| Chapter
XXII
Isaac is thrown into a dungeon. Front-de-Boeuf enters with some
black slaves and demands a thousand silver pounds. Isaac protests
that he does not have that amount of money. Front-de-Boeuf responds
by threatening to strip Isaac and place him on iron bars over
a fire grate, which the slaves have just lit. The slaves seize
him, and Isaac quickly agrees to pay what is demanded of him.
He demands that his traveling companions also be liberated when
he pays, but Front-de-Boeuf will not hear of it. Isaac then
says he must send Rebecca to York to get the money. Front-de-Boeuf
tells him he cannot, because he has already given Rebecca, whom
he thought was Isaac’s concubine, as handmaid to De Bois-Guilbert.
Isaac is distraught. He begs Front-de-Boeuf to take everything
he has and broil him on the furnace, but spare the honor of
his daughter. Front-de-Boeuf has a moment of sympathy for Isaac
but it soon passes. As Isaac continues to be defiant, Front-de-Boeuf
orders the slaves to strip him and chain him down on the bars,
But before they can do so, a bugle call from outside the castle
is heard, and Front-de-Boeuf is summoned away from the dungeon.
Chapter XXIII
De Bracy visits Rowena in her imprisonment, aiming to win her
hand in marriage. He tries to charm her, but she responds only
with contempt. He then takes a tougher approach, telling her
that if she does not leave the castle as his wife, she will
never leave it at all. He also reveals that he knows of Rowena’s
love for Wilfred of Ivanhoe, and tells her that Ivanhoe will
never marry her because he too is a prisoner in the castle.
(Ivanhoe was the sick man in the litter traveling with Isaac;
De Bracy is the only knight who knows of his presence in the
castle, having looked into the litter, a fact that is not explained
until Chapter XXVIII.) De Bracy also reveals that Front-de-Boeuf
wants the land that is Ivanhoe’s by right. De Bracy says
Front-de-Boeuf will not harm Ivanhoe if Rowena agrees to marry
him, De Bracy. Otherwise, Ivanhoe will die. Cedric’s fate
also rests on her decision. Rowena weeps in despair, and De
Bracy has no idea of how to respond to her.
Chapter XXIV
Rebecca is thrust into a cell where she encounters an old woman
named Urfried. It turns out that when Urfried was young, Front-de-Boeuf’s
father stormed the castle in which her father and his seven
sons lived. All the men were killed, and Urfried was forced
to live in the castle with the conquerors. She tells Rebecca
there is no escape, and leaves the cell. De Bois-Guilbert comes
to the cell and makes it clear that he wishes to possess her.
Rebecca reproaches him, but he tells her that she is his captive
and subject to his will. He asks her to submit to her fate and
become a Christian, a proposal which horrifies her. She opens
the window and stands on the parapet, threatening to jump. De
Bois-Guilbert promises he will not hurt her in any way. Reluctantly,
she decides to trust him and steps down from the parapet. He
says she does him an injustice and he is genuinely devoted to
her. But he adds that the union must be with her consent and
on her terms. He tells her that he has ambitions to become the
powerful Grand Master of the Templars, but he is cynical about
the chivalric and spiritual ideals of the Order. He simply seeks
power, and implies that Rebecca will be able to share it, and
that this will be good for the Jews. Then he hears the bugle
sound from outside the castle and leaves the cell, promising
Rebecca he will return.
Analysis
Each
of these three chapters centers around one Norman noble and
one of the prisoners. Chapter XXII reveals the utter cruelty
of Front-de-Boeuf. He is the worst of the Norman nobles, and
he will appropriately enough meet the worst fate.
The next two chapters
both show honorable knights behaving dishonorably, and beautiful
women in situations of danger responding with impeccable courage
and dignity. (Rowena’s collapse into tears turns out to
be the most intelligent thing she can do in her situation, since
it leaves De Bracy completely discombobulated.)
Scott carefully makes
a distinction between De Bracy and De Bois-Guilbert. De Bracy
is unscrupulous and hopelessly love-smitten, and that is his
undoing. But he is not irredeemably evil, and there is even
some humor in the ridiculous way he tries to woo Rowena. He
therefore will meet a lighter fate than the ruthless, power-hungry,
hypocritical De Bois-Guilbert. |
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