Scott’s Scott’s

Abstract

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832), a Scottish novelist and Father of the Historical novel in English deserves the credit of pioneering the genre of Historical novel by presenting to the world, the fictionalized history capable of producing ineradicable impression on the minds of readers. Scott was meticulous in looking up old records and drawing upon his collection of legend, tradition, history and poetry that he had gathered for almost forty years while narrating his novels. His semi-mythical tales are in concurrence with the rapid industrialization and urbanization that transformed society and created unprecedented societal problems.
Scott’s most popular novel The Heart of Midlothian (1818) incorporates a spectrum of characters ranging from common men and women to the uncommon, imbalanced eccentric beings. The minor characters like Madge Wildfire and Meg Murdockson portrayed by Scott impart a breadth and variety to the novel and create an impression of life burdened with heterogeneous problems encountered by human beings in all ages. The present paper focusses on the mindset of male folk who consider women simply a toy to be played with and to be thrown away when their lascivious desires are fulfilled. The attempt has been made to expose the evil mindset of the young especially in the postmodern era when men’s faith in the institution of marriage has diminished; they simply lure young women giving them false promises of marriage and discard them after their corporeal urge is gratified.