What question did this study set out to answer?

The aim is to examine how Walter Scott's portrayal of dwarf characters critiques cultural preconceptions and stereotypes.

February 9, 2026Studies in Scottish literature0 citations

View Full Paper

Lofty Souls and Miserable Carcases: Walter Scott's Dwarfs

TWTara Ghoshal Wallace

Key Points

The aim is to examine how Walter Scott's portrayal of dwarf characters critiques cultural preconceptions and stereotypes.
Analysis of dwarf characters in Scott's works including The Black Dwarf, Peveril of the Peak, and The Talisman.
Exploration of historical context regarding perceptions of dwarfs from 1754 to 2005.
Application of disability studies frameworks to analyze representation and marginalization.
Scott's dwarfs are depicted as complex individuals, resisting and enacting cultural stereotypes.
The characters are humanized through individual stories, challenging the traditional views of their representation.
Cultural stigma surrounding dwarfs is addressed, highlighting historical prejudices.

Abstract

From William Hay in 1754 to Julie Rotta in 2005, people perceived as dwarfs have deprecated how cultural preconceptions have marked them as Other. Recent scholarship in disability studies has emphasised the role of representation in the stigmatisation and marginalisation of dwarfs. This essay argues that Walter Scott, even as he deploys traditional tropes about how normates respond to dwarfs, individualises his dwarf characters – Elshie in The Black Dwarf (1816), Hudson in Peveril of the Peak (1822), and Nectabanus in The Talisman (1825) – in a historically informed project to humanise his dwarf characters. Scott's dwarfs simultaneously enact and resist the stereotypes forced on them by cultural perceptions and prejudices.

问 AI

Bookmark

View Full Paper

问 AI

Bookmark

View Full Paper

Lofty Souls and Miserable Carcases: Walter Scott's Dwarfs

Key Points

Abstract

Cite This Study

Also Consider

Also Consider