ABSALOM AND ACHITOPHEL : CHARACTERS

ABSALOM

·       Duke of Monmouth

·       He is a good looking young man with aspirations to the throne.

·       He is a suave speaker with pleasing personality.

·       He is a curious combination of recklessness with bravery, fine manners and polished exteriors, hypocrisy and presence.

 ACHITOPHEL

“…the false Achitophel was first

A name to all succeeding ages curst.”

NEGATIVE ATTRIBUTES:

·       Earl of Shaftesbury

·       He is a villain, evil and dangerous.

·       He is an unscrupulous political intriguer.

·       He is dangerous because of his ambition and superior intellect, which he uses for subversive ends.

·       He is desirous of unchecked power.

·       He had a stormy mind encased in a pigmy body.

·       He is restless in peace, and could only survive in facing danger.

·       He could only enjoy chaotic and stormy times.

·       He is false in friendship and merciless in enmity.

·       He would rather ruin the country if he could not rule over it.

POSITIVE ATTRIBUTES:

·       He has a sense of integrity, honesty and fair sense as a judge.

·       He is a highly intelligent and brave man.

·       He is not a fool, but the great wits and bravery has made him unfit for times of peace and the political scene.

 CORAH

·       Titus Oates

·       He is the son of a weaver.

·       He aspired to become great by inventing the popish plot.

·       He has sunken eyes, harsh voice, long chin and red complexion.

·       He spread rumours for ulterior motives.

SHIMEI

·       Slingsby Bethel, the Sheriff of London.

·       He is greedy for money.

·       He is a man of zeal, piety and wisdom, but the ends to which he uses these deflate the man most affectively.

·       He kept the Sabbath and broke it only if he could gain out of it.

·       He was so stingy that his kitchens were cold and the cooks had forgotten their culinary skills.

·       He was so miserly that his cooks had quite forgotten their trade.

·       He fed his servants on spiritual diet.

·       He makes money by the convenient method of cheating and praying.

 ZIMRI

“A man so various that he seemed to be

Not one, but all mankind’s epitome.”

·       Duke of Buckingham

·       He constantly changed his opinions, was fickle-minded about hobbies, ideas and occupations.

·       His interest varied from women to rhyming and drinking.

·       He is such a various man that he changed his mind at least a ten thousand times

·       He is not an individual, the epitome of mankind

·       In the course of a month, he became alchemist, fiddler, statesman, and buffoon.

·       He was interested in innumerable spheres, apparently in a shallow manner.

·       He used to go to the extremes whether he was praising or condemning anybody.

·       He wasted his money and was an easy dupe even of fools.

·       He is a fool, not a knave.

 PEOPLE

·       They are restless, ungrateful and easily swayed.

·       They are fickle-minded wavering between one political party and another.

·       They are the “rascal rabble”, never content with what they have.

·       Having helped to install the king on his throne they now wanted to dethrone him.

·       The English people are “headstrong, moody and murmuring race”, who could find fault even with god.

·       They demanded unlimited freedom and changed their principles restlessly.