The staging of Islam and The Alcoran of Mahomet in Charles Saunders's Tamerlane the Great and the Restoration politics

Charles Saunders's Tamerlane the Great (1681) appropriates Islam and the Qur'an, first translated into English as The Alcoran of Mahomet in 1649, to attack the influence of the Earl of Shaftesbury (1621-1683) on the Duke of Monmouth, the eldest Protestant son of Charles II. Saunders's...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Seventeenth century Vol. 38; no. 2; pp. 325 - 348
Main Author Alhawamdeh, Hussein A.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Durham Routledge 04.03.2023
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
17th century
Charles Saunders
Drama
Duke of Monmouth
Islam
Literary criticism
Quran
Restoration drama
Restoration period
Saunders, Charles Henry, 1818-1857
Tamerlane the Great
the Alcoran of Mahomet
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Summary:Charles Saunders's Tamerlane the Great (1681) appropriates Islam and the Qur'an, first translated into English as The Alcoran of Mahomet in 1649, to attack the influence of the Earl of Shaftesbury (1621-1683) on the Duke of Monmouth, the eldest Protestant son of Charles II. Saunders's play dramatises two models of royal sons from the Tories' perspective: Firstly, the loyal Arsanes, who represents the Tories' idealised expectation of Monmouth to be an obedient son. Secondly, the illegitimate Mandricard, who envisions the Tories' damnation of Monmouth as a slave to Shaftesbury. While Saunders's play warns allegorically against the radical Protestants' association with, what Garcia calls, 'Islamic republicanism', it advocates 'Islamic royalism' as a Qur'anic principle of the divinity of monarchs that appealed to the Tories. Saunders's play ends with a reconciliation between Tamerlane/Charles II and his son Arsane/Monmouth, staging simultaneously the defeat of Bajaset and the Turks/radical Protestants.
ISSN:0268-117X
2050-4616
DOI:10.1080/0268117X.2022.2155694