to dispose of them as he wishes, even if that means willingly allowing them to be poached.
Themes
