Sir Walter Scott

(1771-1832)

His life and work

Sir Walter Scott, the first great writer of historical novels, was born in Edinburg on August 15, 1771. His father was an Edinburgh lawyer who descended from the fighting and riding clan of Buccleuch. He was the first of his clan to live in a city and practise a profession. He had a large family. Walter, the future writer, was the ninth of his twelve children. When not yet two years old, the boy fell ill with a disease that left him lame for life. His parents thought country air would be good for him, so they sent him to his grandparents’ farm, called Sandy Knowe, a place where there were hills and crags and a ruined tower. Walter soon became a strong boy. In spite of his lameness he climbed the steep hills and rode his Shetland pony at a gallop. Walter’s grandparents told him thrilling tales of adventures on the Scottish border and stories of the crumbling abbeys and old castles. He learned to love the solemn history of Scotland and liked to recite Scottish ballads and poems.

When he grew older and went to school, he became very fond of reading: one of his favourite books was a collection of ballads, called “Reliques of Ancient English Poetry”, edited by Bishop Percy. At the age of fifteen Scott had a chance to meet Robert Burns.

At the suggestion of his father, Scott became a lawyer and practised for fourteen years. During his business trips he visited places of famous battles and collected old ballads that were still passed on from generation to generation by word of mouth. In his wanderings Scott saw the breaking-up of patriarchal clans, and the many thousands of peasants who streamed along the roads towards the coal and iron regions in the south-west of Scotland to find work. The evils of the past seemed mild to him now when compared with the new oppression. Like many writers belonging to the Romantic trend, Scott, too, felt that all the good days were gone. He wished to record all the historical facts he knew before they were forgotten, and thus pay tribute to the past. Scott’s first published work was a translation of Goethe’s historical play “Gotz von Berlichingen”. This work taught Scott that history is made by the people.

At the age of twenty-six Scott married, and bought a large estate at Abbotsford, not far from Edinburgh. There Scott built a fine house in the style of a castle. His house became a sort of museum of Scottish history and culture: its halls, library, and armoury were full of rare objects that had been collected by Scott. Among these were the purse of Rob Roy, old Scottish armour and weapons, stag antlers, rare pictures and books, and the cross that was carried by Mary, Queen of Scots, when she went to the scaffold.

Scott’s life at Abbotsford was most regular. Rising at five, he lit his own fire and then went out to see his favorite horse. At six he was already seated at his desk, devoting all his energy to writing. By twelve o’clock he was “his own man”, ready to entertain his friends, who often came to visit him. Among his guests were many famous people.

Scott, the Poet

The folk ballads Walter Scott had collected were the first poetic work he published. It was called “Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border” and consisted of three volumes; the first two were issued in 1802 and the third one in 1803. Soon after, his own romantic poems attracted the attention of the reading public. The best were “The Lay of the Last Minstrel” (1805), “Marmion” (1808), and “The Lady of the Lake” (1810). These poems reproduce old legends and combine them with historical material. They were written with great poetic skill and accompanied by such beautiful descriptions that the poet became very famous. But when Byron’s wonderful poems appeared, Scott, to quote his own words, “left the field of poetry to his rival” who by that time was already a friend of his. He took to writing novels. It was not only a new beginning, it marked a new period in Scott’s creative work. He declined the honour of poet-laureate in 1813 because he understood that writing official verses and odes on the birthdays of members of the royal family would interfere with his creative work.

Scott, the Novelist

In 1814 Scott published his “Waverley, or ‘Tis Sixty Years Since”. Because he had an established reputation as a poet, Scott decided to print his first novel anonymously. The book was a great success, and everybody wanted to know who the author was. Scott published many of his novels under the name of “The Author of Waverley”, but finally the secret leaked out. During the next seventeen years (from 1815 till 1832) Scott wrote more than twenty-five novels and many stories and tales besides.

In 1818 he accepted the offer of a baronetcy. Surrounded by his large family, he looked like the chief of a new clan.

Scott was a hard worker: “…it is with the deepest regret,” he wrote about himself, “that I recollect in my manhood the opportunities of learning which I neglected in my youth. Through every part of my literary career I have felt pinched and hampered by my ignorance.”

Scott’s publisher was John Ballantyne, an Edinburgh bookseller in whose firm Scott was a silent partner* (*A silent partner had no voice in management or business). This firm suddenly went bankrupt in 1826, and Scott found himself, at the age of fifty-five, not only penniless but burdened with a debt of $ 130.000. Nobly refusing to permit the creditors of the firm to suffer any loss that he could help, he devoted the rest of his life to the task of repaying this colossal debt. Setting to work on the very day of the failure, he managed, in four years, to pay back $ 70.000. It must be admitted that many of his books at that period were written in a hurry and are inferior to his earlier works. He would have worked on had his health not broken down. His doctors sent him to Italy; but it was too late. Before reaching Italy he had to turn back, and on his arrival at Abbotsford he died.

SCOTT’S NOVELS

For the sake of convenience Scott’s works have been divided into three groups.

The first group of novels are those devoted to Scottish history: “Waverley, or ‘Tis Sixty Years Since” (1814), “Guy Mannering, or the Astrologer” (1815), “The Antiquary” (1816), “Black Dwarf” (1816), “Old Mortality”* (1816), “Rob Roy” (1817), “The Heart of Midlothian” (1818), “The Bride of Lammermoor” (1819), “A Legend of Montrose” (1819), “Redgauntlet” (1824), “The Fair Maid of Perth” (1828).

The second group of novels refer to English history: “Ivanhoe” (1820), the best of this series; “The Monastery” (1820), “The Abbot” (1820), “Kenilworth” (1821), “The Pirate” (1822), “The Fortunes of Nigel” (1822), “Peveril of the Peak” (1822), “Woodstock” (1826).

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· “Old Mortality” is translated into Russian as «Пуритане» and “The Heart of Midlothian” as «Эдинбургские темницы»

The third group comprises novels based on the history of Europe: “Quentin Durward” (1823), “The Talisman” (1825), “Count Robert of Paris” (1832), “Anne of Geierstein” (1829), “Castle Dangerous” (1832).

The novel “St. Ronan’s Well” (1824) stands in a class by itself. The story is laid at a fashionable health-resort somewhere near the border between England and Scotland. It is the only novel written by Scott about his own time and shows his attitude to contemporary bourgeois society. It is a precursor of the critical realism of the 19^th century.

“IVANHOE”

The action of the novel is set in medieval England during the Crusades. The author has introduced characters from all classes of feudal society and has shown how class interests give rise to a bitter struggle. The central conflict of the novel lies in the struggle of the Anglo-Saxon land-owners against the Norman barons, who cannot come to an understanding. The breach between them is widened by their speaking different languages. Scott shows what a wretched thing it is to have no rights in the land of one’s birth. There is no peace among the Norman conquerors either. The struggle for power does not cease. Prince John tries to usurp the throne of his brother Richard, at that time engaged in a Crusade. The characters of the two brothers show the two tendencies that caused the Normans to split: one side wished to seize all the land and subdue the Anglo-Saxons completely, while the other tended to co-operate with the remaining Anglo-Saxon land-owners. The latter tendency was progressive, because it led to the birth of a new nation.

At the head of the remaining Anglo-Saxon knights we find a thane, Cedric the Saxon. He hopes to restore their independence by putting a Saxon king and queen on the throne. The queen is to be Rowena, a young lady said to be descended from Alfred the Great, and the future king, Athelstane of Coningsburgh. But Cedric has a son, Wilfred of Ivanhoe, who upsets his father’s plans by falling in love with Rowena. Cedric disinherits his son, and Ivanhoe goes on a Crusade where he meets King Richard, and they become friends. On their return to England, Richard with the help of the Saxons and the free archers of Robin Hood, fights for his crown against Prince John and wins. Cedric finally understands how impossible it is to restore Saxon power and becomes reconciled to the Normans.

The two chief events of the novel are the great tournament at Ashby-de-la-Zouche and the siege of Torquilstone, the castle of Sir Reginald Front-de-Boeuf. A wonderful gallery of characters is set before our eyes; they may be classified into three groups, according to the manner of their portrayal.

The first group is formed by those characters which are typical of the historical period described by Scott. Such are Cedric the Saxon, Athelstane of Coningsburgh, Prince John and the Normans, Isaac of York, and others. Each of them is endowed with a psychology typical of his epoch and social standing. We may say that all these characters are drawn realistically. Let us see, for instance, how Scott depicts two serfs, Gurth the swineherd and Wamba the jester. The former, conscious of being oppressed, is hostile to his master, Cedric the Saxon; however, when need arises, he remains true to feudal ethics and fights for the rescue of his master; for this he is granted his freedom, which he accepts with great joy. The clever and sharp-tongued Wamba (in writing of him Scott was doubtlessly influenced by Shakespeare’s fools) prefers to remain a serf when freedom is offered to him.

This action of granting freedom to a serf is not an attempt of the author to idealize feudal relations; it helps the reader to understand his deep penetration into class psychology. Gurth is a peasant, a toiler, and such men always long to bee free and work on their own land. Wamba, on the other hand, is a servant – one of a privileged kind, but still a servant. He is, most probably, a hereditary jester: his father was named Witless (foolish) which is doubtless a jester’s nickname. Wamba’s psychology has been formed by his servile position, and if he received his freedom, he would gain practically nothing, for he is not fit to till the soil and knows no trade.

The second group of characters comprises those described in the romantic manner. These are the fierce Templar, Sir Brian de BoisGuilbert, Rebecca, and Ulrica, that sinister and tragic old woman. The fatal passion which Sir Brian experiences for the beautiful Rebecca puts him among the demonic romantic heroes, and, villain though he is, his deep and fiery emotions inspire respect and even admiration in the reader. And the least interesting representatives of the group, as usually happens in Scott’s works, are the hero and heroine, Wilfred of Ivanhoe and the Lady Rowena.

The characters of the third group are those created in the folklore tradition. It goes without saying that Robin Hood, Friar Tuck and other outlaws are among their number. But the interesting thing is that the figure of King Richard is drawn in the same tradition. We may state with absolute assurance that a king of that kind never existed in all the history of the world; in him Scott gives substance to the dream which the common people cherished for many centuries: their ideal of what a really good king should be. That is why King Richard resembles the hero of a legend or a ballad rather than a character in a novel.

The book is written with the great descriptive skill for which Scott is justly famous. We feel drawn into the atmosphere of the period and very soon become convinced that life in the 12^th century was such as we see it on the pages of the book.

All the typical features of Scott’s creative method are concentrated in “Ivanhoe”.

SCOTT, THE FIRST WRITER

OF THE HISTORICAL NOVEL

Scott, a baronet and the owner of a large estate, was a conservative in politics: at elections he voted for the Tories. He was also a confirmed monarchist, but his conservatism was of a peculiar kind: unlike those authors who supported the British government (Southey, for instance), Scott never wrote any flattering poetry and never acted for personal advantage at the expense of honesty. His feeling for social justice was so sincere that all his life he was honest in word and deed. He called for peace and compromise. This idea was always at the back of his mind: it is felt in all his works.

First of all Scott wanted to reconcile the hostile classes, yet he did not preach meekness. He believed social harmony possible if the best representatives of all classes would unite in an active struggle against evil and destroy everything that stood in the way towards peace and harmony.

This idea is expressed in the novel “Ivanhoe”, in the episode when the Norman king, Richard he Lion-Hearted, together with Robin Hood and his merry men storm the castle of the Norman baron, Front-de-Boeuf, in whom all the evils of feudalism are personified, to set the Saxon thanes free. This incident shows how the allied forces of honest men, though from hostile classes, conquer evil.

The second problem that worried Sir Walter was the need to bring peace between the Scots and the English. The oppression of the Scots under English capitalism drove them, up to the second half of the 18^th century, to armed uprisings, to restore Scotland’s independence. The Scottish cycle of novels is devoted to finding mutual understanding between the two nations.

But Scott, the writer, contradicted Scott, the idealist. The trend of his novels was determined by the outlook of the common people. Best of all he described those characters who had been oppressed and robbed or made social outcasts and outlaws such as Robin Hood, members of persecuted Highland clans, the sisters Effie and Jennie Deans (“The Heart of Midlothian”), Hayraddin Mograbbin (“Quentin Durward”), the old beggar-woman Meg Merrilies (“Guy Mannering”), or the strolling mountebank Flibbertigibbet (“Kenilworth”). The fantastic episodes which appear in his works have been inspired by folklore. There is no religious mysticism in them. Their origin lies in popular beliefs. Scott delighted in the picturesque of the Middle Ages, but he did not idealize feudalism. Even if he happened to sympathize with some personages renowned in history as bearers of feudal honour, he could not help showing that historically they were doomed. When describing cruel scenes in uprisings of the people, he draws a conclusion which in his time nobody shared – the conclusion that the people are the main force in history, and that they have the right to decide their own destiny by battle. Scott’s historical approach to life was a great new contribution to world literature.

Scott was the creator of the historical genre in literature.

What is the historical novel? How can it be defined? Should it be only about actual events and real historical characters? Not necessarily. The essential thing in showing history as such in a novel is to depict personalities typical of the period and the country described. Sir Walter Scott was the first to do this. That alone makes him immortal.

Scott constructed all his novels after a single model: the story is focussed on the life of certain fictitious characters, usually lovers. The hero and the heroine of the story are separated. Striving to come together, they get involved in historical events and take part in them. They meet famous historical characters who, it happens, play a decisive part in their fate. Then it is for the author to decide whether to make the end happy or unhappy.

For more than a hundred years this pattern has been used by other writers, on the continent as well as in Britain.

Scott was a great master at painting vivid characters, wonderfully individualized and expressive, particularly when it came to the secondary characters. But Scott’s greatest artistic achievement was the way he employed details from the everyday life of the epoch for the sake of social, historical and psychological characterization. Descriptions of interiors, costumes, objects of material culture became under his pen a means of penetrating into the meaning of the events described. A feudal castle or a Highland hut, the ermine mantle of a king or a clanman’s tartan, the hilt of a knight’s sword or the brass collar of a serf, - they not only tell us of the historical period, but give us a psychological insight into the characters he depicts. Similar descriptions of details may be seen in the novels of the enlighteners, but there they were used mainly for comic effects, while Scott gives his descriptions a social significance.

There is a paradox in the fact that Scott, being a romanticist, brought into world literature one of the chief expressive means of realism.

BELINSKY ON SCOTT

The great Russian critic V.G. Belinsky held Scott in very high esteem, and his opinion of Scott is very important from the general theoretical point of view. Belinsky laid the theoretical foundation of the method of critical realism, the method that brought world fame to Russian literature, and, formulating his views, Belinsky very often (more than seventy times) referred to Scott. Belinsky saw his chief merit in the fact that “Walter Scott has created an absolutely new poetry, the poetry of the prose of life, the poetry of real life”. One of Belinsky’s principles was that man should be depicted on a social background, for the life of every individual is formed by social factors. Belinsky noted this in the works of Scott. “In his novels Walter Scott has solved the problem of how to connect historical life with personal life… He is as much a novelist and a poet as a historian…To give a historical orientation to the art of the 19^th century meant to guess the secret of modern life with the force of genius.” It was typical of Belinsky to see that Scott’s achievements were not confined to the historical genre as such, but concerned all literature. And although Belinsky condemned Scott for his conservatism, Scott to him was “a second Shakespeare, uniting art and life”; he said that Scott was the equal of Homer, Shakespeare, Goethe, Pushkin and Gogol. Such an opinion may seem to us exaggerated, but the merit of Belinsky lies in the fact that he points out the features in Scott’s works that helped in the development of world literature as a whole. If we judge Scott from this point of view, we must agree that Belinsky is absolutely right.