Tyler Sasabuchi

Mrs. Hart
English 12
26 August 2009
The Talisman Summary
The novel The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott details the misadventures of the Scottish
Knight of the Leopard, one of the sole remaining members of the Scottish branch of the
Crusades. Throughout the novel he struggles with many hardships in the cruel and unforgiving
desert, under the reign of a brazen and headstrong King Richard of England, who remains
determined to take the Holy Sepulcher and Jerusalem from the Muslim (referred to as Moslems
in the story) Saladin's hands.There is also the love interest of the Scottish knight, Edith
Plantagenet, relation of the noble King Richard,who throughout the story provokes the lowly
night to try and achieve more honor and recognition. Through all of this, a unsteady peace exists
between King Richard and his combined European army and the Saladin and his forces, which
may be changed at any moment, giving a shifting but discrete backdrop to the novel.
In the start of the novel, the scene is set by a indefinite amount of peace, as proposed by
the Saladin and the princes of Europe under Richard, as the King himself lies on his apparent
deathbed from an unknown ailment. As the Christian forces scramble to find a cure and a new
course of action, the Knight of the Leopard is sent to a remote desert temple occupied by a
mentally unstable hermit, to pray for the King's health. In the chapel, he is present for a
ceremony of unbeknownst ends and becomes obsessed with a woman in the party, but is left
alone as the procession finishes and leaves.
Traveling back to the camp, he returns to find a Moslem sage, whose service is gifted to
the camp by the noble Saladin, in hopes of restoring his foes help. The king is indeed revived
but the wise man's arts, and is approached by the knight Scot, who wishes to speak with him. It
is then revealed through a series of events the identity of the woman from the temple, Edith of
Plantagenet, who is the King's cousin, and far above the poor Scottish knight by rank.

Determined to increase his level in the hopes of being able to approach her romantically, he is
tasked by King Richard to protect England's flag after the Austrian forces try to set their flag as
equal to it.
During the night, the Scott is tempted away from his post with the name of his focus,
leaving his hound to guard the banner. It is revealed to merely be a trick by the Queen played for
her entertainment, during which the banner is stolen and his hound gravely wounded, to his
extreme displeasure and worry. He is approached by the Moslem sage from before, who offers
the knight sanctuary should he leave, as well as treating his hound. Wanting to accept his
honorable death for failing his task, he declines and later approaches Richard and tells his tale.
He is sentenced to execution, but is saved by the sage who takes him as a servant. The two leave
the camp to return to the Saladin, and after a long journey arrive in the city. They formulate a
plan to find out who stole the banner of England, and arrange as necessary to execute it.
Using the previously wounded hound, the knight, who now appears to be a mute
nubian slave of Richard, determines that Marquis Conrade is the guilty party whence his dog
springs at him, and challenges him to a joust to decide the guilty party. The site is set in the
desert, with both European and Moslem forces attending, who witness the Scottish Knight
seriously maim the Marquis in the joust. During a great feast in Saladin's tent, the Grand-Master
of the Knights Templar is decapitated by the Saladin suddenly, after a servant of the Moslem
leader witnessed the Templar approach the wounded Marquis as he rested and stab him violently
in the chest, uttering the words 'accipe hoc', latin for 'take this'. It is then revealed that the Scot
knight is actually of high rank and worthy of marriage to Edith of Plantagenet, and they are
promptly wedded by the Hermit of Engaddi.

The Talisman Analysis

Due to being written in the early 1800's, many of the struggles and focuses throughout
the story deal mainly with ones honor and keeping a good name, which are some of the basic
building blocks of medieval chivalry. The Crusade is an interesting and fitting backdrop for this,
as the fierce religious war promotes both the best and worst of its combatants, which often play
into the protection or damnation of their honor and name.
The Scottish Knight of the Leopard is a very notable and opaque example of this, as a
fair amount of the story is devised and progressed due to his battles and journeys to become
more honored and well-known, in order to win the hand of the fair maiden Edith Plantagenet.
His hesitation to approach her in any manner outside of his noble position is a heavy drive to
make the story move along, and his attempt of protecting the banner of England is just one of a
myriad of examples where his honor is in the air, as the success of failure of his mission will
greatly alter it. The other characters also are constantly engaged in the balancing of how they are
known and perceived, from Richard's offense at the Austrian flag incident, to Saladin hosting
such grandeur feasts and events, even for his foe.
The story builds upon this ideal especially in how the Leopard is treated and perceives
the world after his losing of the flag, which caused him to be sentenced to death before being
saved by the Moslem sage. Before this series of events he is quite positive and has an optimistic
outlook on most things, though after the two fold blow of losing England's banner and then
being saved by becoming a servant to the sage, he becomes excessively pessimistic and hateful
of most people and ideals. This causes him to sink into a angry and depressive mood, which
continues for quite some time before he has a chance to re-establish his honor by finding the
banner. During this time he gains a newfound sense of purpose and optimism, showing how the
change in events and his sense of purpose greatly affected his person. This is a huge contrast
from the modern day, where people are quite often more fond of being lax and lazy for periods
of time. However, there is the idea that a lack of purpose actually negatively affects us even

today, such as the rather well known summer break dilemma. A bit of break may be good, a
cherished relief, but after an extended period of unstructured time, most people are glad to be
busied by work again. This is heavily played on in this story, as many times the characters,
especially the english King Richard, get a sense of unease with the lack of battle or action.
True romance also comes into play, as the love portrayed between the Leopard and Edith
is, throughout the story, impossible due to rank and name, though even through this they
maintain this Romeo and Juliet style relationship throughout, until it ultimately leads to the
restoration of the Knight's honor and their marriage. Although this relationship is at first joked
upon, and later deemed foolish and naive, the two lovers stay the course, which is another one of
the main driving forces throughout the narrative.
One of the main intrigues of the story, however, is the sense of chivalry and how it
guides the characters actions throughout, as well as the drastic social changes and rules that this
sense of chivalry causes. One scene in particular, the Saladin's feast at the end of the story, is a
particularly good example, as it shows the religious enemies all dining together in peace and
good harmony, contrasting their actions that have constituted the Crusade up to this point.
Furthermore, as a delicacy is passed around the tent for all to try, the Grand-Master of the
Knights Templar, which were of high importance to the Christian Crusaders, often being seen as
'holy knights', was beheaded suddenly by the Saladin with seemingly no provocation. It is
revealed that he was a murderer, but the fashion and reception in which the execution takes
place is nothing short of shocking by todays age, and gives an incredible window into the life
and culture during the crusades.
One of the hardest parts of this book is the language and wording of it, as being
published (originally) in 1825, the words and style is rather outdated. Trying to understand the
more roundabout and complex olde english that comprises it is often challenging, and can easily
catch up the most prepared of readers. One particular example is the form of addressing each
other, or the way the characters commonly speak in third person.