Of Love and War

‘Where Lies this Power Divine?’: The Representation of Kingship in Aphra Behn's Early Tragicomedies

“…The fact that it was misguided religious sentiments that led the Queen to alter the succession in the first place provides a textual echo of what Behn would have seen as the comparably wrong-headed Whig campaign to exclude James from the throne on the grounds of his Catholic faith. 21 Hayden extends this argument to encompass the play's general antipathy to religion, which she reads as an expression of the author's hostility to anti-Catholic hysteria. 22 Yet, as we have seen, the contemptuous dismissal of the oracle is entirely in keeping with the play's defiantly secular agenda, while its attack on religion goes hand in hand with its critique of divine right.…”

“…21 Hayden extends this argument to encompass the play's general antipathy to religion, which she reads as an expression of the author's hostility to anti-Catholic hysteria. 22 Yet, as we have seen, the contemptuous dismissal of the oracle is entirely in keeping with the play's defiantly secular agenda, while its attack on religion goes hand in hand with its critique of divine right. Given that James was well known as an inflexible supporter of divine right absolutism, it seems unlikely that Behn would have enlisted such a subversive pairing into the service of his cause.…”