“Guy Mannering, or The Astrologer” by Walter Scott // Astrological review of the book
Scottish writer and poet Walter Scott was born 250 years ago, on August 15, 1771. In 1814 he published his first historical novel, Waverly, which gave rise to and the title of Scott’s historical series, the so-called Waverley Novels. Waverly, published anonymously by Walter, was successful, and the author very quickly (the work took about one and a half months) wrote the next novel — Guy Mannering, or The Astrologer.
The success of the novel
Guy Mannering was more successful than Waverley. The first edition of “The Astrologer” was sold out on the first day of sales, the novel was repeatedly reprinted. What is the reason for such success, and what is the role of astrology in this?
First of all, we have to give Scott his due. If you break through the introduction and the first couple of chapters, then further the book flies at full speed, it’s a page-turner. If you want to know which writers have paved the way for bestselling authors like Dan Brown, then read Walter Scott’s novels. They are just as captivating but much deeper, subtler, and more compelling.
Strangely, this novel was never filmed but only staged in the theatre. When reading “The Astrologer” one recalls modern action-packed serials. There are plot twists, and suspense, and humor, and adventures, and love relationships, and historical and national flavor, and intellectual fights of smart characters, and honor, and dignity — everything is there.
And where is astrology, you ask. Alas, at the time of Scott, astrology was not held in high esteem, therefore, on the pages of the novel, one can see, to put it mildly, the author’s skeptical attitude towards astrology. The protagonist and one of his associates (a brilliant lawyer), while demonstrating possession of astrological terms and acquaintance with astrological authorities, call astrology “the imaginary science” and similar epithets, which at best express the condescending bantering attitude of the heroes to celestial science.
However, not everything is so simple. Let’s look at how astrology is manifested in Guy Mannering, in a little more detail.
Astrological legend
The book begins with the introduction, in which the author retells a certain astrological legend on which he originally based the plot of the book. Having written a couple of chapters according to the plan, he decided to change and expand the storyline. (That was a wise author’s decision, for sure, because the astrological legend is kind of strange and too far from reality, so it’s good that Scott did not reproduce it literally.)
Briefly, the legend reads as follows. A certain astrologer was on the road and got lost in the night. He was lucky to stumble upon a castle, where he was given dinner and lodging for the night. A child was born to the owners that night. The astrologer, as a sign of gratitude for the warm welcome, cast a horoscope for the newborn and was horrified: at a certain age, a terrible test awaited the child. The astrologer gave instructions that the child should be brought up in strictness and purity, and by the intended age (by that very terrible date) the child should have been sent home to an astrologer so that he would help him pass the test. At the appointed time, the young man, whom the demons were already beginning to torment more and more, came to the astrologer.
The astrologer gave the young man the last instructions and locked him in the room with the Scripture alone. The young man was tempted by evil spirits but he persevered, and exactly at midnight, as the astrologer had predicted, the test ended. The young man won, and after that, he married the astrologer’s daughter.
In the novel, only the beginning of this legend remains. Colonel Mannering, who happened to master astrology at a young age, really gets into a certain castle at night, where a child is born and makes a horoscope for a newborn. Further, the plot follows paths that are very far from the legend.
And the very fact of having a sheet with a Mannering interpretation of the horoscope in the novel becomes just one of the proofs of the child’s origin, and the correctness of the astrological forecast by the end of the book is simply forgotten, just as the main character of the book pushes astrology to the far shelf of his mind.
The plot unfolds in the 1760s-80s, so Mannering’s worldview reflects the attitude towards astrology at that time: the scientists began to treat it not as a respectable science, but as a superstition that they tried not to notice.
Gypsy woman and astrologer
The most notable and, perhaps, pivotal character for the whole novel is the gypsy Meg Merrilies. In fact, Walter Scott transferred all prophetic functions from the astrologer Mannering to her. Gypsy Meg and Colonel-astrologer are two strong personalities and two characters who know the methods of prediction and at the same time have the greatest confidence of the reader.
Meg is out of this world. She communicates with the other world, regularly gives out fulfilling prophecies, and rules the destinies of the main characters.
According to the plot, Meg appeared for the first time on the same day that Mannering cast the newborn’s horoscope. With the help of a spindle and a thread, she gave out a prophecy identical to the astrological forecast: the life of a born boy will be in danger three times (the thread broke three times during fortune-telling). Mannering secretly saw this but did not attach any importance to it.
Meg is confident in herself and her predictive art. Moreover, she knows for sure that Mannering also makes correct predictions using astrology. And at the end of the novel, she told him to check the boy’s horoscope and see that the time for the denouement had come. But the colonel was deaf to both Meg and astrology.
That is what happens. Despite the constant banter over astrology in the course of the novel, it nevertheless appears as true art, for the forgotten astrological prediction turns out to be correct. It was the astrologer Mannering who turned out to be unprepared for the predictive power of astrology despite the hints and support from the gypsy Meg.
As a conclusion
Whether subconsciously or not, the one who reads the novel gets the impression that astrology works. It can be assumed that such an idea was intentionally put into the novel, and it made its contribution to the commercial success of the book because the public likes it when the hero copes with life circumstances not only thanks to the strength of his personality but also thanks to the knowledge gained in the occult sciences and mystical practices. Walter Scott must have known it and used it intentionally.
