Ivanhoe

Ivanhoe

by

Walter Scott

Rowena is the lovely young ward of Cedric the Saxon. Because her family has ties to ancient Saxon royalty, Cedric wants her to marry fellow royal descendant Athelstane of Coningsburgh, but she loves Cedric’s son, Wilfred of Ivanhoe, instead. Many men, including Prior Aymer, Sir Brian, and Prince John appreciate Rowena’s great beauty; Maurice de Bracy goes as far as kidnapping her in an attempt to force her into marrying him. Coddled and spoiled by Cedric, Rowena usually gets her way, which gives her a veneer of confidence that quickly crumbles when others frustrate her wishes; then she dissolves into irresolute and timid tears. Like Ivanhoe, whom she eventually marries, she treats Rebecca with far more respect and humanity than most everyone else in an era in which most Europeans despised and abused Jewish people.

Rowena Quotes in Ivanhoe

The Ivanhoe quotes below are all either spoken by Rowena or refer to Rowena. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Merits of Chivalry Theme Icon
).
Volume 1, Chapter 7 Quotes

The figure of Rebecca might indeed have compared with the proudest beauties of England. […] Her form was exquisitely symmetrical, and was shewn to advantage by a sort of Eastern dress, which she wore according to the fashion of the females of her nation. Her turban of yellow silk suited well the darkness of her complexion. The brilliancy of her eyes, the superb arch of her eyebrows, her well-formed aquiline nose, her teeth as white as pearl and the profusion of her sable tresses[…]—all these constituted a combination of loveliness, which yielded not to the loveliest of the maidens who surrounded her. […] The feather of an ostrich, fastened in her turban by an agraffe set with brilliants, was another distinction of the beautiful Jewess, scoffed and sneered at by the proud dames who sat above her, but secretly envied by those who affected to deride them.

Related Characters: Rebecca, Isaac, Cedric, Athelstane of Coningsburgh, Prince John, Rowena, Ulrica (Dame Urfried)
Page Number: 71-72
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 2, Chapter 3 Quotes

Joy to the fair! whose constant knight
Her favour fired to feats of might;
Unnoted shall she not remain
Where meet the bright and noble train;
Minstrel shall sing and herald tell—
‘Mark yonder maid of beauty well,
’Tis she for whose bright eyes was won
The listed field at Ascalon!

‘Note well her smile!—it edged the blade
Which fifty wives to widows made,
When, vain his strength and Mahound’s spell,
Iconium’s turban’d soldan fell.
See’st thou her locks, whose sunny glow
Half shows, half shades, her neck of snow?
Twines not of them one golden thread,
But for its sake a Paynim bled.’

Joy to the fair!—my name unknown,
Each deed, and all its praise, thine own;
Then, oh! Unbar this churlish gate,
The night-dew falls, the hour is late,
Inured to Syria’s glowing breath,
I feel the north breeze chill as death;
Let grateful love quell maiden shame,
And grant him bliss who brings thee fame.

Related Characters: King Richard (the Black Knight) (speaker), Wilfred of Ivanhoe (the Palmer, the Disinherited Knight), Rowena, Cleric of Copmanhurst
Page Number: 149-150
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 2, Chapter 5 Quotes

Both the Saxon chiefs were made prisoners at the same moment, and each under circumstances expressive of his character. Cedric, the instant that an enemy appeared, launched at him his remaining javelin, which, taking better effect than that which he had hurled at Fangs, nailed the man against an oak-tree that happened to be close behind him. Thus far successful, Cedric spurred his horse against a second, drawing his sword at the same time, and striking with such inconsiderate fury, that his weapon encountered a thick branch which hung over him, and he was disarmed by the violence of his own blow. He was instantly made prisoner, and pulled from his horse by two or three of the banditti who crowded around him. Athelstane shared his captivity, his bridle having been sized, and he himself forcibly dismounted, long before he could draw his weapon, or assume any posture of effectual defense.

Related Characters: Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert, Cedric, Athelstane of Coningsburgh, Maurice de Bracy, Rowena
Related Symbols: Oak Tree
Page Number: 162
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 2, Chapter 7 Quotes

“By the mass, thou meanest the fair Jewess,” said De Bracy.

“And if I do,” said Bois-Guilbert, “who shall gainsay me?”

“No one that I know,” said De Bracy, “unless it be your vow of celibacy, or a check of conscience for an intrigue with a Jewess.”

“For my vow,” said the Templar, “our grand master hath granted me a dispensation. And for my conscience, a man that has slain three hundred Saracens, need not reckon up every little failing[…].”

“Thou knowest best thine own privileges,” said De Bracy. “Yet, I would have sworn thy thought had been more on the old usurer’s money bags […].”

“I can admire both,” answered the Templar; “besides, the old Jew is but half prize. […] I must have something that I can term exclusively my own by this foray of ours, and I have fixed on the lovely Jewess as my peculiar prize.”

Related Characters: Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert (speaker), Maurice de Bracy (speaker), Rebecca, Isaac, Rowena
Page Number: 172-173
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 2, Chapter 9 Quotes

“Alas! fair Rowena,” returned De Bracy, “you are in the presence of your captive, not your jailor, and it is from your fair eyes that De Bracy must receive that doom which you fondly expect from him.”

“I know you not, sir,” said the lady, drawing herself up with all the pride of offended rank and beauty; “I know you not—and the insolent familiarity with which you apply to me the jargon of a troubadour, forms no apology for the violence of a robber.”

“To thyself, fair maid […] to thine own charms be ascribed what’er I have done which passed the respect due to her, whom I have chosen as queen of my heart and loadstar of my eyes.”

“I repeat to you, Sir Knight, that I know you not, and that no man wearing chain and spurs ought thus to intrude himself upon the presence of an unprotected lady.”

Related Characters: Maurice de Bracy (speaker), Rowena (speaker), King Richard (the Black Knight)
Page Number: 187-188
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 2, Chapter 15 Quotes

“Glory?” continued Rebecca; “alas, it is the rusted mail which hangs as a hatchment over the champion’s dim and mouldering tomb—is the defaced sculpture of the inscription with which the ignorant monk can hardly read to the inquiring pilgrim—are these sufficient rewards for the sacrifice of every kindly affection, for a life spent miserably that ye make others miserable? Or is there such virtue in the rude rhymes of a wandering bard, that domestic love, kindly affection, peace and happiness are so wildly bartered, to become the hero of these ballads which vagabond minstrels sing to drunken churls over their evening ale?”

[…] “Thou speakest, maiden of thou knowest not what. Thou wouldst quench the pure light of chivalry, which alone distinguishes the noble from the base, the gentle knight from the churl and the savage; which rates our life far, far beneath the pitch of our honor […].”

Related Characters: Rebecca (speaker), Wilfred of Ivanhoe (the Palmer, the Disinherited Knight) (speaker), King Richard (the Black Knight), Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert, Cedric, Locksley/Robin Hood (The Yeoman Archer), Maurice de Bracy, Reginald Front-de-Boeuf, Rowena, Cleric of Copmanhurst
Page Number: 249
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 3, Chapter 12 Quotes

I asked for wine—they gave me some, but it must have been highly medicated, for I slept yet more deeply than before, and wakened not for many hours. I found my arms swathed down—my feet tied so fast that mine ankles ache at the very remembrance—the place was utterly dark—the oubliette, as I suppose, of their accursed convent, and from the close, stifled, damp smell, I conceive it is also used as a place of sepulture. I had strange thoughts of what had befallen me, when the door of my dungeon creaked, and two villain monks entered. They would have persuaded me I was in purgatory, but I knew too well the pursy short-breathed voice of the Father Abbot.—Saint Jeremy! how different form that tone with which he used to ask me for another slice of the haunch!—the dog has feasted with me from Christmas to Twelfth-night.

Related Characters: Athelstane of Coningsburgh (speaker), King Richard (the Black Knight), Wilfred of Ivanhoe (the Palmer, the Disinherited Knight), Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert, Cedric, Rowena
Page Number: 377
Explanation and Analysis:
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Rowena Quotes in Ivanhoe

The Ivanhoe quotes below are all either spoken by Rowena or refer to Rowena. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Merits of Chivalry Theme Icon
).
Volume 1, Chapter 7 Quotes

The figure of Rebecca might indeed have compared with the proudest beauties of England. […] Her form was exquisitely symmetrical, and was shewn to advantage by a sort of Eastern dress, which she wore according to the fashion of the females of her nation. Her turban of yellow silk suited well the darkness of her complexion. The brilliancy of her eyes, the superb arch of her eyebrows, her well-formed aquiline nose, her teeth as white as pearl and the profusion of her sable tresses[…]—all these constituted a combination of loveliness, which yielded not to the loveliest of the maidens who surrounded her. […] The feather of an ostrich, fastened in her turban by an agraffe set with brilliants, was another distinction of the beautiful Jewess, scoffed and sneered at by the proud dames who sat above her, but secretly envied by those who affected to deride them.

Related Characters: Rebecca, Isaac, Cedric, Athelstane of Coningsburgh, Prince John, Rowena, Ulrica (Dame Urfried)
Page Number: 71-72
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 2, Chapter 3 Quotes

Joy to the fair! whose constant knight
Her favour fired to feats of might;
Unnoted shall she not remain
Where meet the bright and noble train;
Minstrel shall sing and herald tell—
‘Mark yonder maid of beauty well,
’Tis she for whose bright eyes was won
The listed field at Ascalon!

‘Note well her smile!—it edged the blade
Which fifty wives to widows made,
When, vain his strength and Mahound’s spell,
Iconium’s turban’d soldan fell.
See’st thou her locks, whose sunny glow
Half shows, half shades, her neck of snow?
Twines not of them one golden thread,
But for its sake a Paynim bled.’

Joy to the fair!—my name unknown,
Each deed, and all its praise, thine own;
Then, oh! Unbar this churlish gate,
The night-dew falls, the hour is late,
Inured to Syria’s glowing breath,
I feel the north breeze chill as death;
Let grateful love quell maiden shame,
And grant him bliss who brings thee fame.

Related Characters: King Richard (the Black Knight) (speaker), Wilfred of Ivanhoe (the Palmer, the Disinherited Knight), Rowena, Cleric of Copmanhurst
Page Number: 149-150
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 2, Chapter 5 Quotes

Both the Saxon chiefs were made prisoners at the same moment, and each under circumstances expressive of his character. Cedric, the instant that an enemy appeared, launched at him his remaining javelin, which, taking better effect than that which he had hurled at Fangs, nailed the man against an oak-tree that happened to be close behind him. Thus far successful, Cedric spurred his horse against a second, drawing his sword at the same time, and striking with such inconsiderate fury, that his weapon encountered a thick branch which hung over him, and he was disarmed by the violence of his own blow. He was instantly made prisoner, and pulled from his horse by two or three of the banditti who crowded around him. Athelstane shared his captivity, his bridle having been sized, and he himself forcibly dismounted, long before he could draw his weapon, or assume any posture of effectual defense.

Related Characters: Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert, Cedric, Athelstane of Coningsburgh, Maurice de Bracy, Rowena
Related Symbols: Oak Tree
Page Number: 162
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 2, Chapter 7 Quotes

“By the mass, thou meanest the fair Jewess,” said De Bracy.

“And if I do,” said Bois-Guilbert, “who shall gainsay me?”

“No one that I know,” said De Bracy, “unless it be your vow of celibacy, or a check of conscience for an intrigue with a Jewess.”

“For my vow,” said the Templar, “our grand master hath granted me a dispensation. And for my conscience, a man that has slain three hundred Saracens, need not reckon up every little failing[…].”

“Thou knowest best thine own privileges,” said De Bracy. “Yet, I would have sworn thy thought had been more on the old usurer’s money bags […].”

“I can admire both,” answered the Templar; “besides, the old Jew is but half prize. […] I must have something that I can term exclusively my own by this foray of ours, and I have fixed on the lovely Jewess as my peculiar prize.”

Related Characters: Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert (speaker), Maurice de Bracy (speaker), Rebecca, Isaac, Rowena
Page Number: 172-173
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 2, Chapter 9 Quotes

“Alas! fair Rowena,” returned De Bracy, “you are in the presence of your captive, not your jailor, and it is from your fair eyes that De Bracy must receive that doom which you fondly expect from him.”

“I know you not, sir,” said the lady, drawing herself up with all the pride of offended rank and beauty; “I know you not—and the insolent familiarity with which you apply to me the jargon of a troubadour, forms no apology for the violence of a robber.”

“To thyself, fair maid […] to thine own charms be ascribed what’er I have done which passed the respect due to her, whom I have chosen as queen of my heart and loadstar of my eyes.”

“I repeat to you, Sir Knight, that I know you not, and that no man wearing chain and spurs ought thus to intrude himself upon the presence of an unprotected lady.”

Related Characters: Maurice de Bracy (speaker), Rowena (speaker), King Richard (the Black Knight)
Page Number: 187-188
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 2, Chapter 15 Quotes

“Glory?” continued Rebecca; “alas, it is the rusted mail which hangs as a hatchment over the champion’s dim and mouldering tomb—is the defaced sculpture of the inscription with which the ignorant monk can hardly read to the inquiring pilgrim—are these sufficient rewards for the sacrifice of every kindly affection, for a life spent miserably that ye make others miserable? Or is there such virtue in the rude rhymes of a wandering bard, that domestic love, kindly affection, peace and happiness are so wildly bartered, to become the hero of these ballads which vagabond minstrels sing to drunken churls over their evening ale?”

[…] “Thou speakest, maiden of thou knowest not what. Thou wouldst quench the pure light of chivalry, which alone distinguishes the noble from the base, the gentle knight from the churl and the savage; which rates our life far, far beneath the pitch of our honor […].”

Related Characters: Rebecca (speaker), Wilfred of Ivanhoe (the Palmer, the Disinherited Knight) (speaker), King Richard (the Black Knight), Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert, Cedric, Locksley/Robin Hood (The Yeoman Archer), Maurice de Bracy, Reginald Front-de-Boeuf, Rowena, Cleric of Copmanhurst
Page Number: 249
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 3, Chapter 12 Quotes

I asked for wine—they gave me some, but it must have been highly medicated, for I slept yet more deeply than before, and wakened not for many hours. I found my arms swathed down—my feet tied so fast that mine ankles ache at the very remembrance—the place was utterly dark—the oubliette, as I suppose, of their accursed convent, and from the close, stifled, damp smell, I conceive it is also used as a place of sepulture. I had strange thoughts of what had befallen me, when the door of my dungeon creaked, and two villain monks entered. They would have persuaded me I was in purgatory, but I knew too well the pursy short-breathed voice of the Father Abbot.—Saint Jeremy! how different form that tone with which he used to ask me for another slice of the haunch!—the dog has feasted with me from Christmas to Twelfth-night.

Related Characters: Athelstane of Coningsburgh (speaker), King Richard (the Black Knight), Wilfred of Ivanhoe (the Palmer, the Disinherited Knight), Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert, Cedric, Rowena
Page Number: 377
Explanation and Analysis: