We have been reading about Waverley’s journey into Scotland. This journey is not only a
process of travelling from one place to another, but also the account of an experience of changing
and developing of an individual within the framework of his time and society.
Later on, in the same chapter, Scott claims that: "There is no European nation which,
that creates history. People are moved by ‘their requirements and interests’ which is a ‘universal
of wealth’, ‘extension of commerce’, ‘the change’, ‘steadily and rapidly progressive’, ‘gradual’,
‘progress’. Words that tell us not only about history, but about history in progress. Moreover, the
novel itself is centred on one of those historical events that without doubt imply change, a civil
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war: (...) one of the continual historical markers in this novel is the English Civil War.
(Monnickendam, 1998: 37)
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The movements and decisions of Waverley are based upon his ideas and desires but in
some way directed by the movements of popular masses. Waverley is a passive hero, as most
Scott’s heroes are (see the discussion of characterization and Monnickendam, 1998: 37).
Waverley’s actions are, then, somehow directed by his historical moment. (Berbeshkina,
1987: 220-1, 224-5). It happens in this novel that the hero and his social context are bound
together from beginning to end. Lukács refers to the fact that Waverley’s actions are placed
within the ‘development admidst the most terrible crises’, and the ‘daily life of a nation’. We
cannot separate Waverley’s movements and decisions from his historical context, which is itself
movement. The continuity is always at the same time a growth, a further development. The
"middle-of-the-road heroes" of Scott also represent this side of popular life and historical
develpment (...). (Lukács, 1998: 293)
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Although Waverley plays a major role in the novel, he is not a maker of history. Lukács
explains how the creation of the plot of the novel is based upon Waverley’s fortunes. That is to
say, he is forced to live, to develop as a character, within the ongoing process of history of his
country. He is an English country squire. In Scotland he joins the rebellious Stuart supporters but
only as a result of personal friendship and love entanglements (Lukács, 1998: 292-3). Waverley’s
importance as an individual is emphasised as he "travels" in a period of crisis, when a social
system is breaking, and a new one is appearing. (Berbeshkina, 1987: 229). Waverley is a human
hero. He lives inside history while history forms him as a hero.
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