Louise Marshall
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DRAMATIC HISTORIES AND PARTY POLITICS, 1719-1745 LOUISE MARSHALL Pk. 'D - University Of Wales, Aberystwyth September 2003 DECLARATION This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not being concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree. Signed. : .................( candidate) Date .. lk f �. Vece �... I..CQ3..................... STATEMENT 1 This thesis is the result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. Other sources are acknowledged by footnotes giving explicit references. A bibliography is appended. Signed ..� .................. (candidate) Date .. l6�.Jk��M.... iOo 3 ................... STATEMENT2 I hereby give consent formy thesis, if accepted, to be available forphotocopyin g and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed.................( candidate) Date ...l� .S)ece�.U ...2. 00.3. ..................... Abstract Early eighteenth-century politics were dominated by the rise to power and fall from grace of Sir Robert Walpole. This thesis examines varied responses to the Walpole regime from opposition Whig, Tory, Jacobite and pro-government writers. The discussion focuses on history plays from the period 1719-1745 and considers the role of these texts as vehicles for political comment and propaganda. Of key concern throughout the thesis is the rhetoric of patriotism. Patriot ideology pervades the texts and crosses conventional party boundaries. Alongside patriotism other themes pertinent to political commentary of the period are discussed. In chapter one, 'Ancient Britons and Liberty' texts appropriating Saxon and Celtic history are discussed in relation to contemporary concerns for maintaining the political liberty of the British nation. In chapter two, 'Kings, Ministers, Favourites and Patriot Rhetoric' plays that focus on favouritism are examined alongside contemporary criticism of Walpole as 'favourite' of the Hanoverians. In chapter three, 'Gender and Party Politics in Adaptations of Shakespeare's Histories' the updating of Shakespeare to suit contemporary taste and the impact of these alterations are reflected in a re- politicisation of the plays for party agendas. In chapter four, 'Britain, Empire and Julius Cxsar' representations of Cxsar that suggest positive interpretations of the Emperor conflict with contemporary opinion regarding his contribution to the fall of the Roman republic. Implications for Britian's own colonial endeavour are also considered in chapter five, 'Religion and the Ideology of Empire in Turkish History Plays'. This chapter examines plays in which the Scanderbeg history is appropriated to offer a model of British colonialism. Reflecting on Britain's past glories or, past failings, the plays discussed in this thesis offer not only comment on contemporary politics but also representations of an idealised Britishness. By demonstrating what Britons had once been these texts suggest what modem Britons should be. Acknowledgments I would like to thank the staff of the Department of English, University of Wales, Aberystwyth for their help during the course of my research. In particular I wish to thank Dr Paulina Kewes whose guidance and supervision has been invaluable, your commitment is greatly appreciated. I am also grateful to the department for supporting my research financially. My fellow postgraduates at the Department of English have been a great source of support and I would like to thank Dr Rebecca Lindner and Ms Caroline Bate for their friendship. The expertise of the staff at the National Library of Wales and the British Library has greatly assisted my research and I extend my thanks. Bu arbenigedd staff Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru a'r Llyfrgell Brydeinig yn gymorth mawr i mi gyda'm hymchwil ac fe hoffwn fynegi fy niolch. I would like to show my appreciation of Fred and Linda, Viv and Clive for, amongst other things, their expert babysitting services, without which this thesis would never have come to fruition. And finally my thanks and love to, William and Alfie for being my link to the real world and to Simon - you can have a rest now, I'll read the bedtime story tonight! CONTENTS INTRODUCTION: DR-WA, HISTORY AND POLITICS, 1719-1745 CHAPTER 1: ANCIENT BRITONS AND LIBERTY 19 CHAPTER 2: KINGS, MINISTERS, FAVOURITES AND PATRIOT RHETORIC 47 CHAPTER 3: GENDER AND PARTY POLITICS IN ADAPTATIONS OF SHAKESPEARE'SHISTORIES 79 CHAPTER 4: BRITAIN, EmPIRE AND JULIUS CESAR 112 CHAPTER 5: RELIGION AND THE IDEOLOGY OF EMPIRE IN TURKISH HISTORY PLAYS 142 CONCLUSION: HISTORY AND THE STAGING OF BRITISHNESS 184 BIBLIOGRAPHY 193 I Drama, History and Politics, 1719-1745 The centrality of literature to political debateduring the eighteenthcentury has been identified by modem scholarship as one of the defining characteristicsof British culture from this period. 'Serious writers', BertrandGoldgar argues,'could not escape making political choices,for politics touched and coloured virtually every aspectof " life in the world of letters,even the receptionof plays or poemsnot overtly political. Such a broad statement,however, raises a number of fundamentalquestions. Who were these 'serious writers' and what did they write? What sort of texts can we describe as 'literature'? Does all literature from this period really contribute to political debate?If we are to acceptthat someliterature contributesto political debate, which texts are particularly valuable when discussingeighteenth-century politics? I wish to contend that drama, particularly historical drama, is one literary genre that offers modem readers insight into a range of political discoursesfrom the early eighteenthcentury. Drama is often identified as a particularly topical genre.Robert D. Hume has argued that 'drama is topical enough that one can trace its responseto 2 history closely from decadeto decade,and even at times from year to year'. Despite this immediacy of response,it might be suggestedthat history plays, reflecting on events of the past, lack the topicality of other dramatic genres. History plays are concerned exclusively with historical events and therefore do not reflect upon contemporarypolitics. Conversely, I shall contend that in taking the past as their subject these plays are often explicitly topical and particularly prone to ideological useby politicians and party followers. Drama and Politics The plays discussed in this thesis raise a number of the recurrent concerns that dominated British politics during the period 1719-1745. These political issues are diverse and although some texts focus on one specific political concern, others engage with a variety of issues. The nature of British identity, for example, is frequently the 1 Bertrand A. Goldgar, Walpole and the Wits: The Relation of Politics to Literature 1722-1743 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1976), p. 220. 2 Robert D. Hume, The Rakish Stage (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1983), p. 21. Drama History and Politics, 1719-1745 subject of prologues and epilogues irrespective of the content of the play itself. Britain's colonial expansion is a narrower theme only discussed in a handful of texts. Conversely, the key terms commonly used in the rhetorical attacks of eighteenth- century poli tical discourse, favouritism, factionalism and patriotism are liberally scattered throughout the texts discussed. By reflecting many of the concerns that dominated early eighteenth-century politics, the history plays engage with a number of current literary and historical accounts that focus on these same political issues. For this reason, the thesis is structured in such a way that each chapter will focus on a specific political theme for example, national identity or colonialism whilst some themes such as gender or patriot rhetoric will be discussed concurrently throughout all chapters. So, what are the key political issues to be discussed and how do the history plays engage with these concerns? i National Identity and Patriotism Issues of national identity, emphasised in the wake of the 1707 Act of Union, are a common dramatic theme throughout the period. I shall argue that in many of the plays discussed, British national identity is defined in direct relation to party agendas. J.G. A. Pocock has argued that whilst Tory models of British identity rested on ancient democracy and agrarianism, this nostalgic version of national identity was directly opposed to the Whig model of modernity: Walpole's defenders had argued that liberty was not ancient but modem, and that the past was feudal not free. It followed that the constitution contained no principles to which return could be made and that its spirit was either pragmatic and empirical, or modem and progressive.3 These versions of national identity are clearly influenced by party politics. Such diverse accounts of a constituent element of British identity suggest that versions of Britishness are, in part at least, derived from party interpretations of the foundation of British liberty. Was liberty achieved by the Glorious Revolution in 1688 and the subsequent Act of Settlement or conversely destroyed by the forced abdication of 3 J. G. A. Pocock, Virtue, Commerce and History: Essays on Political Thought and History, Chiefly in Eighteenth Century the (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), p. 247. 2 Drama History and Politics, 1719-1745 James 11? Alternatively was liberty merely resuscitated by the accession of William and Mary? I do not wish to deny the existence of an over-arching image of