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Thread: Rob Roy

  1. #1
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    Rob Roy

    'Rob Roy' was the most popular of Scott's Scottish romances. Since it concerns an earlier Jacobite rebellion, in 1715, it has been compared to 'Waverley', but unlike in 'Waverley', the rebellion is not central to the plot. it takes place offstage and is really only the pretext for what is an adventure story rather than a tale of politics. The young English hero, Frank Osbaldistone, travels first to the north of England and then to the Scottish Highlands to retrieve money stolen from his father by his villainous cousin Rashleigh, and meets the famous outlaw Rob Roy, often called 'the Scottish Robin Hood'. Despite the title, Rob Roy is not the main character, but his actions drive the plot. He appears out of the shadows (sometimes literally), usually to help Frank, and disappears as quickly. Frank comes to like and respect the 'Highland rogue'.

    The novel contrasts the Highlands and Lowlands of Scotland, so near geographically, but worlds apart culturally and economically. Rob Roy carries out his cattle trading (and raiding) and blackmail only forty miles from the centres of commerce and the rule of law, but he is at home in either world. One of the characters explains Highland society to Frank: 'They are clean anither set frae the like o' huz. Never anither law hae they than the length o' their dirks (daggers)'. Scott depicts Rob Roy as a man already out of his time in 1715, in a society that had to change. Scott does not sentimentalise him, but portrays him as an intelligent resourceful man who takes his opportunities no matter which side of the law they fall on. He is summed up: 'The truth is, Rob is for his ain hand; he'll take the side that suits him best; if the deil was laird, Rob wad be for being tenant'. He is one of a number of standout characters.

    Full of drama, rich language and humour, the novel created Rob Roy's iconic status. Classic Scott.
    Last edited by Zaza; 06-06-2014 at 08:53 AM.

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    Registered User kev67's Avatar
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    Was Rob Roy a real person as well as a fictional person?
    According to Aldous Huxley, D.H. Lawrence once said that Balzac was 'a gigantic dwarf', and in a sense the same is true of Dickens.
    Charles Dickens, by George Orwell

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    Registered User 108 fountains's Avatar
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    Real. His name was Robert MacGregor, but he took the name Rob Roy because of his red hair (Rob Roy = Red Rob).
    That's about all I know of the real Rob Roy. Like most other people, I know him mostly from Scott's novel, which I understand greatly embellished his real-life adventures.
    A just conception of life is too large a thing to grasp during the short interval of passing through it.
    Thomas Hardy

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    A biography of the real Rob Roy McGregor called 'The Highland Rogue' was published during his lifetime (he died in 1734). But it wasn't until Scott that he became centre stage. The novel generated a tourist industry with people visiting 'Rob Roy's country'. People still go to see his grave at Balquhidder.

    The real Rob Roy's adventures were far too numerous for Scott to cram into his book. For example, he was a double agent during the Jacobite rebellion of 1715. All of which and more can be found in:

    David Stevenson - 'The Hunt for Rob Roy - The Man and the Myth' (John Donald Publishers, 2004).

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