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Stephany Larsen
Kirstyn Leuner
Eng 1500, section 003
11/15/09
Illusions of Romanticism and Heroism in Waverly
From the time of his childhood, to his travels through Scotland, and up until the collapse
of the Jacobite rebellion, Edward Waverly seems to have become lost in the romanticism of the
cause and the people around him. Waverly was primed for these types of delusions from his
infancy by the literature he read and the stories of his family history. However it is not until he
travels to Scotland that they completely take over his mode of thinking. As the Jacobite army
marches south the illusions it inspires in Waverly begin to lift. After the battle of Clifton,
Waverly is forced to admit that “the romance of his life was ended, and that its real history had
now commenced” (283). In this paper I will argue that as a result of the combined influences of
his education, his family history, manipulation by his Scottish acquaintances, and a series of
misunderstandings that Waverly falls victim to grand illusions of his own heroism which drive
him to join the Jacobite cause. If not for all of these influences, Waverly mostlikely would not
have joined the Jacobites.
Edward Waverly’s upbringing made him particularly susceptible to romantic illusion. He
was given an unstructured education and for the most part was allowed to read what he liked
whenever he pleased. In fact Waverly would, “read no volume a moment after it ceased to
excite his curiosity or interest” (13). In addition to his habit of reading poetry and other
fictitious genres, he was often regaled with stories of his heroic ancestors. Particularly his aunt
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Rachael told him how “Lady Alice dismissed her youngest son with a handful of domestics,
charging them to make good with their lives an hour diversion that the king might have the
space for escape” (16). The son of Lady Alice ends up giving up his life for the king. This sets up
the long tradition of service to the Stuart kings in the family and romanticizes the idea of a
heroic death in Waverly’s imagination. With this education Waverly’s mind is primed to believe
such illusions. However, he could not create such an illusion on his own: he must still fall victim
to a set of influences and circumstances that overpower his better judgment and take over his
imagination. Ironically that series of events is first set in motion by his father who, seeking to
remove him from Jacobite influences, sends Waverly to serve in an army unit in Scotland.
After a short time with his unit Waverly becomes bored and decides to go visit an old
friend of his uncle, Baron Bradwardine, who is the first of the manipulators to weaken
Waverly’s hold on reality and plunge him into illusion. “When the dinner was removed, the
Baron announced the health of the King, politely leaving to the consciences of his guests to
drink to the sovereign de facto or de jure, as their politics inclined”(45). The Baron is a
supporter of the Jacobite cause but he is not obnoxious with his support. It is in this way that
Waverly is gently coaxed into recognition of the cause, though he remains a Hanoverian. Now
open to the politics of the Jacobites, Waverly will need stronger manipulation and motivation
before he is ready to give in to their Illusions.
Both the motivation and manipulation are provided at Chief Fergus Mac-Ivor’s home,
Glennaquoich. It is there that Waverly becomes bewitched by Fergus’ sister Flora. “ The wild
beauty of the retreat, bursting upon him as if by magic, augmented the mingled feeling of
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delight and awe with which he approached her, like a fair enchantress” (106). Indeed Flora is an
enchantress, using her beauty, and her gift for music and poetry to romanticize the Jacobite
cause. “I have but one wish, the restoration of my royal benefactors to their rightful throne… I
will frankly confess that it has so occupied my mind as to exclude every thought respecting
what is called my own sentiment in life” (135). This passionate rejection by Flora, of Waverly’s
marriage proposal serves to heighten Waverly’s attraction to her. It is in this way that Flora’s
passion softens Waverly’s resistance to the Jacobites.
Waverly now has the proper motivation, earning Floras admiration, but he still requires
the artful manipulation of Fergus McIvor. The Highland Chieftain gives Waverly a poem about a
previous Jacobite hero whose situation reflected Waverly’s and who holds a place in Floras
heart. “There were obvious reasons why the politic chieftain was desirous to place the example
of this young hero under the eye of Waverly, with whose romantic disposition it coincided so
particularly” (147). In essence, Fergus tells Waverly that if he joins the Jacobite cause, he will be
a hero like Wogon, earning Flora’s admiration and the glory of a hero.
As the romance of Scotland takes hold over Waverly’s imagination, a series of events
occur that weaken Waverly’s sense of duty to the Hanoverian English government. First,
Waverly learns that his father has been ousted from parliament, and then a letter arrives from
his commanding officer. The letter accuses Waverly of misconduct, and is written without any
of the leniency to which he believes his wealth and status entitle him. Furthermore the colonel
orders him to return to the regiment or, “I must report you to the war office as absent without
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leave” (125). Edward resigns his commission in indignation. As he cuts his ties with the
Hanoverian government Waverly becomes more susceptible to the allure of Jacobite heroism.
The illusion is not yet complete; Waverly’s respect for the British government is only
weakened, but not fully broken. It is not until he is arrested for treason and treated like a
criminal that Waverly reaches the point of no return. After reflecting on his situation, Waverly
cannot recognize his fault in not returning to his unit. To be tried for treason does not fit with
the heroic paradigm with which Waverly wants to see himself. So instead he sees himself as the
victim, and asks himself, “‘Why did not I,’ Waverly said to himself, ‘like other men of honor,
take the earliest opportunity to welcome to Britain the descendant of her ancient kings and
lineal heir of her throne” (166). Waverly decides he should do as Fergus and the Baron have
done, and welcome Bonnie Prince Charles back to England as the rightful King. It is here that
Waverly decides to give in fully to the illusions of romanticism which have been building
throughout the book.
Despite the fact that Waverly is now willing to give in to the romantic illusion, he cannot
rationally assume the role of a Jacobite hero when imprisoned by the English. After all, heroes
don’t spend the whole war locked up by the enemy twiddling their thumbs. Fortunately,
highland compatriots rescue him as he is being transferred to a more secure prison. He is taken
to Edinburgh, and introduced to Bonnie Prince Charles, leader of the Jacobites and hopeful King
of England. The Prince solicits Waverly to join in the rebellion offering him a commission and
even giving him his own sword. This is too much flatery for Waverly to refuse. “ To be thus
personally solicited for assistance by a Prince, whose form and manners, as well as the spirit
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with which he displayed in this singular enterprise, answered his ideas of a hero of romance”
(193). The Prince’s address plays so well into Waverly’s fantasies that he cannot help but accept
the Prince’s request and join the ranks of the Jacobite army. In truth Prince Charles address is
nothing more then the usual platitudes employed by all politicians. These platitudes are most
likely made in the hope that Waverly can eventually provide a large amount of funding to the
Jacobites.
“Our hero assumed the ‘garb of old Gaul,’ which was well calculated to give an
appearance of strength to a figure” (201). It is at this moment that the illusion is complete, and
Waverley is completely under its influences. It is here in the very heart of Scotland, where
dressed up like a Jacobite hero Waverly believes he is a hero. Yet Waverly has done nothing
worthy of heroism, in fact he has done many things contrary to the title. A perfectly timed
series of events have culminated in this illusion; the miscommunications with his superior
officer, the disgrace of his father, the manipulation of the Prince and Fergus, and his own
education. None of these things alone would have led Waverly to this place, but together they
have sealed his fate as a traitor to the Hanoverian crown. After the rise, inevitably follows the
fall.
Almost as soon as Waverly’s fantasy is constructed it begins to fracture. Waverly is
convinced that because he has joined the rebellion Flora will change her mind, but upon
arriving at the party she receives him with the same cold indifference with which they parted.
“The sensation of hope with which he had nursed his affections in absence of the beloved
object, seemed to vanish in their presence” (206). This delusion, constructed by Waverly’s
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imagination and supported by Fergus, that Flora would fall in love with him once he joined the
Rebellion has collapsed under the weight of reality. Waverly concludes, “’this then is the end of
my day-dream’” (207), insensible that he was still strongly in the grip of the dream.
Slowly the narrator makes it clear to the reader that the Jacobites are ill-equipped to
combat the Hanoverians. At the same time as the narrator describes the fierce members of the
Jacobite army he comments on the ill equipped peasantry which make up most of the ranks
“Here a pole-axe, there a sword without a scabbard; and some had only their dirks, and
bludgeons or stakes pulled out of hedges” (214). Despite a few early victories it becomes clear
even to Waverly that the Jacobite cause is futile. The illusion of the nobility of the cause
gradually begins to dissipate, when Waverly acknowledges the depths of his own misconduct,
and comes to understand the flawed nature of many of the individuals he had originally cast as
heroes.
The illusion is at last shattered with the crushing defeat at Clifton. It is at this point, cut
off from the Jacobite army in want of money and on the run from the law, Waverly awakens to
the reality of his situation. “That the romance of his life was ended, and that its real history had
now commenced. He was soon called upon to justify his pretensions to reason and philosophy”
(283). It is only through the assistance of others that Waverly is pardoned but his role in the
rebellion will remain a stain on his character for the rest of his life.
The illusion is a culmination of his family history, his education, the manipulation of
others, and perhaps his own vanity that leads Waverly down this path of illusion to near ruin.
With the veil lifted Waverly can reflect back saying, “Danger and misfortune are rapid, though
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sever teachers. ‘A sadder and a wiser man,’ he felt, in internal confidence and mental dignity, a
comprehension for the gay dreams which in his case experience had so rapidly dissolved” (296).
Any one of the influences that helped to construct these “gay dreams” would not have resulted
in Waverly’s ruin on their own. But together they have damaged Waverly’s honor beyond
repair.
Works Cited
Scott, Sir Walter. Waverley. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.