The Rover By Aphra Behn

 The Rover

 

  Introduction

           The Rover, in full The Rover; or, The Banish’t Cavaliers, comedy by Aphra Behn, produced and published in two parts in 1677 and 1681. Set in Madrid and Naples during the exile of England’s King Charles II, the play depicts the adventures of a small group of English Cavaliers. The protagonist, the charming but irresponsible Willmore, may have been modeled on John Wilmot Rochester, a poet in the inner circle of Charles II. The hero’s real-life counterpart may also have been John Hoyle, who was a lover of the playwright.Aphra Behn's "The Rover" was published in 1677 and first performed in March of that year at Duke's Theatre in Dorset Garden. The play is based upon Thomas Killigrew's drama "Thomas, or, The Wanderer," which was published in 1664. Some dialogue in Behn's "The Rover" closely resembles that found in Thomaso's script; however, the majority of the text was re-written completely, or else is entirely original. As a result of such similarities between texts, Behn was accused of plagiarism on more than one occasion.

Key Facts about The Rover

Full Title: The Rover, or the Banished Cavaliers, Part One

When Written: 1677

Where Written: London

When Published: Premiered at the Duke’s Theatre in London in 1677

Literary Period: Restoration (17th century England)

Genre: Restoration Comedy

Setting: Naples, Italy

Climax: After a farcical chase, the three pairs of lovers are reunited

Antagonist: Don Pedro and Don Antonio, two Spaniards who seek to keep the cavaliers from their lovers

> What did Virginia Woolf say about Aphra Behn? Do you agree with her? Why?

ALL WOMEN TOGETHER OUGHT TO LET FLOWERS FALL UPON THE TOMB OF APHRA BEHN, FOR IT WAS SHE WHO EARNED THEM THE RIGHT TO SPEAK THEIR MINDS. 

VIRGINIA WOOLF

Aphra Behn Introduction :-

               Yes, I agree with Virginia Woolf.  Because Aphara Behan was a good writer.  In her time she gave a lot to the literary world by writing.  The important thing was that there was ultimately a female character.  In the time of Aphara Behan, women could not write literature. Behn had a few female contemporaries but, unlike her, they were aristocratic and certainly not doing anything as vulgar as writing for money. These hobbyist writers would also usually warn potential readers with a notice that the following work was written by a member of the "fair sex", as though apologising in advance. Aphra Behn made no such apologies. She did not ask for permission or acceptance - and it was because she did neither that she proved to be so popular among the ordinary playgoers whose opinion so often goes unrecorded. Operating with striking success outside gender conventions, it was she who paved the way for other women to do the same. What's more, she included as much wit and bawdiness as she could muster, along with a sharp insight into both sex and politics. She was the Restoration's very own combination of Dorothy Parker and Mae West. Yet Aphara Behan has given a lot of literature to the literary world by venturing.  Even though she hid her identity, she has given the society by writing such literature from which the society can get something moral.  The Rover also satirizes many of the characters she writes.  She portrays the reality of society as a female character.  She has hidden the identities of all the characters and has shown the sheer reality in the society.  It is a great thing to talk like this even though you are a female character.  And that too was rejected by women in their time.  Women were not allowed to write literature.  Yet it is a great thing to write such realistic things in literature.  In fact, she has provided a good literature to the literary world by facing many difficulties.  She has written in his literature as if she had seen things in the society.  Which we can go within their work.

The Rover Play Introduction :-

Article-1

Article -1 touch the link

Carnival Politics, Generous Satire, and   Nationalist Spectacle in Behn’s The Rover

Adam R. Beach

Ball State University

              The article also discusses the issue of religion.  The article epilogue has been discussed.  That the epilogue contains the keys to any literature.  From what point of view should people look at literature.  This literature depicts the reality of society within the Epilogue without looking at the matter of religion.  If you look at it from the angle of religion, your feelings will hurt.  As Helena talks about making herself a nun.  Which is why people of religion don't like this.In the article Here, Behn attempts to school her audience  the politics of reading by anticipating, parodying, and therefore dis-missing, a particular anti-Catholic, anti-court hermeneutics of paranoia that she associates with the “Conventickling” Dissenters of the “Mutinous Tribe”If you interpret this according to the Catholic religion, you will fail to read and understand it.  There are many things in this play but many writers look at it from the same angle which is gender role.  There are many others inside Rolla that have not been criticized.  Which is discussed in this article.This article also discusses nationalist practical.  To be loyal to the nation that is.  If he goes against it, he is likely to become a traitor.This is article say something different way The interpretive guidance offered by Behn’s epilogue has not been heeded by modern critics, who have neither fully addressed the play as a serious rewriting of the Stuart exile nor accounted for its remarkable appropriation of Elizabethan nationalist discourse in the service of a pro-Stuart 

agenda. Because The Rover was performed just before the eruption of the Popish Plot and the Exclusion Crisis, it has not been included in recent considerations of Behn’s more strident political plays written during those turbulent times.2 In general, most scholars have viewed it as primar ily concerned with gender politics and have only peripherally considered, or excluded altogether, national political and religious issues.3 In fact, much recent work follows a critical approach that confirms the young Spark’s assessment, which Behn herself derides in the epilogue. Focusing on Will-more’s drunkenness and blundering, his attempted rapes of Florinda, and his creating difficulties for Belvile, many scholars have argued that Behn’s play represents an earnest feminist attack on the character of the rake and the sexual audacity of the Stuart court, while others have asserted a more general ambivalence about Cavalier libertine ideology.4 Janet Todd argues that Willmore’s character is ambiguous, both “macho and sexually attrac-tive to desperate southern women” and a “ridiculous” and nearly “villain-ous” drunk; but, unlike other critics, she suggestively remarks that “Some of the serious ambiguity in The Rover may have been gained by time.”5 Given Todd’s discussion of James’ admiration for the play,  along with the fact that there were three known performances of The Rover at court, it is difficult to believe that the work was viewed by Charles II or James II as a serious or even ambivalent depiction of their experience in exile or of the conduct of their court.6

Article -2

Article -2 touch the link

Rape and the Female Subject in Aphra Behn's "The Rover"

Anita Pacheco

The article talks about the female character.  What kind of female characters are there in the same play?  This article gives you a brief overview on how a writer can turn the whole thing upside down.  It represents the things that were in the women of that time, what kind of place she had in the society and what kind of women she had at that time.  This article discusses such matters as ..RAPE AND THE FEMALE SUBJECT IN APHRA BEHN'S THE ROVER BY ANITA PACHECO Critics have often remarked that in Aphra Behn's The Rover, ladies act like whores and whores like ladies.  At this level, the play presents a dramatic world dominated by the two principal patriarchal definitions of women, but in which the boundary separating one category from the other has become blurred.  In the case of both Florinda, the play's quintessential "maid of quality," and the prostitute Angellica Bianca, the role reversals arise out of contrasting bids to move from subjection into subjectivity.  position within patriarchy, while Angellica Bianca's self-construction as Petrarchan mistress charts the attempt of a woman excluded from the marital marketplace to turn her beauty into an alternative form of power.  escape patriar chal devaluation. Before the obligatory happy ending, Florinda faces three attempted rapes that are called not rape, but seduction, retalia tion, or "ruftling a harlot" (228);  In presuming to make her own sexual choices, she enters a world where the word "rape" has no meaning, Angellica Bianca's subject position is shown to involve a complex complication in the same cultural legitimation of male sexual aggression.  This paper will suggest that the presence of rape in the experiences of these two characters works to interrogate and problematize different modes of female subjectivity by situating them within a patriarchal dramatic world in which the psychology of rape is endemic.  ?  Rebellion against forced marriage is, of course, an age - old comic theme;  but the terms in which Florinda articulates her defiance of paternal authority - her condemnation of the "ill customs" which make a woman the "slave" of her male relations (160) –presents this comic motif as a clash between the absolutist concept of  marriage, in which women function as "objects of exchange and the guarantee of dynastic continuity.

Concluded :-

            Inside The Rover there are many themes like love vs lust, Deceit and Disguise, class and mony, wit and language.  But from this article we see a new kind of themes.  Such as love courtship and marriage, gender roles and female agency.  There are many characters in this play through which all these themes are created.  Which is especially wilmore is our hero.  Which brings a lot of turns and twists in this play.

Thank You 

Words:-1613

       The Importance of Being Earnest     

               Hello friends, today I have discussed with you a play called The Importance of Being Earnest.  The play is written by Oscar Wilde.  This is a funny kind of play.  In which certain events are created by many characters from which humor is generated.  The play depicts Victorian times.  What kind of relationships and what kind of events happened in married life.  Oscar Wilde has shown what kind of events happen to choose a partner for a wedding.  The sheer reality of society is portrayed in this play.The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae to escape burdensome social obligations. Working within the social conventions of late Victorian London, the play's major themes are the triviality with which it treats institutions as serious as marriage, and the resulting satire of Victorian ways. Some contemporary reviews praised the play's humour and the culmination of Wilde's artistic career, while others were cautious about its lack of social messages. Its high farce and witty dialogue have helped make The Importance of Being Earnest Wilde's most enduringly popular play.

        

Key Facts about the play:

Full Title: The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People

Author :Oscar Wilde

Type Of Work: Play

Genre: Social comedy; comedy of manners; satire; intellectual farce

Language: English

Time And Place Written: Summer 1894 in Worthing, England

Date Of First Production: February 14, 1895. In part because of Wilde’s disgrace, the play was not published until 1899.

Publisher: L. Smithers

Tone :Light, scintillating, effervescent, deceptively flippant

Setting (Time): 1890s

Setting (Place): London (Act I) and Hertfordshire, a rural county not far from London (Acts II and III)

Protagonist :John Worthing, known as “Ernest” by his friends in town (i.e., London) and as “Jack” by his friends and relations in the country

The Importance of Being Earnest:-

Watch the video..... 

Touch the link....information of the play.

1 ]   Wilde originally subtitled The Importance of Being Earnest "A Serious Comedy for Trivial People" but changed that to "A Trivial Comedy for Serious People." What is the difference between the two subtitles?

            Though Wilde originally gave the play the subtitle A Serious Comedy for Trivial People, he decided to change it to A Trivial Comedy for Serious People. The art of satire is to ridicule ideas, conditions, or social conventions with which the audience is familiar (or even practices and supports) without alienating that audience. In order for Wilde to reach audience members, they must attend the production. If Wilde openly and publicly insulted them by referring to them as "trivial people," they would not attend and might even react more forcefully. Despite his efforts, however, people did indeed realize he was calling them trivial through his comedy, and in part this caused the play to be banned.

2]  Which of the female character is the most attractive to you among Lady Augusta Bracknell, Gwendolen Fairfax, Cecily Cardew and Miss Prism? Give your reasons for she being the most attractive among all.

Inside the play are four lady characters.  Which is as follows...Gwendolen, Cecily, Miss Prism, and above all Lady Bracknell. All the characters are different from each other.  Each actor has a different image of himself.  Which we see inside the play.  If there is any attractive character for me in this lady character it is cicely.

More than any other female character in the play, Gwendolen suggests the qualities of conventional Victorian womanhood. Because the image of women at that time is seen in this character.She is a lovely women.  She loves a guy named Jack who is known as Ernest.

"GWENDOLEN. Jack? . . . No, there is very little music in the name Jack, if any at all, indeed. It does not thrill. It produces absolutely no vibrations . . . I have known several Jacks, and they all, without exception, were more than usually plain. Besides, Jack is a notorious domesticity for John! And I pity any woman who is married to a man called John. She would probably never be allowed to know the entrancing pleasure of a single moment’s solitude. The only really safe name is Ernest."

                This preoccupation serves as a metaphor for the preoccupation of the Victorian middle- and upper-middle classes with the appearance of virtue and honor. Gwendolen is so caught up in finding a husband named Ernest, whose name, she says, “inspires absolute confidence,” that she can’t even see that the man calling himself Ernest is fooling her with an extensive deception. In this way, her own image consciousness blurs her judgment.

She is lovely women

"JACK. My own one, I have never loved any one in the world but you.

 GWENDOLEN. Yes, but men often propose for practice. I know my brother Gerald does. All my girl-friends tell me so. What wonderfully blue eyes you have, Ernest! They are quite, quite, blue. I hope you will always look at me just like that, especially when there are other people present."

       She loves Ernest.  Because he loves the name Ernest.Though more self-consciously intellectual than Lady Bracknell, Gwendolen is cut from very much the same cloth as her mother. She is similarly strong-minded and speaks with unassailable authority on matters of taste and morality, just as Lady Bracknell does. She is both a model and an arbiter of elegant fashion and sophistication, and nearly everything she says and does is calculated for effect. As Jack fears, Gwendolen does indeed show signs of becoming her mother “in about a hundred and fifty years,” but she is likeable, as is Lady Bracknell, because her pronouncements are so outrageous.

3]    The play repeatedly mocks Victorian traditions and social customs, marriage and the pursuit of love in particular. Through which situations and characters is this happening in the play.

           Inside the play we find ourselves mocking love because so many characters love each other.  But because of any race or economic separation and reunion happens.  Another special note is that the characters who are loved are loved because of the name.  Which in fact the character of that name does not exist.  Cecily loves a person who has never seen and only got information about him by hearing his name.  And when Algernon comes to be the ernest and he seems to love her.  Which in fact was not Ernest.  Gwendolen on the other hand also loves a man named ernest.  Whose original name was jack.  Gwendolen did not love Jack but loved a man named Ernest.  So from the character of these two couples, we can say that love is mocked in this play, which is love with a name.

           When it comes to marriage, Gwendolen's mother, Lady Bracknell Ernest, tries to find out whose child she really is and what class she comes from.  Which leads us to casteism.  It indicates its place in society.  When his son's wedding to Sicily is about to take place, he 

immediately agrees.  Because he has a lot of money.  So a reality of the society of that time is also seen in this play.

         Morality and the constraints it imposes on society is a favorite topic of conversation in The Importance of Being Earnest. Algernon thinks the servant class has a responsibility to set a moral standard for the upper classes. Jack thinks reading a private cigarette case is “ungentlemanly.” “More than half of modern culture depends on what one shouldn’t read,” Algernon points out. These restrictions and assumptions suggest a strict code of morals that exists in Victorian society, but Wilde isn’t concerned with questions of what is and isn’t moral. Instead, he makes fun of the whole Victorian idea of morality as a rigid body of rules about what people should and shouldn’t do. The very title of the play is a double-edged comment on the phenomenon. The play’s central plot—the man who both is and isn’t Ernest/earnest—presents a moral paradox. Earnestness, which refers to both the quality of being serious and the quality of being sincere, is the play’s primary object of satire. Characters such as Jack, Gwendolen, Miss Prism, and Dr. Chasuble, who put a premium on sobriety and honesty, are either hypocrites or else have the rug pulled out from under them. What Wilde wants us to see as truly moral is really the opposite of earnestness: irreverence.

4]  Queer scholars have argued that the play's themes of duplicity and ambivalence are inextricably bound up with Wilde's homosexuality, and that the play exhibits a "flickering presence-absence of… homosexual desire" Do you agree with this observation? Give your arguments to justify your stance.

           Yes I agree with the author's opinion because a lot of the characters in this play are portrayed the way the author speaks.  The characters shown inside the play show a craze for each other.  Love each other in this play.  And also shows a willingness to marry them.  Some of the barbaric customs in the society stop them.  But they can’t stop themselves.  Which is a mere reality of society.

Concluded :-

           In this novel we are shown the prevailing marriage practice in the society.  The same marriage practice is going on even today.  Which ran in Victorian times many years before today.  Through many of these characters we come to realize that a lover has to follow the norms set in the society in order to settle his lover.  Which is the main theme of the play.

Thank You 

Words -1581

The Rape of the Lock

 Q-Write a brief analysis of Belinda's character keeping in mind the contemporary time rather than the 18th Century.

About the poem "The Rape of the Lock

The Rape of the Lock is a mock-heroic narrative poem written by Alexander Pope. One of the most commonly cited examples of high burlesque, it was first published anonymously in Lintot's Miscellaneous Poems and Translations (May 1712) in two cantos (334 lines); a revised edition "Written by Mr. Pope" followed in March 1714 as a five-canto version (794 lines) accompanied by six engravings. The final form of the poem appeared in 1717 with the addition of Clarissa's speech on good humour

Characters Analysis: Belinda

There are so many characters in this poem.  But the most important character is Belinda.  This poem, written by the Pope, is presented in a very funny and simple way.  In which the hair lock of the heroine in the poem is cut.  And Belinda is an important character in it.  About which I will tell you here ...

      Every woman's identity is her beauty.  Every woman loves to decorate herself.  To it both inner beauty and outer beauty are different things.  Every woman prefers to dress herself in a way that looks beautiful.  A lot of things use tools and different recipes to show off their beauty.  Which is found within this poem.  Which is presented to us by the character of Belinda. She is a worshiper of beauty who prays to the goddess of beauty and offers all the items of cosmetics before her. She is a typical presentation of women’s excessive attention to self decoration and embellishment. She gathers all the fashionable items from all over the world-Indian glowing gems, Arabian perfumes, files of pins, puffs, powders, patches etc. In a satirical passage, Pope describes Belinda in a Confucius mood before her dressing table.

         The behavior of women today is similar to that of the 18th century.  And it can be said that the women of today believe more in showing their beauty than the women of that time.  An example of this is the current beauty parlor.  Women spend more and more money on getting ready.  Which resembles the character of Belinda.  At that time women gave more importance to having long hair and knitting it.  Her hair was the secret of her beauty.  So there was an event on which the Pope wrote this poem. 

 So if this poem is compared in the present times, it can change a lot.  Because today's women prefer to keep their hair short.  Which shows the difference in the following pictures.  Women now see more beauty in keeping their hair short.  Because fashion also changes over time.  belinda loves her hair very much.  It is a sign of her beauty.  And she preserves and keeps her hair as her own life.  He gets angry when this hair or his people are cut.  Which shows how much Belinda likes her hair.  While today's women prefer mobiles not their own hair.  Keeps his mobile like his own life.  If this mobile is stolen.  In the same way that Belinda is embarrassed within poetry, today's women are embarrassed and angry.  Because one of the most important tools to enhance the beauty of women is mobile.  

        Because she can take her selfie through mobile and share her beauty. She has many tools to share like Facebook WhatsApp Twitter everything is stored inside her mobile.  That is why today's women value mobile as part of their beauty.  She doesn't have to go out of her way to show off her beauty.  And if there is one thing that women like today, it is to take their own selfie.

Absalom and Achitophol

        Absalom and Achitophol by John Dryden.

           Hello reader today we will discuss  about one poem  monarchy story repeate in Absalom and Achitophol.The monarchy has traditionally been practiced in our countries for a long time.  Which is mentioned in history.  There have been many kings in the past whose history we have seen in the literature within the books.  Monarchies were traditionally run in all the countries of the world.  But that gradually changed and the monarchy was abolished.  Monarchies are still found within a few countries.  But democracy is found within most of the country.  At the time when the monarchy was running the kings were considered as gods.  They had to do what they did and people had to do what they said.  Even if they do wrong to someone, it is tolerated.  No one can even protest against it.  But within the literature the writers make a mockery of it by writing in the literature above it.  There are many such literary works.  One of them is "Absalom and Achitophol", written by John Dryden.which was published in 1681. It is one of the satirical poem. which also reflected with age of England. so It seems that the Its one of the Allegorical satire poem by John Dryden. Also connect with the charles ll was on the Reign of England.

John Dryden

       

John Dryden was one of the writer, satirist as well as best critic.In 1668 he was appointed as poet laureate of England.More introduction of john dryden can be seen from the link below.....

Click this link John Dryden 

His Work :-

Absalom and Achitophel

Introduction :-

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Click this link Original poem   

Original poem read audio book :-

Absalom and Achitophel as a political allegory:-

Touch the link Political allegory

           Absalom and Achitophel, verse satire by English poet John Dryden published in 1681. The poem, which is written in heroic couplets, is about the Exclusion crisis, a contemporary episode in which anti-Catholics, notably the earl of Shaftesbury, sought to bar James, duke of York, a Roman Catholic convert and brother to King Charles II, from the line of succession in favour of the king’s illegitimate (but Protestant) son, the duke of Monmouth.

Dilisir Barad lectures in understood character and allegory character in this poem. . 

          John Dryden mentions many characters in this poem.  He has composed a poem based on the Bible and its characters to talk about the characters that exist today.  Which is known as allegory.  This poem was written to mock the monarchy that existed in his time.  Many characters are mentioned in this poem.  In which irony metaphor is used which is called satire.  Which apparently seems to be appreciated but in fact condemned.

What is an allegory?

      We can say that it is a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one .Political allegories are stories that use imaginary characters and situations to satirize real-life political events.

M.H.Abrams his book  A Glossary of literary terms defines that,,

            "An allegory is a narrative, whether in prose or verse, in which the agents and actions, and sometimes the setting as well, are contrived by the author to make coherent sense on the "literal," or primary, level of significa-tion, and at the same time to signify a second, correlated order of signifi-cation."

          There are many characters in the poem Absholam and Achitophal.  In which John Dryden is ridiculed for being King Charles ll in his timeThis king had no legitimate son.  So this king had relations with many other women besides the queen.  And from that he also had many sons.  Known as the illegitimate son of the king.  Since the king did not have a legitimate son, the big question was who he would give his throne to.  And many other characters are seen inside this poem doing something to get his throne.  In which dryden has satirized above all.  In which he talks about those characters in this poem by choosing the characters in another biblical pursuit instead of the names of the characters who were in his present time.  The characters are as follows.

No.	Biblical Character	What or Who is this character in Biblical time	Allegorical Representation	what or who is this character in during Dryden's time
1	David	The third king of Israel King	Charles II of England	The king of England
2	Absalom	David’s illegitimate son	James Scott	the 1st Duke of Monmouth
3	Achitophel	A deceitful counselor to King David	Anthony Ashley Cooper	the 1st Earl of Shaftesbury
4	Michal / David’s Wife	The Queen of Israel	Catherine of Braganza	represents Charles II’s wife
5	Annabel	Absalom’s wife Anne	Countess of Buccleuch	the Duke of Monmouth’s wife
6	David’s Brother	The heir presumptive of Israel	James II	next heir to the throne of England
7	Amnon	Absalom’s half-brother
8	Barzillai	David’s oldest and most trusted friend	James Butler	1st Duke of Ormond
9	Saul	The first king of Israel	Oliver Cromwell	he Commonwealth of England after Charles I was executed
10	Ishbosheth	Saul’s son and the king of Israel briefly before David’s reign	Oliver Cromwell’s son Richard	who ruled England for a short time
11	Corah	Corah is a priest	Titus Oates	he Englishman who. engineered the Popish Plot
12	Zimri	The leader of Egypt and David’s ally	George Villiers	2nd Duke of Buckingham
13	Shimei	Shimei is a dishonest crook	Slingsby Bethel	the sheriff of London and a member of Parliament during Dryden’s time who also supported the Exclusion Bill.
14	The Pharaoh	The leader of Egypt and David’s ally	Louis XIV of France	Louis XIV was Catholic
15	Jonas	Jonas is a prophet in the Bible	Sir William Jones	a member of Parliament who prosecuted many of the Catholics falsely accused in the Popish plot and also supported the Exclusion Bill
16	Jotham	Jotham is the king of Judah and the grandson of Zadock	George Savile	the nephew of the 1st Earl of Shaftesbury
17	Amiel	Amiel is an important member of the Sanhedrin	Edward Seymour	the speaker of the House of Commons in parliament during Dryden’s time and a famous supporter of King Charles II and an opponent of the Exclusion Bill.
18	Balaam	Balaam is a prophet in the Bible	Theophilus Hastings	a Member of Parliament and proponent of the Exclusion Bil
19	Caleb	Caleb is a spy in the Bible	Arthur Capel	Earl of Essex, a prominent advocate of the Exclusion Bill
20	Nadab	In the Bible, Nadab disobeys God and is consumed by fire	William	Lord Howard Esrick, a Puritan preacher who supported the Exclusion Bill
21	Zadock	Zadock is the High Priest of Israel	William Sancroft	Archbishop of Canterbury, a supporter of Charles II.
22	Sagan of Jerusalem	Sagan of Jerusalem is a priest	Henry Compton	Bishop of London and supporter of Charles II
23	Adriel	Adriel is a nobleman in Israel and another of Barzillai’s sons	John Sheffield	3rd Earl of Mulgrave, who opposed Monmouth’s succession to the crown and supported James II.
24	Hushai	Hushai is David’s friend who agrees to spy on Absalom during his rebellion	Lawrence Hyde	Earl of Rochester, who fought against the Exclusion Bill in Parliament.
25	Barzillai’s Eldest Son	The son of one of David’s trusted men	Thomas Butler	Earl of Ossory

Dryden use of Biblical Allegory:-

            This work is considered one of the greatest examples of political satire in history, and it accomplishes this through biblical allegory. England was a far more literate country than many others at the time, but even so, if most people actually owned a book, that book was likely to be the Bible. The Bible acted as metaphor for most Christians to a level far exceeding anything else ever published, and Dryden was well aware of that. Therefore, he made the brilliant calculation to not cast his satire as an allegory of ancient myth or British heroes: instead, his satire is situated within an allegorical framework that nearly every reader would immediately understand. Furthermore, Dryden chose as his figures for transforming the contemporary state of the right succession in England what is perhaps the most famous story of succession in the entire Bible. Thus, Charles II is transformed into King David—in the top five of almost every Bible reader’s list of heroes—while the Duke of Monmouth is appropriately cast as Absalom, David’s son. The false Shaftesbury is the false Achitophel, a smart, manipulative, cunning figure.

(Reference of enotes)

         The definition of allegory has two senses. The first relates to when an author writes an allegory by design as did Edmund Spenser and John Bunyon. In this sense of allegory the characters are usually given titles rather than names: e.g., the Red Crosse Knight and Mr. Worldy Wiseman. The second sense of allegory depends on the reading given a particular work, passage, sentence, line. In other words, a particular reader may find allegory through his/her reading whereas another reader may not recognize allegory in the same work.

           Having said this, John Dryden wrote Absalom and Achitophel as a satire to instigate political reform. The era was that during which a faction in England was trying to seat the illegitimate son of Charles II (after the Restoration) on the throne through a rebellion against Charles II. Dryden used a Biblical tale, that of the rebellion of Absalom against King David, in the humor of satire stated with the sweetening leaven of verse to point out the wrongfulness of a rebellion and the disastrous impending outcome of such a rebellion.

         As you can see from the excerpted quote below, Dryden did not style Absalom and Achitophel as an allegory, as did Spenser and Bunyon, but he was certainly casting then contemporary figures in the role of Biblical heroes and villains. Therefore, an understanding of Absalom and Achitophel as an allegory revolves around the second sense of the definition of allegory, which is that a reading of allegory rests with the reader, literary analyst, literary critic.

Michal, of royal blood, the crown did wear,

A soil ungrateful to the tiller's care:

Not so the rest; for several mothers bore

To godlike David several sons before.

But since like slaves his bed they did ascend, 

No true succession could their seed attend.

Of all the numerous progeny was none

So beautiful, so brave, as Absalon;

Whether inspired by some diviner lust,...

Others quote:-

King David (Charles II) asserts this philosophy in the speech that closes the poem:-

The law shall still direct my peaceful sway,

And the same law teach rebels to obey:

Votes shall no more established power control—

Such votes as make a part exceed the whole:

No groundless clamors shall my friends remove,

Nor crowds have power to punish ere they prove: . . .

                          (1.2098, lines 991–96)

         The last statement of David in the above line is explained.  King David says that his power is in his hands, no rebels will be against him now, now all people have to enforce the law of my power.  As long as power is in hand it should be fully implemented and people should be motivated to implement it.  King David was now able to do much to handle her kingdom.In this last line, Dryden talks about how the king should have an idea of ​​how to try the power on the people.  Friends should also be helping.  Power is needed to control the set.  The group sometimes rebels against the king but it is obligatory to follow certain rules made by the king to keep him under control.Regardless of the popish plot that took place in the last paragraph against Charles the Second, it has been said that if the people are not kept under control, they may revolt against the king.Achitophel and his supporters begin to stoke “the malcontents of all the Israelites” and sway public opinion, and the Sanhedrins, the Jewish high council, becomes “infected with this public lunacy” as well. The Sanhedrins, of course, are a metaphor for the English Parliament, and the “public lunacy” is the Exclusion Crisis. Through his satirical poem, Dryden had hoped the people of England and Parliament would see the Popish Plot and Exclusion Crisis for what they really were—plots devised to keep James II, a Roman Catholic, out of royal succession.