Introduction
Sir Walter Scott is considered to be the prime architect of historical novels in English literature on accountof his prodigious skill of romanticizing the dry historical events and presenting them in invigorating and exhilarating manner. In his well-known novel, The Heart of Midlothian, Scott has made sweeping changes in the original story and the bearings of historical personages but the final outcome of the novel is impressive and absorbing.Such deviations are the prerogative of a historical novelist because his aim in writing a historical novel is not to depict the facts of history but to present them in an innovative manner; by embellishing them with prismatic colours of his imagination. Baker rightly remarks: “To present and …show more content…
The title of the book refers to the Old Tolbooth Prison in Edinburgh, Scotland (pulled down in 1815), at the time in the heart of the Scottish country of Midlothian. The historical backdrop was the event known as the Porteous Riots. In 1736, a riot broke out in Edinburgh over the execution of two smugglers. The Captain of the City Guards, Captain John Porteous ordered the soldiers to fire into the crowd killing several people. Porteous was later killed by a lynch mob who stormed the Old …show more content…
Describing Captain Porteous, a name memorable in the traditions of Edinburgh as well as in the records of criminal jurisprudence, Scott remarks,
“It was only by his military skill, and an alert and resolute character as an officer of police, that he merited this promotion, for he is said to have been a man of profligate habits, an unnatural son, and a brutal husband… his harsh and fierce manners rendered him formidable to rioters or other disturbers of the public peace.”
Sir Walter Scott is considered to be the prime architect of historical novels in English literature on accountof his prodigious skill of romanticizing the dry historical events and presenting them in invigorating and exhilarating manner. In his well-known novel, The Heart of Midlothian, Scott has made sweeping changes in the original story and the bearings of historical personages but the final outcome of the novel is impressive and absorbing.Such deviations are the prerogative of a historical novelist because his aim in writing a historical novel is not to depict the facts of history but to present them in an innovative manner; by embellishing them with prismatic colours of his imagination. Baker rightly remarks: “To present and …show more content…
The title of the book refers to the Old Tolbooth Prison in Edinburgh, Scotland (pulled down in 1815), at the time in the heart of the Scottish country of Midlothian. The historical backdrop was the event known as the Porteous Riots. In 1736, a riot broke out in Edinburgh over the execution of two smugglers. The Captain of the City Guards, Captain John Porteous ordered the soldiers to fire into the crowd killing several people. Porteous was later killed by a lynch mob who stormed the Old …show more content…
Describing Captain Porteous, a name memorable in the traditions of Edinburgh as well as in the records of criminal jurisprudence, Scott remarks,
“It was only by his military skill, and an alert and resolute character as an officer of police, that he merited this promotion, for he is said to have been a man of profligate habits, an unnatural son, and a brutal husband… his harsh and fierce manners rendered him formidable to rioters or other disturbers of the public peace.”