Will We Yet See the Return of the Wilfrids?

by Esmerelda Weatherwax (November 2010)

Will we yet see the return of the Wilfrids or Wilfreds?

In his descriptions of mediaeval England can be seen the root of later works and films glamourizing chivalry and the courtly joust. He makes full use of the Robin Hood and Richard Coeur de Lion tapestry of myth and history.

The first six books of the Forsyte Saga are about the middle class Forsyte family, the later three books diverge during the 1920s into the story of the aristocratic family of Michael Mont who Fleur Forsyte marries. Fleur, a cool and self-centred girl is thwarted in her desire to marry her cousin Jon Forsyte and quickly seeks solace in marriage to Michael Mont a rather nice young man and heir to a baronetcy. His best man is the Hon. Wilfrid Desert, war hero and tortured poet. I always imagine the intellect of Wilfred Owen in the body of John Gilbert. He also falls in love with Fleur and she plays with him, an aristocratic poet being such an asset to her literary salon. However ultimately Wilfred cannot betray his best friend and comrade and he departs for the east.

The matter of conversion from the faith of ones ancestors is also one of the most powerful themes in the Ivanhoe story. Isaac and Rebecca fall into the hands of the Knights Templar. Isaac is quite happy to pay a vast sum of money to avoid torture, but when the safety of his daughter is at stake he is willing to undergo anything the Templars can produce to protect her.

The Templars declare de Bois-Guilbert to be bewitched and Rebecca is tried as a sorceress. A fire and stake are prepared for her execution. She claims trial by combat and de Bois-Guilbert is commanded to fight her champion. Wilfred is not yet recovered from the earlier wounds but he rises to the challenge. Before combat can begin de Bois-Guilbert drops dead from either a heart attack or a stroke. King Richard and Robin Hood reveal themselves and the King sends the Templars packing. Wilfred and Rowena marry. The Saxons are reconciled to the rule of King Richard. Rebecca goes to the Holy Land to devote herself to the sick.

The contrast between the courage shown by the Jews who are faced with torture and/or a horrible death and Wilfrid Desert who, having no faith to support him, could not face a quick death from a bullet is striking.

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