SOURCE: "Anti-Pugilism: Violence and Justice in Scott's The Two Drovers'," in Scottish Literary Journal, Vol. 22, No. 1, May, 1995, pp. 46-60.

Below, Johnson detects a preoccupation with pugilism in "The Two Drovers, " showing the relevance of eighteenth-century pugilism to the narrative and suggesting that the story may in part satirize topical debates and controversies surrounding the acceptibility of pugilism.

The structure of Scott's story 'The Two Drovers' depends on repeated acts of violence: the violence of an Englishman towards a Highlander in the first instance, followed by two fatal acts of vengeance, or revenge, first on the part of the Highlander, and finally on the part of the law. There can be little disagreement about this; difficulties arise for readers and critics only when they attempt to place this violence in its cultural, historical, or literary context. The critical consensus seems to be that the story can be considered as...