The Story Archive

Old Mortality

Walter Scott · 1816 CE · Novel · English · Romantic

An old stonemason travels the south-west of Scotland recutting the worn inscriptions on Covenanter graves, and the story he leaves behind goes back to the rising of 1679. Henry Morton, moderate by temperament, is pushed into the insurgent camp of Burley and hunted by Claverhouse's dragoons. Scott's coldest look at religious war, and the book that cost him most with Presbyterian readers.

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Attributes

Genre
HistoricalPoliticalWar
Theme
Faith & DoubtDuty & HonorWar & ViolenceTradition
Archetype (Jung / Campbell)
EverymanRebel / OutlawWanderer
Plot structure
Frame NarrativeChronicleSiege / Last Stand
Symbol / motif
The TombThe BattlefieldThe Stone
Conflict
vs Societyvs Self
Mode / tone
RealistTragic
Culture / tradition
English

Closest analogues