Ivanhoe is set in twelfth century England, during the time of chivalry and the Crusades. It features unforgettable characters such as Wilfred of Ivanhoe, disinherited by his father because of his love for the lady Rowena; Richard Plantagenet, or more commonly known as Richard the Lion Hearted; the famous outlaw Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest and his band; and the valiant Templar, Brian de Bois-Guilbert. Ivanhoe is a story of love, corruption, discrimination and valuable courage.
I have, as a rule, always loved tales of medieval England and a knight's devotion to his lady love. In addition to this, I also love historical fiction. Well, Sir Walter Scott wrote a combination of the two resulting in Ivanhoe. What can I say? The first half of it was pretty much boring and quite unintelligible because of the language. But as it went by, the reader is caught in the hurricane of events and is, at last, able to feel the tension, fear, love and anger that the characters are feeling. The reader is able to love the characters (even Gurth, the loyal swineherd turned squire).
The story is beautiful and the topics it delves into are, I'm sure, quite familiar to us. There's the discrimination between Normans (French) and the Saxons (English) and these two against the Jews. The notion of slavery is also very much alive in the tale. Government corruption (and even inside the Catholic church) is portrayed. Love, I'm pretty much sure, is not a farfetched subject. Unrequited love, more so.
Now for the characters. The summary at the back of the book is not wrong in saying that Scott's characters are "a gallery of flesh-and-blood." Truly, they are these. Upon finishing the book, the reader cannot help but think if, somewhere in the world's history, a man such as Robin Hood lived or if the singular event of Athelstane's raising really happened. Scott's characters are so powerfully portrayed in this way.
Of course, I had my favorites. For characters there's Robin Hood (or Locksley), Friar Tuck, Rebecca, Richard the Lion Hearted, Wamba and Brian de Bois-Guilbert (towards the end, at least). Brian de Bois-Guilbert's character was especially endearing when he told Rebecca that "if I renounce present fame and future ambition, I renounce it for thy sake," (page 401). Yeah. I know. It's pretty much cheesy but isn't that something to come from an honored Templar?
Anyway, I really liked Ivanhoe and I don't regret buying it or spending a lot of hours reading it. It was fun. :)
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