STYLE

Scott uses nineteenth century language in Ivanhoe, even though he places his story in the twelfth century. To create the right atmosphere and make the story more believable, he uses a great many medieval colloquialisms such as "gramercy". He also describes the Middle Age customs with precise detail, creating a vivid and realistic background against which to present his characters. Throughout the novel, his prose is colorful and evocative, successfully capturing the medieval world about which he writes.

Scott's technique is to use a historical character, such as King Richard I, and surround him with fictional characters. He makes the fictional side believable by making all the plots, both historical and fictitious, parallel in appeal. He also creates a huge cast of characters, who weave in and out of the novel. He carries each character or group of characters to a certain crisis, and then he leaves them for awhile and begins to follow another set of characters. In order to bring all his characters to the same point in time, he uses flashbacks to fill in the necessary missing details. In spite of going backward and forward in time and of constantly changing the characters who are in the forefront, Scott's narrative is never disjointed. The reader can clearly follow the action of the plot.

Through his varied narrative techniques, Scott shows that he is a masterful storyteller who can hold the reader spellbound with an exciting and unified plot and an interesting cast of characters who intertwine with one another.

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