English Literature. 10(1). 16.11.2022.

English Literature. 10(1). 16.11.2022. Topic: a historical novel "Ivanhoe" Study the following chapters: Walter Scott, Ivanhoe: A Romance (1819)0. [Chapter 1] After 1066: conflict and tensionFour generations had not sufficed to blend the hostile blood of the Normans and Anglo-Saxons, or to unite, by common language and mutual interests, two hostile races, one of which still felt the elation of triumph, while the other groaned under all the consequences of defeat. The power had been completely placed in the hands of the Norman nobility, by the event of the battle of Hastings, and it had been used, as our histories assure us, with no moderate hand. The whole race of Saxon princes and nobles had been extirpated or disinherited, with few or no exceptions; nor were the numbers great who possessed land in the country of their fathers, even as proprietors of the second, or of yet inferior classes.1. [Chapter 1] Saxon vs Norman – language“Truly,” said Wamba, … leave the herd to their destiny … to be converted into Normans before morning, to thy no small ease and comfort.”“The swine turned Normans to my comfort!” quoth Gurth ; “expound that to me, Wamba, for my brain is too dull, and my mind too vexed, to read riddles.”“Why, how call you those grunting brutes running about on their four legs?” demanded Wamba.“Swine, fool, swine,” said the herd, “every fool knows that.”“And swine is good Saxon,” said the Jester; “but how call you the sow when she is flayed, and drawn, and quartered, and hung up by the heels, like a traitor?”“Pork,” answered the swine-herd.“I am very glad every fool knows that too,” said Wamba, “and pork, I think, is good Norman-French; and so when the brute lives, and is in the charge of a Saxon slave, she goes by her Saxon name; but becomes a Norman, and is called pork, when she is carried to the Castle-hall to feast among the nobles; what dost thou think of this, friend Gurth, ha?”“It is but too true doctrine, friend Wamba, however it got into thy fool’s pate.”“Nay, I can tell you more,” said Wamba, in the same tone; “there is old Alderman Ox continues to hold his Saxon epithet, while he is under the charge of serfs and bondsmen such as thou, but becomes Beef, a fiery French gallant, when he arrives before the worshipful jaws that are destined to consume him. Mynheer Calf, too, becomes Monsieur de Veau in the like manner; he is Saxon when he requires tendance, and takes a Norman name when he becomes matter of enjoyment.”“By St Dunstan,” answered Gurth, “thou speakest but sad truths; little is left to us but the air we breathe, and that appears to have been reserved with much hesitation, solely for the purpose of enabling us to endure the tasks they lay upon our shoulders. The finest and the fattest is for their board; the loveliest is for their couch; the best and bravest supply their foreign masters with soldiers, and whiten distant lands with their bones, leaving few here who have either will or the power to protect the unfortunate Saxon. God’s blessing on our master Cedric, he hath done the workof a man in standing in the gap; but Reginald Front-de-Boeuf is coming down to this country in person, and we shall soon see how little Cedric’s trouble will avail him.--Here, here,” he exclaimed again, raising his voice, “So ho! so ho! well done, Fangs! thou hast them all before thee now, and bring’st them on bravely, lad.”2. [Chapter 2] Saxon vs Norman – buildings[…] the mansion of Cedric;--a low irregular building, containing several court-yards or enclosures, extending over a considerable space of ground, and which, though its size argued the inhabitant to be a person of wealth, differed entirely from the tall, turretted, and castellated buildings in which the Norman nobility resided, and which had become the universal style of architecture throughout England. 3. [Chapter 3] Saxon vs Norman – lawOswald the cupbearer modestly suggested, “that it was scarce an hour since the tolling of the curfew;” an ill-chosen apology, since it turned upon a topic so harsh to Saxon ears.“The foul fiend,” exclaimed Cedric, “take the curfew-bell, and the tyrannical bastard by whom it was devised, and the heartless slave who names it with a Saxon tongue to a Saxon ear! The curfew!” he added, pausing, “ay, the curfew; which compels true men to extinguish their lights, that thieves and robbers may work their deeds in darkness!--Ay, the curfew;--Reginald Front-de-Boeuf and Philip de Malvoisin know the use of the curfew as well as William the Bastard himself, or e’er aNorman adventurer that fought at Hastings.”4. [Chapter 5] Nostalgia (Saxon decadence)[Cedric the Saxon] “[…] our bards are no more,” he said; “our deeds are lost in those of another race--our language--our very name--is hastening to decay, and none mourns for it save one solitary old man.”5. [Chapter 18] Shaking off the ‘Norman Yoke’ (rebellion)[…] the chance which there was that the oppressed Saxons might be able to free themselves from the yoke of the Normans, or at least to elevate themselves into national consequence and independence, during the civil convulsions which were likely to ensue. On this subject Cedric was all animation. The restoration of the independence of his race was the idol of his heart, to which he had willingly sacrificed domestic happiness and the interests of his own son. But, in order to achieve this great revolution in favour of the native English, it was necessary that they should be united among themselves, and act under an acknowledged head. The necessity of choosing their chief from the Saxon blood-royal was not only evident in itself, but had been made a solemn condition by those whom Cedric had intrusted with his secret plans and hopes.6. [Chapter 27] The Norman yoke (irony)[Wamba, Cedric’s jester recites a proverb]‘Norman saw on English oak,On English neck a Norman yoke;Norman spoon in English dish,And England ruled as Normans wish;Blithe world to England never will be more,Till England’s rid of all the four.’”7. [Chapter 41] Saxon-Norman mixing[…] the younger race, to the great displeasure of the seniors, had, like Ivanhoe, broken down many of the barriers which separated for half a century the Norman victors from the vanquished Saxons.[vs the older generation described as “ancient worshippers of Woden, recalled to life to mourn over the decay of their national glory”] Homework: complete the test:

Test 2 (Romanticism), an interactive worksheet by olena_sukhenko
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