Questions on Waverley, or 'Tis Sixty Years After'

1. In chapter 1, what significance does the narrative voice attach tothe fact that the name Waverley has not been used before? What forms of fiction does he claim he will not present?

2. What attitudes seem conveyed by references to "the garrulous narrative of the heroine's fille-de-chambre" and "a blowsy peasant girl" (34) Why does he claim to wish to present a tale of character rathr than of manners?

3. What does the narrator claim will be the ultimate subject of his story? (35-36) What kind of imagery is used to convey his point?

4. In chapters 2 and 3, what do we learn about Edward's past and upbringing? What seem to be some results of his mother's death and the character of his father and uncle?

5. What judgment does the narrator pass on Edward's education? (47) Are others responsible for his imperfect learning? What might a nineteenth-century reader have anticipated as the results of unguided romantic reading?

6. What may be some important associations of the name "Edward Waverley"? What seem prominent traits of his temperament and character? Is he a suitable hero for a novel about the politics of Scotland's future?

7. What are some features of Scott's style? Do you like them? Where and how does the narrator prsent hismelf ? What is the effect of his interventons?

Do you know which eighteenth-century novelist(s) may have influened Scott?

8. In chapter 4, what lore and opinions does Edward gain from the company of Sir Everard and Mrs. Rachel Waverley? (Mrs. was an honorific used for unmarried as well as married women of the period.) What does the narrator seem to think of these forms of history?

9. How is Edward's career chosen? What seems to be his response to the knowledge that he is to be a soldier in defense of the British sovereign? What is revealed about him by the poem he writes?

10. What happens to Edward's first romance? Why do you think that this relatively unimportant incident is included at all?

What does the narrator seem to think are the expectations of female readers? (63)

11. In chapter 6, what are circumstances of Edward's leavetaking? What attitude toward religious disputes seem implicit in the descriptions of Mr. Pembroke's manuscript and its fate?

12. What seems to be Edward's views on religion and politics? How does he fare in his first days as a soldier? What is significant about the fact that he travels southward?

13. In chapters 8 and 9, how are the village and inhabitants of Tully-Veolan described? What are traits of the "innocent" Edward first encounters? What are some features of the manor? Can you see symoblism in these qualities and/or in Edward's response to them?

14. Can you predict Edward's future relation to the manor of Tully-Veolan? What effect is created by the novel's many quotations and allusions?