Previous
Volume 1, Chapter 3
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
Aymer and Sir Brian dress grandly for dinner and sweep into the hall with their attendants. The Palmer trails behind them. Finding no room at the table, he warms and dries himself at the fireplace. Cedric receives his guests with dignified hospitality, although he refuses to speak Norman. Aymer graciously answers in Saxon, but Sir Brian gruffly says that he speaks only French, the language of King Richard and his nobles, but that he understands English well enough.
The Palmer’s identity remains disguised, and without name or rank he cannot claim his place—or any place—at the table. His situation points to both Norman oppression generally and Ivanhoe’s disinheritance specifically, adding to readers’ suspicions about his identity. Earlier, Wamba made a joke that rested on the eventual melding of Saxon and Norman languages, but the tense conversation between Aymer, Sir Brian, and Cedric reminds readers that linguistic strife still exists at this point.
Themes
Literary Devices
Cedric flushes with anger but, controlling himself, signals for the feast to begin. Then he sees Wamba and Gurth entering the hall. He chides them for their lateness, and Wamba offers a roundabout excuse blaming Sir Philip de Malvoisin’s servant for laming Gurth’s dog Fangs. Cedric vows to lame Malvoisin’s servant…before remembering his guests and calming himself.
Cedric demonstrates the self-control that Aymer and Sir Brian (and, by implication, the Normans in general) lack. But it also points toward his minority position; it’s dangerous for him to oppose the ruling class outright. The idea that another Norman baron has interfered with his property (Fangs) further highlights his oppressed state.
Themes
Then the steward announces the arrival of Lady Rowena. Cedric rises and escorts her to her place. As she passes, Sir Brian whispers to Aymer that the prior has won their bet. The knight can’t take his eyes off the tall, fair Rowena. Her intelligent eyes and aristocratic features demonstrate her noble character. When she realizes how openly he stares at her, she pulls her veil modestly over her face in rebuke. He apologizes and says he hopes she will come to watch the tournament.
In this moment the book portrays Rowena both as powerful in her beauty and virtue, and as vulnerable to the desire and potential violence of men like Sir Brian, who openly stares at her. She can only criticize him indirectly, by veiling her face; should he want to force himself on her, this moment suggests, she would have little recourse. Thus, in an instant, Sir Brian displays typical Norman aggression, betrays his stunning lack of true virtue, and highlights women’s vulnerable position in medieval society.
Themes
Cedric says he dislikes tournaments as much as the Normans like them. Aymer and Sir Brian offer to safely convey Cedric and his company thence, but Cedric gruffly replies that he has never been unable to protect himself in his own land. He and his guests quickly smooth over their differences with some friendly toasts. Sir Brian drinks to the Lady Rowena, who coldly ignores his compliments and instead asks for news from Palestine.
Although the Normans offer the Saxons protection, Cedric pointedly answers that he needs to be protected from the Norman nobility, not by it. Their abuses of power and theft of land pose a much greater threat than the Saxon highwaymen who have flourished in the absence of true authority since King Richard’s absence.
Themes
Get the entire Ivanhoe LitChart as a printable PDF.
Sir Brian cites the rumored truce between the crusader army and Saladin; Wamba interrupts to declare that he must be at least 150, since he’s lived to see three such truces, all of which were supposed to last for 50 years at least. Suddenly recognizing him as the man who gave them bad directions in the forest, Sir Brian promises Wamba that he will die of violence, rather than old age, if he keeps misdirecting travelers. A page interrupts their argument with an announcement: another visitor has come to the gate.
The peace brokered between Muslim and Christian armies points yet again to the emptiness at the heart of Norman chivalry. Sir Brian abandoned Jerusalem rather than protect it, and King Richard has negotiated with the enemy. And, to prove the point, Sir Brian turns on Wamba and threatens him with violence for failing to show the proper deference.
Themes
