Ivanhoe By Walter Scott Essay Example For Students

Ivanhoe By Walter Scott Essay While reading the book Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott I have come to the conclusionthat Scott criticizes the church a lot. By some of the quotes by variouscharacters show that he has some type of grudge towards the church. In thefollowing paragraphs I will give several examples of his criticism. One exampleof the criticism of the church is when the Grand Master was talking at thetrial. He said: You are aware that we might well have refused this woman thebenefit of the trail by combat; but, though a Jewess and an unbeliever, she isalso a stranger and defenseless, and God forbid that she should ask the benefitof our mild laws and that should be refused to her This is just one of manythat the Grand Master is accusing and not letting the trial be fair becauseRebecca is a Jew. This shows that many of the churchman would lie to save theirone life. I am led to believe that the only reason why they turned Rebecca infor being a witch is because they wanted to save one of their own (Brian). Another example of the criticism of the church is the appearance of Brian andBrother Aymer. They both seemed to be rich and since all people involved in thechurch are supposed to live with fewer advantages they arent supposed to berich. We knew that they were rich because the brother had many servants andpeople with him. The brother was also over weight so it should that he indulgeda lot even though he wasnt supposed to. Then when Wamba tricked them bysaying one direction and pointing the other. Scott was trying to say thatobviously the two churchman that Wamba encountered were not that bright. Thenthere was the time when Ulrica was talking to Cedric about her past. She said:This castle, for ten years, has opened to no priest save the debauched Normanchaplain who partook the nightly revels of Front-de-Boeuf, and he has been longgone to render an account of his stewardship. But thou art a Saxona Saxonpriest, and I have one question to ask of thee Then she goes on saying howpriests hav e come and gone not even noticing the pain she was going through. Since Ulricas past was so awful she has always has always hated her becausethey have never helped her when she needed them the most. Though in Ivanhoethere were many examples of criticism but it would take awhile to name all ofthem. It was obvious that Scott didnt exactly like the church. The strangething that I keep on thinking about is why he didnt like the church. I thinkthat there is probably a good reason but most people dont even know about it. Still he made his point in the book.