Rowena or Rebecca

I've always thought that the more interesting question would be: should Rebecca have taken Brian up on his offer? I know that was an option that would have disgraced her in the eyes of the world, but don't you think that Brian is actually the more intriguing of the characters, rather than Ivanhoe? For some reason, Brian's always fascinated me. But in answer to your question: yes, I do prefer Rebecca to Rowena, but then thought that Rowena suited Ivanhoe better, as they're a both a bit wishy washy.

Ivanhoe and Rebecca had been in love for ages and long before Ivanhoe meets Rebecca. Rowena had remained true and faithful to him and she would even defy her guardian Cedric when it came to subject of her marriege, as Cedric wanted her to marry Athelstane. Therefore, I believe that it would have been unfair for Rowena if Ivanhoe had forgotten all about her. Of course, if Rebecca was not Jewish or if the story was not set in the Middle ages, you never know what might have happened. Still, Ivanhoe is described as an honest and loyal character and thus I doubt that he would go back on his word. He was deeply in love with Rowena and I doubt that any other damsel could change that. Besides, he could never marry Rebecca due to regulations of the time.

On the other hand, I would love to see the Rebecca-Brian match happening. Nowadays they would have been perfect for each other as they were so much alike in many ways. But Brian could not possibly marry Rebecca either at that time (not in England anyway. And fact is that Rebecca was right not to choose him; she was acting according to the law and to her concience and above all it was a matter of honour, religion and pride to her.


And yes, I have always liked Rebecca better than Rowena as a character. not to mention that I have always liked Brian more than Ivanhoe as well.

I agree with you. I liked Rebecca much more than I liked Rowena...

haha... smaken är som baken...

In the film, Ivanhoe did briefly discuss Rebecca with King Richard, and when further questioned about her he said that if she was of his race he would not let her out of his sight. And during there imprisonment in the castle after he kissed Rebecca he mentioned the race issue and that they were destined not to be together. Which implies that he does have strong feelings for her and if it was not a matter of race then it would of been a different story.

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Sir Walter Scott himself, in a note to a later edition of his novel IVANHOE, replied at some length to the various critics and readers who thought Wilfred should have married "the more interesting Rebecca", rather than Rowena whom they found boring. Scott reminded his readers (1) that the standards of the time never would have permitted him to marry Rebecca and that (2) it's a bit inane to expect everything in a novel, as in life, to turn out hunky-dory.

The last scene in the novel, indeedy, is a conversation betwixt Rebecca and Rowena, in which the former states her intention to leave England and live elsewhere, devoting herself to charitable work. There is obviously a bigtime mutual respect here, yet something is said about Rowena being perfectly aware that Rebecca would in future be in Wilfred's mind "more often than she [Rowena] would perhaps have wished" or words to that effect.

C'mon, guys. The ending as given is really the only possible one. What's this screenwriter supposed to do? Is he supposed to be like the inane screenwriter who rewrote THE SCARLET LETTER so that Hester and Dimsdale run off together and live happily ever after? Was Jules Verne supposed to change the ending of TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES so that Captain Nemo forswears his vengeful ways, turns himself in and shares his technology with the world, and wins a Nobel Peace Prize? Should the film SPARTACUS be rewritten so that the slave revolt succeeds, Rome is overthrown and a democracy established? What price in artistic justice is worth a mere happy ending?

Basically, Rebecca is the main heroine in Ivanhoe so of course she is the most sympathetic. It can also be argued that Sir Brian had a much greater passion for Rebecca than Ivanhoe even if that passion was destructive.

One should also take into consideration that normal practice for the time being portrayed was for the husband to be considerably older than the wife. Centuries later it got worse, where the girl had her debut at 17 or 18, and had a couple years to make a match; failing that she would get shipped off to India for a couple years to see if she could make a match with someone in the Company, Army or Navy there. After that, at around age 21, she would likely not ever get married.

Shoot me for sounding shallow, but Lysette Anthony is at the height of her beauty in this film, and I'll admit to being dazzled enough to last a lifetime.

As for her apparant shallowness, that is likely mostly due to the expectations and limitations still on her until she gets married. I'm writing an historical fiction/ romance novel that has some similarities. Upon marraige, she actually had a huge amount of responsibilities, which can be significantly expanded either with encouragement of her husband or his lack of discouragement. There are a number of cases from late medieval times where the wife organized and led an "army" (armed force of retainers) to spring a captured husband loose.

Rowena could well be hiding her cleverness from others, as such a trait becoming known would be very detrimental to her possibilities.

I'm not saying that Olivia Hussy isn't also beautiful, but as opposed to Lysette's 17 or 18 when filming, Olivia is 30 or 31. That's just a very different age bracket, doubly so in the period being protrayed.

Sorry, but even with my general preference with brunettes, Rowena is just too stunning in this movie to not be the focus of my attention. Plus I'm a one woman kind of guy, and so I wouldn't be distracted from my long-time love.

Steve