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I.2 Walter Scott’s writing style
Sir Walter Scott is a storytelling author. The story is in third person, but when he wishes to explain something to the reader he breaks in and resorts to first person. His point of view is of one watching an exciting drama and relaying what he sees with suitable explanation so that none of the excitement is lost.He uses a disjointed flashback. He carries the action of one group to a certain point and then goes back to pick up another group to bring it into logical position. It is as though he were weaving together varied colored threads into one exquisite pattern. It is his task to put the threads together so that the finished piece of cloth is one carefully wrought, panoramic scene. Foremost are the figures, often in violent action, against a background of vivid natural beauty. To miss the description is to rob the piece of its wholeness and to be impatient with the archaic and distinctive words is to destroy the medieval setting.He gives structural clues to move the story along, such as Rebecca's warning of robbers to Gurth, which prepares the reader for the swineherd's encounter with the thieves; Fang's howling precipitates the capture by De Bracy; the phrase which the Prior drops, "the witch of Endor," signifies Rebecca's trial.
I.3 Literary Success
The young Scott attended the prestigious Royal High School of Edinburgh and later continued his education at the University of Edinburgh before beginning his professional career as a lawyer.On Christmas Eve in 1797, Scott married Charlotte Charpentier (Carpenter), only three months after they first met. The couple moved from Edinburgh to the Scottish Borders in 1799, when Scott was appointed Sheriff-Depute of Selkirkshire, and they welcomed their first child the same year. Scott and Charlotte would have five children together, though only four would survive to adulthood. With the Scottish Borders serving as inspiration, Scott compiled the tales he heard as a child, and in 1802, The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border was published, catapulting Scott to literary fame. Between 1802 and 1804, Scott compiled and published three editions of the Minstrelsy, including original pieces like, "War Song of the Royal Edinburgh Light Dragoons," a ballad reminiscent of Scott’s time as a volunteer for the Light Dragoons.By 1805, Scott had started publishing his own poetry, and by 1810, he had written and produced works like "The Lay of the Last Minstrel," "Marmion," and "The Lady of the Lake." The commercial success of these works earned Scott enough to build Abbottsford, his sweeping estate filled with historic artifacts, including the famed musket of Rob Roy, the Scottish folk hero.From Abbottsford, Scott composed the 27 novels of the Waverley series, the story of an English soldier turned Jacobite who fought for the lost cause in the Highlands. He also penned an enormous collection of short stories and poetry, stitching together folklore with fact to create the historical fiction genre.By the end of the 18th Century, Scotland was the most literate society in Europe, and Scott’s works consistently broke sales records. As an avid royalist and a Tory, Walter Scott fiercely supported the union between Scotland and Britain, but he also emphasized the importance of separate national identities in order to maintain peace and stability. He wrote his works based in Scottish legend, vilifying heroes of the past while forging relationships with English nobility, most notably with King George IV.After he successfully uncovered the missing "Honours of Scotland," George granted Scott a title and nobility, and the event instigated the first official royal visit to Edinburgh since 1650. Knowing he was a devoted reader of the Waverley series, the newly-appointed Sir Walter Scott paraded the king through the streets dressed in a kilt, tartan spilling out from every window while the sound of bagpipes echoed through the cobblestone streets.Half a century before, these same symbols of Highland culture had been forbidden by another Hanoverian king, denoted as treasonous, but George was enchanted by the experience. Though pretentious, exaggerated, and laced with hypocrisy, the royal visit of George IV, meticulously planned and executed by Scott, reinvented the image of the disgraced Highlander as a legendary warrior, at least in the Lowlands. Though he saw significant commercial success during his lifetime, the crash of the London stock market in 1825 devastated Scott, leaving him with crippling debt. A year later Charlotte died, though it is not clear from what, leaving Scott widowed. His health began to fail shortly thereafter. In 1829, Scott suffered a stroke, and in 1832 he contracted typhus and died at home in Abbotsford. Scott’s works continued to sell after his death, eventually relieving his estate of the burden of debt. Sir Walter Scott is considered one of the most important Scots in history. However, his legacy is far from simple.As the son of a wealthy lawyer, Scott was born into a world of privilege that he maintained for the duration of his life. This privilege allowed him to write about and profit from the stories of Scottish Highlanders, all the while the true Highlanders were being forcibly removed from their ancestral lands for economic gains, a period known as the Highland Clearances.Critics claim Scott’s exaggerated storytelling blurred the lines between fact and fiction, consistently painting the picture of Scotland and its people as valiant yet ill-fated victims of the English and romanticizing violent and chaotic historical events.However, even the critics admit that Sir Walter Scott stirred an unprecedented curiosity and pride in the Scottish past, all the while forging a distinct national identity and preserving a culture that was all but lost.
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