Question

Which lines in this excerpt from Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe indicate that the novel is a work of historical fiction?

"Thy life, minion?" answered the sibyl; "what would taking thy life pleasure them?—Trust me, thy life is in no peril. Such usage shalt thou have as was once thought good enough for a noble Saxon maiden. And shall a Jewess, like thee, repine because she hath no better? My father and his seven sons defended their inheritance from story to story, from chamber to chamber—There was not a room, not a step of the stair, that was not slippery with their blood. They died—they died every man; and ere their bodies were cold, and ere their blood was dried, I had become the prey and the scorn of the conqueror!" . . .

As another instance of these bitter fruits of conquest, and perhaps the strongest that can be quoted, we may mention, that the Princess Matilda, though a daughter of the King of Scotland, and afterwards both Queen of England, niece to Edgar Atheling, and mother to the Empress of Germany, the daughter, the wife, and the mother of monarchs, was obliged, during her early residence for education in England, to assume the veil of a nun, as the only means of escaping the licentious pursuit of the Norman nobles. This excuse she stated before a great council of the clergy of England, as the sole reason for her having taken the religious habit. The assembled clergy admitted the validity of the plea, and the notoriety of the circumstances upon which it was founded; giving thus an indubitable and most remarkable testimony to the existence of that disgraceful license by which that age was stained. It was a matter of public knowledge, they said, that after the conquest of King William, his Norman followers, elated by so great a victory, acknowledged no law but their own wicked pleasure, and not only despoiled the conquered Saxons of their lands and their goods, but invaded the honour of their wives and of their daughters with the most unbridled license; and hence it was then common for matrons and maidens of noble families to assume the veil, and take shelter in convents, not as called thither by the vocation of God, but solely to preserve their honour from the unbridled wickedness of man . . .

"Thy language," answered Rowena, "hath in its indifferent bluntness something which cannot be reconciled with the horrors it seems to express. I believe not that thy purpose is so wicked, or thy power so great.". . .

At one end of this ghastly apartment was a large fire-grate, over the top of which were stretched some transverse iron bars, half devoured with rust.

Answer 1

The excerpts from 'Ivanhoe' are indicative of historical fiction due to the inclusion of real historical figures like Princess Matilda and events like the Norman Conquest.

Step-by-step explanation:

The excerpts provided from Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe indicate that the novel is a work of historical fiction due to references to actual historical periods, figures, and events. Historical fiction is characterized by the incorporation of real history into the narrative while also developing a fictional story. In the excerpt, the mention of 'noble Saxon maiden' and 'Jewess' reflects the historical tension between different ethnic and religious groups in medieval England. Further, the detailed account of Princess Matilda, a historical figure, having to assume a veil to escape the advances of Norman nobles after the conquest of King William I, anchors the narrative in a specific historical context, thus demonstrating the novel's historical fiction nature.

Answer 2

The first thing to do is to understand what historical fiction is to then figure out if Ivanhoe, written by Sir Walter Scott in 1820, is indeed a work that belongs to this genre.

Historical fiction, by definition, is a genre that seeks to portray true historical events within a story or literary work that is not necessarily real. For example, many authors seek to create a story and choose a specific timeframe, event or timeline that fits within a certain historical moment. Although the story may not be real, its characters, settings or even events may be invented, some portions of the story, whether in the plot, the characters, or the environment in which the story takes place, may be from real-life historical events or people.

In the case of Ivanhoe, this particular literary work fits into the classification of historical novel and this can be seen because in portions of the text, you find allusions and direct mention of facts, names and events that are historically real. In this particular excerpt, you can see this in lines 4 to 8, where the author talks about the Saxons and their impact on the English way of life at the time mentioned in the story.