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
The evening of the sham trial, Rebecca sings her prayers, which end by recalling God’s promise to lead the Israelites from bondage in Egypt. After a quiet knock, Sir Brian enters. He explains that he expected the role of champion to fall to a lesser knight within the Order and planned to take the field in her defense (in disguise, of course). Now he sees only one way to save her from death and himself from dishonor: running away together to Palestine. Sir Brian loves Rebecca more than anything but his overwhelming ambition. He will sacrifice everything but that out of love for her. He warns her that she faces certain death if she forces the challenge, since he believes that neither Ivanhoe nor King Richard—the only knights he fears—are available.
Rebecca’s ongoing, active practice of her faith contrasts sharply with the book’s Christians, who by and large practice their faith in a self-serving way. Sir Brian’s membership in the Templar Order, for example, gives him access to power and wealth. He’s already shown that he doesn’t feel compelled to fulfil his vow of chastity, and now he expresses disbelief that God could actually control the outcome of the judicial combat. In this way, he associates religion with power rather than truth and justice. And, in terms of the book’s exploration of chivalry, Sir Brian remains deeply conflicted, torn between doing the right thing (standing up for Rebecca) and his worldly ambition.
Themes
Rebecca refuses. She insinuates that if Sir Brian truly loved her, he would protect her without hope of reward. His selfishness points towards his inability to rule his own passions. Unable to hope for succor from mankind, Rebecca consigns herself to God, and she promises Sir Brian that she faces death more willingly than dishonor and her resolve will never weaken. Sir Brian wishes that she had been born a Christian or he had been born as a reviled Jewish man so they could easily be together. Rebecca replies that she prefers to be persecuted than to be a persecuting Christian person whose evil actions belie their religious beliefs.
Rebecca makes a final appeal to Sir Brian’s sense of chivalry—as a monk he should value truth and honesty; as a knight he should protect the vulnerable; as one who claims to love her, he should value her life and safety more highly. But she recognizes that his failures stem from an inability to practice self-control, and so she quickly throws herself on the mercy of God, not a fellow human. Her genuine faith makes her stronger and braver than the book’s best knights; and she guides her life by the precepts of her religion rather than twisting her religion to suit political ambition or worldly persecution.
Themes
Still, Sir Brian can still hardly tear himself away from Rebecca and he wonders aloud how she has enchanted him with her feminine wiles. Still attracted by her beauty and courage, he begs her to forgive him so they can depart as friends. Rebecca forgives her captor. She sees nobility in him, even if his mind is an overgrown garden where weeds of pride and willfulness choke out the flowers of his better nature. Acknowledging her insight, Sir Brian withdraws.
Sir Brian continues to cast love as a powerful spell which saps his manly strength and resolve. But Rebecca reveals the secret of her fortitude and inner power to Sir Brian, and it has nothing to do with being a woman. Instead, she practices the self-control which Sir Brian and others lack. Where he cannot rule his passionate feelings for her, she tames her own feelings for Ivanhoe (even if she cannot root them out entirely). Where he cannot forgive himself for betraying her, she forgives him.
Themes
Albert Malvoisin waits impatiently for Sir Brian in the hallway. He grows more impatient when he realizes how deeply conflicted Sir Brian is about his feelings. Sir Brian declares that he will refuse to fight, or fight as Rebecca’s champion. Albert reminds him that either will earn him shame and imprisonment at best. It requires great effort on Albert’s part, but he tenuously convinces Sir Brian of his blamelessness in the matter of the challenge, which Beaumanoir holds responsibility for allowing. And, with careful flattery and mention of his rivals, Albert rekindles the knight’s fighting spirit as well.
Brian shows himself to be exactly as Rebecca has just alleged – noble in some of his sentiments but not in control of himself and unsteady in his actions. In a way, his internal conflict shows him in a better light than Albert de Malvoisin, who worries more about maintaining the reputation (and might) of the Order than about truth, justice, and mercy. The ease with which he rekindles Sir Brian’s fighting spirit points toward chivalry’s limitations: as a set of customs, it is inherently neutral and can be used for good or bad ends.
Themes
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