Read the afterward to Rob Roy (484-92). Read the novel Rob Roy. As you read Rob Roy, determine the narrative structure and point of view used to unfolded the story. What are the strengths and weaknesses of Scott's narrative style? Mark some of the major and minor themes or motifs in the book:

Rob Roy is a historic novel; note in your literary handbook the characteristics of the historic novel. How does Jacobite intrigue interplay in this story of a young man's coming of age? How does the prominence of place factor into the story? What are the highlander characteristics that Scott portrays in Rob Roy? Characterize the highlander type.

Scott's portrayal of Diana Vernon has been called a study in "gender differentiation" or "gender-bending." How so? Mark the references to this motif as you read. What is Scott's purpose in blurring the gender lines? Note too the Gothic characteristics associated with Diana's part in the story (see your handbook for an explanation of the Gothic genre).

Walter Scott, one of Scotland's most beloved writers, became a novelist almost as a "consolation prize"--his reaction to being overshadowed as a poet by a young Lord Byron. Both Byron and Scott gained their fame by publishing poetic narratives: Byron's Childe Harold and Don Juan and Scott's The Lady of the Lake and Marmion. Byron, alas, was the better poet and Scott had the wisdom to see that, so at the age of 42 Walter Scott published Waverley, the first of what would become a new genre--the historical novel. Scott went on to write 50 books--stories set in Elizabethan and medieval England, such as Kennilworth and Ivanhoe, and stories drawing upon his own Scottish history and heritage, such as Waverley and Rob Roy. He would also publish biographies and editions of Swift and Dryden, as well as historical studies. His prodigious output was the result both of his extraordinary energy and his need to pay off debts incurred after some shady business dealings with Ballantyne Press, the book firm he was involved in and, alas, embezzled from.

Throughout his life, Scott loved antiquity. When a boy, he had discovered Bishop Percy's Reliques, a collection of ancient Scottish ballads and stories, and though by profession he became a lawyer and later sheriff of Sellkirkshire in the Scottish lowlands, he early on considered himself an antiquary, historian, and literary scholar and dabbler. Scott was also a man of large ambition, who allowed his love for prominence and power eventually to influence a series of poor decisions.

In 1819, Scotland honored him by making Walter Scott a baronet, and by 1825 he was owner of a vast estate, Abbotsford, which he adored and poured money into, in an effort to give him and his family the semblance of power and heritage that he was not born to. About this time, England went into an economic depression, and all Scott's economic ventures failed. He had taken a great deal of money out of his publishing firm, Ballantyne, in order to complete Abbotsford and to entertain lavishly. Only his

assigning the title of Abbotsford to his son saved the estate that he had spent his adult life building. For the rest of Scott's life, he furiously poured his literary energy into paying off his debts, finally dying of exhaustion in 1832 (the date literary scholars usually give for the end of the Romantic period of British literature).

These biographical details are important as we analyze Scott's literary style and canon. He is given credit for developing the historical novel, during a time when the novel as a genre was blossoming into maturity to become, by the end of the 19th Century, a major literary genre. Characterize the historic novel genre. Who are the historic personages in Rob Roy?

1) Episodic, sprawling structure, with a large cast of characters (though Rob Roy is more unified than most of Scott's novels, in terms of plot and character);

2) Brilliant and rich descriptive powers, in particular of the Scottish countryside (176);

3) Historical embellishment (in this case, the Jacobite insurrection of 1715 is a good example)

4) Scott's extraordinary ear for dialect (the "Scots" or Northern dialect is superbly rendered, which also makes Rob Roy difficult to read for modern readers, 168);

5) In contrast, his weak, stilted rendering of English dialog;

6) Elements of Gothic suspense and mystery (169);

7) Weak, limited character development, particular Scott's female characters, though one of the interesting things about Scott's characterization is his tendency to have double characters--here Rashleigh and Francis Osbaldistone, Diana Vernon and Helen Campbell, the loyal servant Owen and the misnamed Andrew Fairservant, highlander bandit, and Robert Campbell (Rob Roy) and Francis's father.

8) Some obvious narrative failings which result from the rapid composition: anachronisms (189), inorganic elements of his story-telling, and use of deus ex machina (plot manipulation). What are some of the contrived episodes and instances that bothered you about the novel?

This story takes place during the years following the Act of Union in 1701, uniting Scotland and England under the Stuart dynasty, (the descendents from Mary Queen of Scots, cousin to Elizabeth I). With Elizabeth's death in 1603, James VI of Scotland ascended to the English throne to become James I of England. His line continued with Charles I, whose deposing in 1642 and beheading 1649 signaled the Puritan Interlude, during which Cromwell and the Puritan dissenters ruled the realm. After the restoration of the Stuarts in 1660, Charles II (1660-1685), then his brother James II (1685-88) ruled, but James was tolerated only a short time because of his unabashed Catholicism (remember that England by this time was, by and large, Protestant). In 1688, the Glorious Revolution brought about the deposing of James II and an invitation to his Protestant daughter Mary to rule, along with her husband William of Orange from The Netherlands (1688-1701). In 1689, the Act of Settlement determined that no king of England could ever again be Catholic, effectively placing James' other son, Bonnie Prince Charlie (Mary's half brother), forever out of contention for the crown.

Prince Charlie lived in exile in France, a sort of 17th-Century playboy and one of the "beautiful" people in the court of Louis XIV, but his pretensions to the throne of England were staunchly supported in Catholic Ireland and in the Catholic highlands of Scotland. Those who supported Bonnie Prince Charlies were called Jacobites. In 1701, the year Protestant Anne, another sister of Mary and daughter of James II, ascended the throne, the Act of Union ostensibly put an end to the various intrigues to put Prince Charlie on the English throne, but periodically there were risings. In particular, in 1715, the year after the War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714, between England and France) and the year after Queen Anne's death (1714), there was another upsurge of support for Prince Charlie and attempt to place him on the English throne. This is the year (1715) Rob Roy takes place, and Jacobite intrigue threads its way throughout the story of young Francis Osbaldistone and his Scottish adventures.

Rob Roy is a bildungsroman--an initiation or coming of age story, in this case, young Anglo-Scot Francis Osbaldistone, who will initially reject his father and the family mercantile firm, only to attempt to save both from ruin on an adventure that takes him from the streets of London, to his uncle's country estate in Northumbria, to the alleyways of Glasgow, and finally to the Scottish highland wilderness camp of Rob Roy. Appearing in and out of his story, usually at the most propitious moment to save the day for Francis (somewhat like a Homeric epic god) is the heroic highlander Robert Campbell MacGregor, Rob Roy--the Robin Hood of Scotland.

What is the narrative structure that Scott chooses to relate Francis's story, a story which is a search for his own identity and in some respects for a father figure? Written in the form of a journal or narrative to his friend Tresham, who is son of his father's business partner, the book chronicles Francis's sojourn in Northumbria, at his Uncle Hildebrand's estate, Baldistone Hall, and his involvement in the Jacobite intrigue associated with his father's firm.

What is the circumstance that propels Francis to Northumbria? How is Robert Campell involved with the Baldistones? Why does Francis's cousin, Rashleigh, betray Francis's father when he goes to work for his English mercantile firm in the place of young Francis? What is the source of power that Rashleigh holds over his cousin and Francis's love, Diana Vernon? How does Francis retrieve the valuable papers that have brought ruin to the his father's firm?

Much of the mystery and the Gothic features of the novel are associated with the figure of Diana Vernan, a niece of Sir Hildebrand. Diana is a ward of Sir Hildebrand and lives at the Osbaldistone Hall, the sole female presence amid Sir Hildebrand's wild brood of boys. Thought to be an orphan, Diane must live by the agreement establishing her as the protected ward of Sir Hildebrand--that she either marry one of the Osbaldistone sons or retire to a convent. Francis is instantly drawn to Diana, both by her beauty and her boldness. The two become great friends, spending most of their days studying in the library or riding about the heather-covered hills. Diana is a fascinating character that unfortunately Scott fails to develop to the degree he could have; she is also associated with the intriguing theme of dual gender, or as one critic as termed the "gender bender" motif. How is Diana a non-traditional heroine? To what degree is she associated with masculine traits? Note when Francis first lays eyes on her, she is participating in a hunt (38) with her cousins (the mythological association with the "hunt and hearth" goddess Diana); note too the language associated with her description, as Scott refers to her as "fair Amazon" (39, 49-50,). Diana is more androgynous than either masculine or feminine (92-93). She has none of 18^th-century women's habits of indirection and coquetry in her actions and language--rather she is straight-forward and reasoned rather than emotional, and these traits are often off-putting to men (120). Diana identifies with men rather than with her own sex (125); why? Though Diana is aware that Francis is enamored with her, she makes it clear to Francis that their union is out of the question (160).

What traits does Francis have that are not the stereotypical macho-hero? Note how pleased Sir Hildebrand is when Francis demonstrates the typical macho characteristics? (113-116, 130). What is Scott's point in emphasizing these "gender-bending" qualities of the book? What is the fate of those ultra-macho lads that Sir Hildebrand has so carefully schooled in the boorishness and baseness of supposed "masculinity"? How do Rob Roy and his lady Helen bend their gender roles? What characters fare best in the story; characterize their "gender" qualities? Note the final comments about Rob Roy (398-399).

Deborah Rogers characterizes the central motif of the novel--Francis's search for identify--in terms of the Biblical father-son circular narrative which "constitutes a filial pattern of male initiation" (487). Rogers goes on to explain: "Renunciation of the father and father's culture leads to banishment and flight, quest for identity, rejection of an alternative culture, and ultimate submission to paternal authority" (487). The variety of "father" figures in the story--Francis's own father, his uncle, and Rob Roy--all provide alternatives for Frank, but he will ultimately choose his natural father and the "new Whig commercial order" that his father represents over the poetry the son loves. Even Diana encourages Francis to reject the life of a poet and embrace the family business. What is Scott suggesting about a new world order on the horizon?

Do you agree with Rogers' final evaluation of the dual nature of Diana Vernon, an analysis that is certainly appropriate for such heroines as Zenobia in Hawthorne's Blithedale Romance and many other 19th-Century "masculine " women? Rogers says: "But a woman who exhibits such masculinity and rationality must not go unpenalized. . . . Diana is suitably punished [by Scott] on the last page of the novel, where we simultaneously learn that Frank and Diana have wed and that . . . Diana has died, without having borne any children. Anxiety about female power finds symbolic expression in the close association of marriage and death. Female strength is equated with barrenness, perhaps the ultimate punishment in a narrative of inheritance. Diana's creativity is negated by denying her reproductive power" (492).

Finally, how different would this novel have been without the "prominence of place" in this story that blends history, myth, and archetypal journeys with gothic undertones?