SOURCE: "Fathers and Sons: The Norative Basis of Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel," in Papers on Language & Literature, Vol. 17, No. 4, Fall 1981, pp. 363-80.

In the following excerpt, Donnelly demonstrates that in Absalom and Achitophel, Dryden relied upon humanist and Aristotelian theories to defend Charles's fitness as a monarch without condoning Charles's behavior as a man.

The most widely accepted readings of Absalom and Achitophel view Dryden's attitude toward his monarch and patron, the hero and central character of his poem, as one of almost unreserved admiration. Unfortunately, these readings seem to begin with the assumption that it would have been unthinkable for Dryden to give complete support to Charles in his role as monarch and to place him at the heroic center of the poem while withholding support from and even criticizing his behavior as a man. It is the purpose of this study to show that the poem...