Redgauntlet: Study Questions
1. In what senses is Redgauntlet an historical novel? To what degree is its historical period (about 1765) a setting for the story? To what degree is it the topic of the story? Is Scott concerned with issues of time and change? If so, what does he imply about these issues, and how does his concern for them shape the structure of his novel?2. We get the impression from the outset that Darsie Latimer and Alan Fairford, though friends, are meant to be contrasting characters. What is the contrast, and does its importance justify the more-or-less equal treatment they receive in the novel? Is either character a "hero" of the novel? If so, what does that term mean in reference to him (or them)?
3. Edward Hugh Redgauntlet (a.k.a "The Laird of the Lochs of Solway," a.k.a. Herries of Birrenswork) is a character who commands (literally as well as figuratively) considerable attention. Is that attention justified by the complexity or interest of his psychology? Is he a deep character or merely a contrivance of plot? How does his character itself change as he moves through his various identities in the novel? Do our attitudes toward him change?
4. Scott spends considerable time on relatively minor characters, such as Blind Willie Steenson, Joshua Geddes, Peter Peebles, Alexander Fairford, the Provost, and others. (In what other novels do we find eccentric characters? Are eccentric minor people a generic characteristic of the novel?) Do these characters have thematic implications that justify Scott's attentions to them? Or is Scott merely a self-indulgent characterizer?
5. Redgauntlet treats the past, in part, through a number of interpolated tales, of which "Wandering Willie's Tale" (pp. 102-117) is the most famous example. But others include the escape of Pate-in-Peril and the piratical career of Nanty Ewart. What are all these stories doing in the novel, both individually, and as a general device for exploring the relationship between past and present?
6. Another way of approaching the past-present theme of the novel may be through the relationship of generations. What are the conflicts between Alan and his father, for example, or between Darsie and various older characters? What values are attached to the generations in the novel, and how are those values engaged by generational conflict?
7. The historical theme of the novel seems further associated with its treatment of religion, from the Quakerism of Joshua Geddes, through the hypocritical Presbyterianism of Mr. Trumbull, the peculiar anti-Catholicism of Nanty Ewart, and the conventional piety of Provost Crosbie and Alexander Fairford, to the staunch Catholicism of "the vestals of Fairladies" and others. In what way is Redgauntlet a novel about religion? What is the relationship between the particular sect to which one adheres and the way in which one is religious? Could one argue that Redgauntlet is actually a secular novel, and that the behavior of its religious characters is inevitably hypocritical?
8. Almost every character in Redgauntlet is a.k.a. somebody else. Is disguise a conventional element of plotting, or does it have thematic significance? (And if it does, what is that significance?) Do you think there is any connection between the disguises of the novel and the anonymity of Scott himself in his early career as a novelist?
9. The narrative style of Redgauntlet is odd, if not downright perverse. The novel seems to include all the narrative variations we have encountered in this course: pages 13-140 consist of letters between Alan and Darsie; pages 141-160 are written by a nearly Fieldingesque narrator; pages 161- 224 are a journal by Darsie Latimer (of travels, even); the narrator carries on for the rest of the novel, but turns his attention to Fairford from p. 226 to p. 309, to Darsie from p. 310 to p. 356, and then back to Fairford until the two major characters (for the first time in the novel) finally come together. (And, to make matters still worse, the "Conclusion" is narrated by someone named "Dr. Dryasdust.") The transitions between these different narrative modes and points of view are, to put it mildly, awkward. Is this narrative pluralism effective? If so, why?
10. In what ways is Redgauntlet a regional novel as well as an historical one? What does the term "regional" mean if Redgauntlet is an exemplary regional novel? More specifically, sections of the novel, especially dialogue and interpolated tales, are written in Scots dialect. Is the use of dialect effective or a nuisance? (And why do only some characters use dialect?)
11. Besides dialect, another instance of regionalism is setting. From the outset, where we are aware of the exchange of letters between Edinburgh and Solway, setting is given some significance in the novel. Think of the novel as particularly about borders, in the geographical sense and every other sense. What makes setting important, and what is its importance?
12. By the end of the novel (What do you think of the ending, by the way? Is it an anti-climax?) the romantic elements of the novel seem largely undermined or diminished. What is lost with the final downfall of the Jacobite cause? Is the loss regrettable? Are some of the romantic elements preserved in a new form? If so, what is the form, and what is the significance of the change?
13. Would you classify Redgauntlet as a gothic novel? What are its gothic elements, its anti-gothic elements? How would you compare it to The Romance of the Forest, a genuinely gothic novel, or to Northanger Abbey, a parody of a gothic novel? If Romance is an example of the female gothic, is Redgauntlet an instance of the male gothic, and if so what are its particularly masculine qualities?
14. Scott is sometimes thought of as a turning-point in the history of the novel. He was himself the editor of a multi-volume edition of earlier novels, for which he wrote prefaces (and an enthusiastic reviewer of Jane Austen). On the basis of Redgauntlet what does it seem that Scott added to the novel as it had developed by the end of the eighteenth century? Is his place in the history of novels related to the place of history in his novels?