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
After a moment of shocked silence, Ivanhoe asks Beaumanoir to declare whether he won the match squarely. Beaumanoir replies that he did, declares Rebecca a free woman, and forfeits Sir Brian’s belongings to Ivanhoe. Ivanhoe replies he wants nothing of Sir Brian’s and the Templars should bury him quietly, but with dignity. Just then, King Richard and a party of armed knights thunder into the lists. After briefly chiding Ivanhoe for taking on the challenge in his weakened state, Richard declares Albert de Malvoisin under arrest for treason. Beaumanoir asserts that he alone can punish Templars, and his men face the king in challenge. But after a moment’s standoff, he and the rest of the Templars bow to Richard’s will and retreat.
With Sir Brian’s death, Prince John has lost his last key supporter—Richard has warned off both de Bracy and Fitzurse, and Front-de-Boeuf died at Torquilstone. Nothing prevents King Richard from revealing himself to the assembled crowd and reasserting his rightful place as king of England. He wastes no time continuing to correct wrongs which began back when Ivanhoe scored a Saxon victory over Sir Brian in the tournament and which continue at an ever faster pace now that Ivanhoe has killed the Templar. Beaumanoir’s assertion of power suggests just how poorly John has ruled—no one seems to respect the absolute authority of the king anymore.
Themes
Isaac crushes Rebecca in an ecstatic embrace. He wants to thank Ivanhoe instantly, but Rebecca doesn’t trust her ability to keep her emotions in check. Only when she points out the presence of King Richard—who, Isaac fears, might try to extort money from them as punishment for financing Prince John—does Isaac willingly leave the lists.
Rebecca’s reticence reminds readers that she still has romantic feelings for Ivanhoe; it requires heroic (but not superhuman) efforts for her to keep her impossible desires in check. And her discussion with her father reminds readers of the still-precarious situation they face; even in a reordered and just England, as Jewish people, they remain dependent on the goodness and mercy of the powerful for protection.
Themes
While the crowd cheers for King Richard, the Earl of Essex catches Ivanhoe up on recent developments. Prince John’s supporters abandoned him, and he delivered himself into Richard’s custody. Richard greeted him warmly, then “suggested” that John join their mother (imprisoned elsewhere in England) until Richard’s angry supporters could forget his treason. Ivanhoe worries that King Richard’s mercy invites future coup attempts, but Essex hopes that the harsher punishments handed down to John’s supporters will quell dissent. De Bracy and Waldemar Fitzurse escape with banishment, but Philip and Albert de Malvoisin are executed.
Although the book somewhat alters facts to provide narrative tension and closure (King Richard never traveled in disguise; Prince John surrendered several months later, and in France) it largely follows history. This careful balancing act recalls Templeton’s assertion that historical fiction is a powerful genre because its vividness can invite the kind of interest which dry history cannot. Richard demonstrates his gallant, chivalrous spirit in forging Prince John, and the necessary resolve to be king in punishing the Malvoisins.
Themes
King Richard’s popularity among the people ends Cedric’s dreams of Saxon restoration once and for all. Moreover, with Athelstane and Rowena now both dissenting to his fond wish for their marriage, he has no hope of unifying the Saxons anyway. Eventually, he must sadly conclude that Athelstane is, as Wamba put it, “a cock which would not fight.”
Although he clings to his Saxon identity (remember that he just reconciled with Ivanhoe on the condition that Ivanhoe never wear Norman-style clothes again), even Cedric must eventually accept the idea that the restoration of England’s rightful inheritance—both Saxon and Norman—rests on finding a way forward together.
Themes
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Finally, only Cedric’s characteristic obstinacy lies in the way of Ivanhoe and Rowena’s marriage, and it eventually gives way to Rowena’s cajoling, his natural pride in his son, and the continued offer of friendship he receives from King Richard. The fact that King Richard attends the wedding greatly reassures the Saxons that they will more likely attain their just rights by aligning themselves with Richard than by opposing him. Thus, the wedding of Ivanhoe and Rowena both joins young lovers and promises a future of Norman and Saxon unity in England. The seeds of this new society sprout in Cedric’s lifetime, with freer friendships and marriage alliances between the groups, although it won’t reach maturity until the reign of Edward III when the mixed Saxon-Norman pidgin, English, becomes the official court language.
King Richard’s diligent pursuit of Cedric’s support and loyalty proves him a worthy king for Saxons and Normans alike, and his presence at Ivanhoe’s and Rowena’s marriage foreshadows the unified English identity which will develop in later centuries and lead to the power and prestige the nation enjoyed in the 19th century and beyond. This culminating moment invites the novel’s 19th-century British readers to feel pride and emotional investment in the lives of their ancestors. And at the moment of the wedding, it seems like the world of England has been fully restored.
Themes
Two days after the wedding, Rebecca visits Rowena. She enters the room with an attitude of respect untainted by fear or obligation, and she throws herself at Rowena’s feet, begging Rowena to thank Ivanhoe for risking his life on her behalf. Rebecca and Isaac plan to leave England for Grenada; they expect greater security in the court of a Muslim king than a Christian one, even though King Richard loves their benefactor Ivanhoe. She cuts off Rowena’s objections, noting that she will never fully understand the prejudices Rebecca and her father face.
But not everything has been made right. On the one hand, the novel finds itself constrained by history; it cannot give Rebecca and Isaac an easy, happy ending when history clearly shows that Jewish people faced ongoing persecution throughout the period and beyond. About a century after the events in this book, a later English king would expel every Jewish person from England. On the other hand, Rebecca gains her depth and emotional impact from her equanimity in the face of trial and difficulty. Her choice to leave England allows her to remain in control of herself, rather than allowing herself to be continually subjected to external circumstances. In this way, she maintains her profound dignity and power.
Themes
Rebecca asks to see Rowena’s face, and blushing intensely, Rowena removes her veil. Her beauty momentarily takes Rebecca’s breath away, but, regaining her customary equilibrium, she promises to remember Rowena for many years. And she presents the bride with a diamond necklace and earrings. Rowena protests about the cost of the gift, but Rebecca insists, noting that the wealth held by Jewish people throughout Europe means nothing compared to the influence—and prejudice—of the European nobility. She only wants Rowena to know that greed does not drive all Jewish people.
Throughout the book, Rowena has served to counteract and correct stereotypes about Jewish people. Where they are considered greedy, she has been generous. Where they are considered self-serving, she has risked herself for others. Where they are considered deluded in their religious beliefs, she has shown herself to be the most faithful worshipper and most upright human being in the book. Her gift to Rowena underlines these claims and rebukes Rowena’s suggestion that she convert.
Themes
Asking Rowena to tell Ivanhoe that she goes away intent on living a life of devotion to her faith and to the care of the poor—and in a voice that betrays many more thoughts than she voluntarily expresses—Rebecca bids Rowena farewell. When Rowena tells Ivanhoe about this exchange, it makes a deep impression on his mind.
Just as when she faced the stake with courage—but not without fear—Rebecca leaves England and relinquishes her feelings for Ivanhoe voluntarily, if not easily. And the book teasingly suggests that Ivanhoe may have indeed harbored more feelings for his lovely benefactress than he would have admitted.
Themes
Rowena and Ivanhoe live together for many happy years. And readers should not, Templeton insists, wonder if Ivanhoe remembered Rebecca more frequently than Rowena might have liked. Ivanhoe rises through the ranks at court, his ascent stopped only by Richard I’s premature death, which condemns Ivanhoe to be a forgotten name, and, ultimately, just a “tale.”
In the end, Ivanhoe never fully resolves the debate about the value of chivalry, but its reliance on historical fact forces it to acknowledge that, at least in King Richard’s case, an inability to put the good of his people and his kingdom above his own thirst for glory led to disaster for the king and his people. But although Templeton suggests here that Ivanhoe’s fate points toward the ultimate emptiness of chivalry, the fact that his honor, bravery, and nobility have suffused the book which bears his name argues otherwise.
Themes
