The Lady of the Lake is a narrative poem by Walter Scott, first published in 1810. Set in the Trossachs region of Scotland, it is composed of six cantos, each of which concerns the action of a single day. There are voluminous antiquarian notes. The poem has three main plots: the contest among three men, Roderick Dhu, James Fitz-James, and Malcolm Graeme, to win the love of Ellen Douglas; the feud and reconciliation of King James V of Scotland and James Douglas; and a war between the Lowland Scots (led by James V) and the Highland clans (led by Roderick Dhu of Clan Alpine). The poem was tremendously influential in the nineteenth century, and inspired the Highland Revival.
Contents
Background
The first hint of The Lady of the Lake occurs in a letter from Scott to Lady Abercorn dated 9 June 1806, in which he says he has "a grand work in contemplation … a Highland romance of Love Magic and War founded upon the manners of our mountaineers". He saw it as doing for the Highlands what The Lay of the Last Minstrel had done for the Borders.
But in January 1807 he had decided to postpone the Highland work in favour of Marmion since "it would require a journey of some length into the country not only to refresh my faded or inaccurate recollection of the scenery; But also to pick up some of the traditions still floating in the memory of the inhabitants". The poem was eventually begun during a visit to the southern Highlands at the end of August and beginning of September 1809, but in the early stages it seems not to have been composed in a straightforward manner, Scott writing to his Highland correspondent Mrs Clephane on 27 October of the same year: 'I have been amusing myself with trying to scratch out a Douglas tale but this is only for your own ear and family as I have not formed any serious intention of combining or systematizing the parts I have written'. But the poem now had its name, The Lady of the Lake.
Scott announced good progress in November and December. There was some interruption from legal business, but the first two cantos were in print by 14 March, and the next two by 14 April with the fifth in the press and the sixth within sight of completion.
Editions
The first edition of The Lady of the Lake was published on 8 May 1810 in Edinburgh by John Ballantyne and Co. and in London on 16 May by Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and William Miller. The price was two guineas (£2 2s or £2.10), and 2000 copies were printed. Several more editions followed in the same year, and on 20 February Scott informed John Leyden that 'no less than 25,000 copies have disappeared in eight months and the demand is so far from being abated, that another edition of 3,000 is now at press'.
A critical edition of The Lady of the Lake is due to appear as Volume 3 of The Edinburgh Edition of Walter Scott's Poetry.
Characters
James V of Scotland travelling incognito as James Fitz-James, the Knight of Snowdoun
Ellen Douglas, daughter of James Douglas
James Douglas, once the Earl of Morton, the mentor of the youthful King James, now exiled as an enemy
Allan-Bane, a bard
Roderick Dhu, the chief of Clan Alpine, outlawed after committing a cold-blooded homicide at the Scottish court
Lady Margaret, the mother of Roderick Dhu
Malcolm Graeme, a young highland chief and former courtier of King James, loved by Ellen
Brian the Hermit, a pagan prophet in the druid tradition
Duncan, a leading member of Clan Alpine who has just died
Angus, the son of Duncan
Norman, a bridegroom and member of Clan Alpine
Mary, Norman's bride
Blanche of Devan, a lowland Scottish woman, whose bridegroom was murdered on her wedding day by the men of Clan Alpine, causing Blanche to lose her reason
Narrative
Canto I: The Chase
The poem begins with a rapid-moving hunt, chasing a stag in the forests of the Trossachs. The stag outruns the hunt, exhausting all its members until only one huntsman – who, we later learn, is James Fitz-James – follows it until his horse falls down dead of exhaustion.
The huntsman blows his horn to try to contact someone, and wanders to the shore of Loch Katrine where a young woman, Ellen Douglas, rows across and picks him up in a skiff. He is then taken to a lodge, which he suspects is a concealed hide-out of a highland chief. There he is given dinner by Ellen, the bard Allan-Bane, and Lady Margaret, and a bed for the night.
That night he dreams of Ellen, only to see her face suddenly change to that of his exiled enemy, James Douglas – leading him to suspect that Ellen and Douglas are related.
Canto II: The Island
Fitz-James leaves the island first thing in the morning. Ellen and Allan Bane discuss Roderick Dhu, Malcolm Graeme, and Fitz-James, agreeing that the first is bloodthirsty and homicidal, but the only person who would defend Douglas, and that Fitz-James is an attractive person, but may be a secret foe of their kinsfolk.
Oarsmen of Clan Alpine escort Roderick Dhu to the island, singing the boat song, 'Hail to the Chief'. Roderick asks Douglas for Ellen's hand in marriage, to conclude an alliance between Douglas and Clan Alpine, which can be the basis of an uprising against King James. Douglas refuses, partly because he will not force Ellen into a loveless marriage, partly also because he remains, despite all the injuries he has suffered, loyal to King James.
Roderick and Malcolm quarrel over Ellen, and are about to draw their swords against each other, but Douglas declares that the first to draw will be his foe. Douglas also says that it is an insult for an exile for his daughter to be the spoil of a battle between two chiefs. Roderick tells Malcolm to leave his territory, which he does, refusing even to borrow a boat, swimming across the loch to the shore.
Canto III: The Gathering
Despite Douglas' refusal to participate in the uprising, Roderick decides to commence the rebellion anyway. With a pagan prophet, Brian the Hermit, he fashions and sets alight the fiery cross, and hands it to his henchman, Malise, to summon the members of the clan to war.
The members of the clan drop everything they are doing to respond to the summons of their chief. Malise runs around the countryside, finally passing the burning cross on to Angus, the son of Duncan, a leading member of the clan who has just died; and Angus, in his turn, passes the summons on to Norman, a bridegroom, interrupting Norman's wedding.
Douglas flees the island for a hermit's cave so that he will not be associated with the Clan Alpine uprising. As Roderick is about to leave the island, he overhears Ellen singing a hymn to the Virgin. He sadly realizes that this is the last time he will ever hear Ellen's voice, and then prepares to go off to battle.
Canto IV: The Prophecy
Malise and Norman discuss the upcoming battle. Roderick has decided that the women and old men should take shelter on the island in the middle of Loch Katrine. When Norman asks why Roderick is staying apart from the main body of the troops, Malise says it is the result of a prophecy made by Brian. Roderick Dhu had consulted Brian as to what will be the outcome of the battle. To determine this, they sacrificed one of the finest animals that the clan had received from one of its cattle raids, a milk-white bull. Brian prophesied that: 'Which spills the foremost foeman's life, / That party conquers in the strife' (stanza 6; lines 2524–25).
Roderick asks if any of the local friendly clans will fight on Clan Alpine's side; when he hears that none will, he sheds a tear, but at once masters himself and says that Clan Alpine will fight in Trossachs glen. Ellen, meanwhile, is worrying about the fate of her father, who stated that they would meet in heaven next if they met nowhere else. Allan-Bane seeks to distract her by singing the ballad of Alice Brand.
When the ballad ends, Fitz-James appears. He has asked a guide, Murdoch, to bring him back to Loch Katrine. There he pleads with Ellen to leave the Highlands and elope with him. Ellen says she cannot marry him; first, she is the daughter of an outlaw; second, her heart is promised to another. Fitz-James is disappointed, but before he leaves he gives her a ring, saying that if she needs anything from the King of Scotland, she has but to present the ring and it will bring her to him and he will grant her wish.
Murdoch guides Fitz-James further, when they encounter Blanche of Devan. Blanche's bridegroom was slain by Clan Alpine on her wedding day, whereupon she lost her reason. Blanche sings a song of hunting, to warn Fitz-James that Murdoch and the other Clan Alpine men plan to trap and murder him. Fitz-James then draws his sword; Murdoch shoots off an arrow, which misses Fitz-James, but hits Blanche, fatally wounding her. Fitz-James pursues Murdoch and stabs him to death. He returns to Blanche, who warns him of the ambush. Blanche has been wearing a lock of her bridegroom's hair ever since his murder. Blanche dies. Fitz-James cuts off a lock of Blanche's hair, mingles it amidst the hair of her bridegroom, and imbrues it in her blood, promising to steep the lock in the blood of Roderick.
Fitz-James then plans to make his way out of the trap in the Highlands by walking out by night. He succeeds in doing this until he turns a rock and suddenly comes upon a mountaineer sitting by a fire. The warrior challenges him, and Fitz-James says he is not a friend to Roderick. However, the two men recognize each other as worthy warriors, and the mountaineer promises Fitz-James safe passage to Coilantogle ford. The two share a meal and go to sleep side by side.
Canto V: The Combat
Dawn breaks, and the two men set out. They begin to argue about the relations between Highlanders and Lowlanders; Fitz-James condemns the clans' thefts and feuds, while his guide responds by referring to the many appropriations and legalized crimes of the Lowlanders. Finally, Fitz-James declares that if he ever encounters the chieftain he will revenge himself in full. On this, the mountaineer whistles, and five hundred men stand up from their hiding places; the mountaineer reveals that he is Roderick . Wishing to have this combat all to himself, he dismisses the men who were waiting to ambush.
On arriving at the ford, they begin to fight, the chieftain scorning to settle their differences any other way. Though Roderick is stronger, he is less skillful, and is badly wounded; when Fitz-James stops to address him, the chieftain defiantly seizes him by the throat; but he has lost too much blood, and his strength fails him. Fitz-James wins after a long struggle, and with his bugle summons medical aid for Roderick before setting off for Stirling, where a festival is taking place.
As he approaches the castle, he sees Douglas in the distance. Douglas has come to surrender himself in order to save Roderick and Malcolm; but before doing so, he stops to participate in the games of the festival. He wins so many events that he is brought to meet the king, but the king, giving him the purse of prize-money, will not acknowledge him as an acquaintance. Provoked, Douglas names himself, and is immediately seized.
A messenger rushes up to announce that the Earl of Mar is about to begin battle against Roderick Dhu, and he is ordered to return with the news that both Roderick and Douglas have been captured and that no battle is needed.
Canto VI: The Guard-Room
The next morning, Ellen and Allan-Bane enter the guard-room at Stirling Castle, hoping to visit Douglas in prison. Ellen is taken to a furnished room upstairs to wait; Allan-Bane is shown to the cell of the gravely injured Roderick, who dies as Allan sings of the recent battle between Roderick's men and the royalist forces. Meanwhile, leaning out of the window, Ellen is startled and heartbroken to hear the voice of Malcolm, singing in one of the turrets. Soon afterwards Fitz-James arrives to tell her that it is time for her audience with the king.
Ellen enters the room and looks around for King James. To her surprise, every man has doffed his hat except for Fitz-James, and she realises that Fitz-James is the king himself.
Terrified, Ellen collapses, but the king lifts her up and reassures her that her father has been pardoned, and asks whom else she would like released. Her generous first thought is of Roderick, but James tells her that he has died. Ellen is about to ask for Malcolm, but cannot speak; divining her wish, the king jokingly orders that Malcolm be put in fetters, and after putting a gold chain around the man's neck, gives the clasp to Ellen.