In Search of James II: Bajazet’s Figurative Presence in Nicholas Rowe’s Tamerlan

Abstract

Critics have always connected Bajazet’s character in Nicholas Rowe’s Tamerlane with Louis XIV of France. Indeed, Louis does share various ideological views with Rowe’s character, a factor that validates such an association. However, I propose to offer another reading of Bajazet’s character and argue that he stands for James II of England rather than for the French monarch. English images of Muslim Turks have always exhibited a general demonization. Most of the time they are portrayed as cruel tyrants and sexual transgressors. This attitude has a long and deeply rooted tradition in Europe as it can be traced back to the early Medieval period, when it found its way onto the stage and dramatists employed Muslims and Turks as allegorical figures in order to comment on sensitive political and religious issues with impunity. In an attempt to undermine the Catholic Stuart James II and champion the Protestant cause through William III, Rowe employs Bajazet to perfection. He uses him as a vehicle to exhibit James’ position as a political and religious threat to his own people. To achieve this he changes the character of the historical Bayazed I and allows him to display James’ political and moral faults. These faults have been accentuated through establishing a contrast between the character Bajazet and his enemy Tamerlane who has long been associated with William III of England.