Ivanhoe

The first part of Volume 2 introduces or develops further characters from different elements of Medieval English society. Locksley (Robin Hood) and the Clerk of Copmanhurst (Friar Tuck), along with their outlaw followers, play an important role in this part of the novel. They represent the disgruntled English yeomen who resist Norman tyranny through illegal activities, raiding them and their property so that they can help the poor or, as in the Torquilstone episode, the disenfranchised Saxons who also suffer under the Normans. Friar Tuck, who initially passes himself off as the clerk of the small forest hermitage of Copmanhurst, is another kind of disreputable clergyman (like the venal Prior Aymer): Though he pretends to be an ascetic who spends his day in worship, he is soon revealed to be a heavy drinker, a lover of food, and a companion of outlaws and loose women. The Black Knight, indeed, pokes fun at the friar for his “uncanonical pastimes” (151). Yet the Friar, who is borrowed from the popular Robin Hood romances, is a comical figure more than anything else, and clearly does not signify the same indictment of the church as the hypocritical Aymer.

These chapters also illustrate how differently the ideals of chivalry and romance are approached by different characters. The unscrupulous Bracy and Bois-Guilbert are solely concerned with Chivalry as a Means of Legitimating Power. To them, there is nothing wrong with using deceit to win the heart of their objects of affection, especially since their staged raid is carried out against disenfranchised Saxons. For the novel’s protagonists—including Ivanhoe and the Black Knight—such behavior is a perversion of true chivalry, seen as a code of honorable conduct toward friends and enemies alike. The connection between chivalry and romance also takes many forms. The Black Knight’s song reflects traditional ideals of chivalry that celebrate the “constancy” of the knight and his lady and where the fame of the knight reflects likewise on his lady. The English yeomen and outlaws, on the other hand, give comic voice to the novel’s critical perspective, often scoffing at the lofty ideals of chivalry and romance. Friar Tuck, for instance, responds to the Black Knight’s song with a song about a “barefooted friar” who entertains the ladies of absent knights and lords. Yet this does not mean that these members of the lower classes have no honor: Locksley and the Merry Men do resist Norman tyranny in their own way, and their interests thus sometimes overlap with those of the truly honorable nobles and knights of the novel (hence the unlikely alliance that the Merry Men and the Black Knight form to attack Torquilstone).

Scott’s characters are defined by the ways they embody (and resist) the values and ideals of their times. The Norman characters, especially Bois-Guilbert, Bracy, and Front-de-Boeuf, use the performance of chivalry and honor to cover their unscrupulous pursuit of power. The Black Knight, on the other hand, is everything a good knight should be: brave, pious, educated, just, and accepting of people from all parts of society. Other characters have more complex motivations. Cedric is a bastion of fortitude and respectability, but he is so fixated on restoring England to Saxon hands that he overlooks the obvious unfitness of Athelstane for the position of a king. Gurth and Wamba are bondsmen, but they display a truly unwavering and commendable commitment to their enslaver, even convincing the Merry Men to help them rescue him.