Aphra Behn’s Sentimental History: The Case Study of Agnes de Castro, or the Force of Generous Love (1688)

After the decline in theatregoing which followed the Popish Plot in 1678, Aphra Behn adhered to the general tendency among many authors of her time and turned to novel writing. Agnes de Castro is her own rendering of a tragic story with a historical base, also defined as a “sentimental tragedy” by M...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Villegas López, Sonia
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2004
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Huelva (UHU)
Repositorio:Arias Montano. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ariasmontano.uhu.es:10272/14298
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10272/14298
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:case study
Aphra Behn
sentimental history
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spelling Aphra Behn’s Sentimental History: The Case Study of Agnes de Castro, or the Force of Generous Love (1688)Villegas López, Soniacase studyAphra Behnsentimental historyAfter the decline in theatregoing which followed the Popish Plot in 1678, Aphra Behn adhered to the general tendency among many authors of her time and turned to novel writing. Agnes de Castro is her own rendering of a tragic story with a historical base, also defined as a “sentimental tragedy” by Montague Summers in his edition of Behn’s works. The novella dramatizes the personal and political conflicts that took place at the Portuguese Court of King Afonso IV when his son, Don Pedro, falls in love with the Spanish gentlewoman Inês de Castro, his wife Constantia’s lady-in-waiting. Textually speaking Behn follows probably the original by S.B. de Brillac (1688), and her text becomes the closest source of inspiration for Catharine Trotter’s historical tragedy of the same title. In the light of Jacqueline Pearson and Ros Ballaster’s critical approaches, and reading this early piece of fiction in the context of other short narratives by Behn, I will contend that, in spite of the romancical content of the novella, the author is primarily interested in the practical and realistic potential of the story. In fact, the great merit of her narrative is to reconcile her gender approach to writing and her political allegiances. Further, Behn’s Agnes de Castro can be defined as a “sentimental history” in so far as her female characters substitute political instrumentality for personal agency or the lack of it. Finally, Behn’s text differs basically from that of her closest follower, Trotter, in that it concentrates on the ‘historical’ scope of the story to speak about contemporary history and politics, whereas Trotter enforces primarily a moral reading of female behaviour, that is not emphasised by Behn.Sociedad Hispano-Portuguesa de Estudios Renacentistas20042004-12-0120042004-12-01journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10272/14298reponame:Arias Montano. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelvainstname:Universidad de Huelva (UHU)Inglésengopen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 Españahttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:ariasmontano.uhu.es:10272/142982026-06-02T14:58:11Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Aphra Behn’s Sentimental History: The Case Study of Agnes de Castro, or the Force of Generous Love (1688)
title Aphra Behn’s Sentimental History: The Case Study of Agnes de Castro, or the Force of Generous Love (1688)
spellingShingle Aphra Behn’s Sentimental History: The Case Study of Agnes de Castro, or the Force of Generous Love (1688)
Villegas López, Sonia
case study
Aphra Behn
sentimental history
title_short Aphra Behn’s Sentimental History: The Case Study of Agnes de Castro, or the Force of Generous Love (1688)
title_full Aphra Behn’s Sentimental History: The Case Study of Agnes de Castro, or the Force of Generous Love (1688)
title_fullStr Aphra Behn’s Sentimental History: The Case Study of Agnes de Castro, or the Force of Generous Love (1688)
title_full_unstemmed Aphra Behn’s Sentimental History: The Case Study of Agnes de Castro, or the Force of Generous Love (1688)
title_sort Aphra Behn’s Sentimental History: The Case Study of Agnes de Castro, or the Force of Generous Love (1688)
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Villegas López, Sonia
author Villegas López, Sonia
author_facet Villegas López, Sonia
author_role author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv case study
Aphra Behn
sentimental history
topic case study
Aphra Behn
sentimental history
description After the decline in theatregoing which followed the Popish Plot in 1678, Aphra Behn adhered to the general tendency among many authors of her time and turned to novel writing. Agnes de Castro is her own rendering of a tragic story with a historical base, also defined as a “sentimental tragedy” by Montague Summers in his edition of Behn’s works. The novella dramatizes the personal and political conflicts that took place at the Portuguese Court of King Afonso IV when his son, Don Pedro, falls in love with the Spanish gentlewoman Inês de Castro, his wife Constantia’s lady-in-waiting. Textually speaking Behn follows probably the original by S.B. de Brillac (1688), and her text becomes the closest source of inspiration for Catharine Trotter’s historical tragedy of the same title. In the light of Jacqueline Pearson and Ros Ballaster’s critical approaches, and reading this early piece of fiction in the context of other short narratives by Behn, I will contend that, in spite of the romancical content of the novella, the author is primarily interested in the practical and realistic potential of the story. In fact, the great merit of her narrative is to reconcile her gender approach to writing and her political allegiances. Further, Behn’s Agnes de Castro can be defined as a “sentimental history” in so far as her female characters substitute political instrumentality for personal agency or the lack of it. Finally, Behn’s text differs basically from that of her closest follower, Trotter, in that it concentrates on the ‘historical’ scope of the story to speak about contemporary history and politics, whereas Trotter enforces primarily a moral reading of female behaviour, that is not emphasised by Behn.
publishDate 2004
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2004
2004-12-01
2004
2004-12-01
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv journal article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10272/14298
url http://hdl.handle.net/10272/14298
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 España
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/
dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 España
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Sociedad Hispano-Portuguesa de Estudios Renacentistas
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Sociedad Hispano-Portuguesa de Estudios Renacentistas
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Arias Montano. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
instname:Universidad de Huelva (UHU)
instname_str Universidad de Huelva (UHU)
reponame_str Arias Montano. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
collection Arias Montano. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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