This study is concerned with William Davenant's dramatization of Solyman the Magnificent as an ideal man of war and peace. The structure of the play and characters are designed to reveal Solyman's honorable character. In the introduction, the author reviews the critical history of The Siege of Rhodes (1661). The section "The Siege" is concerned with the Sultan's attitude to war and his behavior towards his foes, which is marked by ambition and valor. In the section "Victory", the author traces Solyman's generosity and mercy towards the defeated Rhodians. Ianthe and Alphonso dominate the "Characters" sections, which reveal how both characters play a central role in stressing Solyman's honorable conduct in war and peace. The dramatic centre of the play, as highlighted by the author, is Solyman's honorable character. With such dramatization Davenant departs from the conventional presentation of Turks as moral and political transgressors.
Generally, critics have read John Gay's Polly (1729) as a satire of the political and social corruption that marked his own era. Other studies have attempted to explain the play as an anti-slavery and antiimperial voice. My proposal looks beyond the immediate contemporary context of the play and attempts to read it as a propaganda for the futuristic imperial aspirations of Britain. This is revealed through constructing a structural comparison between Polly and Virgil's The Aeneid. Like the ancient Roman poet, Gay emerges obsessed with the time not as a simple historical fact, but as a vehicle for imperial ideology and legacy. Thus, the structure of The Aeneid has found its way into Polly, asserting the indispensable literary and ideological legacy of the Imperium Romanum. Gay promotes Britain's imperial agenda through emulating the structure of Virgil's Aeneid. Like that of the imperial epic, Polly's structure is based on the dynamic of struggle where the heroine occupies a central position similar to that of Aeneas. Like the Aeneid, Polly's, structure is of three stages; exodus, sea voyage and the Promised Land. Both characters follow the same structure in search of new life in a new land. Aeneas who reaches Italy from the destroyed Troy founded the Roman Empire through marrying the Princess of Latium. Polly ends her struggle by marrying Prince Cawwawkee, the heir to of the Indian throne. The bond between them legalizes the British dominance in the West Indies and by extension the creation of the British Empire. By following Virgil's steps and his Roman empire, Gay finds his way well charted.
The British dramatist Mary Pix’s (1666–1709) play The Czar of Muscovy (1701) has received limited and inconsistent critical attention compared to her other plays. This paper offers a fresh analysis of the play, which depicts the rule of the Russian pretender Dmitry Ivanovic, which lasted from 1605 to 1606 when he was killed in an uprising. The reading centralizes the history of false Dmitry during the Time of Troubles and his dramatic role as a figurative representation of the English Catholic pretender James Edward Francis Stuart (James the Old Pretender). Pix manipulates the public and private image of the False Dmitry (called Demetrius in the play) to undermine the Catholic pretender James’ claim to the English throne. This can be seen through a comparison of their public image and similar biographical details. Demetrius’ private image displays his tyranny and effeminacy, which are exposed through his treatment of the key women in his life: Queen Marina, his supposed mother Empress Sophia, and his captive Zarriana. In their own ways, the three women help him to reach the throne only to destroy him. Their dramatization as powerful agents who face oppression and achieve triumph is a message to Pix’s female audience to emulate the female characters and prevent the restoration of the pretender. Thus, Russian history emerges as a dynamic and unifying force that transcends time and geography.
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