Hello readers, I'm writing this blog as an assignment by the Department of English, MKBU. Here, I'm trying to give an overview of the classical poem of John Dryden Absalom and Achitophel. I am also trying to discuss about Absalom and Achitophel as political satire.
Overview of the poem:
'Absalom and Achitophel' is a satirical poem, which also includes the Bible story. It is an allegorical work. 'Absalom and Achitophel' by John Dryden was published in 1681. A poem written in heroic couplet and in iambic pentameter, it was written in AABB rhyme scheme. Here, we find themes like sin, temptation, punishment, fall, etc. A lot of Rebellion has also been shown in this poem. For example, in the Monmouth rebellion (1685), The Popish plot(1678) and The Exclusion crisis.
The story of charles ll is very similar to the story of king david. In this story Israel is england and french instead of Egypt.
David is representing Charles ll,
Absalom is representing the duke of monmouth,
Achitophel is representing the earl of shaftesbury.
A poem begins with Israel. This is the story of a Holi time. At that time it was not considered a sin to have more than one marriage. It means, the man who used to have many wives and many mistresses too. The king of Israel is King David, who has no children by a legal wife, but King David has an illegitimate child named Absalom. He is a very handsome boy. David's wife's name is Michael. Apart from being a handsome boy, his face shines in such a way that once the moon becomes shy. Absalom is such a humble and so kind person. Absolam had every quality that a king should have. But Absolam was an illegitimate child, he could not become a king. Here the monarchy rule has been shown, that is, only the son of the king will become the king and he should also be legal, should have real blood. Absolam was his son but not of his legal wife. Absolam was the son of a mistress of David. Absolam had all the qualities that a king or a prince should have, and this is the reason why the people of Israel loved Absalom very much. Since the Absalom was an elected child, both the public's favor and sympathy were available to the Absalom, and the benefit of this is to the Achitophel.
Achitophel was a man of sharp mind, conspiracy, floating and planning. Achitophel is the type of character whose only aim is fame, praise, appreciation etc. Not only this, Achitophel had a habit of listening to his praise that he used to keep only soldiers around him who could praise him falsely.
Achitophel hated King David very much so Achitophel starts provoking Absolam. Achitophel makes Absalom the pawn of his trick, but Absalom was not going to fall into his trap so easily. Because Absolam loved his father King David very much, even David was very fond of Absolam. David had many illegitimate children, out of which David was most dear to Absolam. Achitophel was also not one to give up, his aim was to remove King David from the throne. And so he decided to take absolam on his side because the people of Israel, both jews and jebusites loved Absalom. Achitophel started the flattering work of Absalom. He says that your father is old now and all the people see their future in you. You are the only one who can live up to the expectations of the people.
The jews choose their new king every 20 years and so Achitophel was attacking at the right time. Absalom was adamant on his point, he did not want to go against his father. But Achitophel again says that why God has given you so much quality, to become a king.
On this side it was announced that after David, his brother would become king. And he is royal too, but he does not like jews and hence Absalom seems that if I was royal too, I could have become king too. Achitophel says that all jews want Absalom to be a king.
Now, one thing to think about is why achitophel wants to make Absolam the king? His selfishness is hidden behind him. When Absolam becomes king, he will choose the same thing as Achitophel says because he is doing a lot to make Absalom king, even praising Absalom in front of jews, which will increase the popularity of Absalom. Achitophel will rule over Israel after the Absalom is established because whatever he says, Absalom will do the same.
Absalom ruins all the planning of Achitophel. He says that his father is a good and loyal king, he does not like bloodshed like me, he wants to do any work peacefully. But Achitophel again says that all the jews want Absalom to become the king. And coming to this point, Absalom is ready to fight with his father, but still some people are loyal to King David, and one of them told King David that your son is ready to fight against you.
A fight is suppressed before fighting, because Absalom tried but did not try with all his heart. And finally King David says that all the jews know that his only King is David.
Absalom and Achitophel as political satire:
Absalom and Achitophel is one of the most important satires of the Restoration, it is also a good example of indirect satire which means that the author uses a story and characters that are not apparently connected with his own time, but that hide another story related to political events in Dryden's England. The poem functions in the same way as an allegory, in the sense that the reader has to discover the real story behind the one that is explicitly told. Dryden supported the monarchy, but he was also critical of Charles II. Note how the poem manages to negotiate between support and criticism. Dryden issued forth the poem not only to praise the King, but to validate his actions and to destroy his opponents.
The only intention of Dryden to write this poem was to support King Charles II. The King himself asked Dryden to write a poem satirizing the Whig party and particularly its leader Shaftesbury. Dryden was also supporter of Tory. He was called Staunch Tory. He used satire very strictly for that people who were against the King Charles II and made plan to dethrone him.
First, Dryden attacked Earl of Shaftesbury. With his brilliant tricks he represented Shaftesbury as hypocrite. We found Shaftesbury a smooth talker and with his this capability, he convinced Duke of Monmouth to go against his father.
Dryden also attacked Protestant group. The Protestant group was in fear that if James, the brother of King Charles II, came to the throne then Roman Catholics would be beneficial and would be in power. Here, it is notable that James, the Duke of York was thought to be a follower of Pope of Roman Catholic. Instead, Protestants wanted to see the Duke of Monmouth in the throne of England. In Absalom and Achitophel, Dryden tried to show the traitorous activities of the Whig against their king
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