ABSALOM AND ACHITOPHEL : CHARACTERS

ABSALOM
Duke of Monmouth
He is a good looking young man with aspirations to the throne.
He is a suave speaker with pleasing personality.
He is a curious combination of recklessness with bravery, fine
manners and polished exteriors, hypocrisy and presence.
ACHITOPHEL
the false Achitophel was first
A name to all succeeding ages curst.

NEGATIVE ATTRIBUTES:
Earl of Shaftesbury
He is a villain, evil and dangerous.
He is an unscrupulous political intriguer.
He is dangerous because of his ambition and superior intellect,
which he uses for subversive ends.
He is desirous of unchecked power.
He had a stormy mind encased in a pigmy body.
He is restless in peace, and could only survive in facing danger.
He could only enjoy chaotic and stormy times.
He is false in friendship and merciless in enmity.
He would rather ruin the country if he could not rule over it.
POSITIVE ATTRIBUTES:
He has a sense of integrity, honesty and fair sense as a judge.
He is a highly intelligent and brave man.
He is not a fool, but the great wits and bravery has made him unfit
for times of peace and the political scene.

CORAH
Titus Oates

He is the son of a weaver.

He aspired to become great by inventing the popish plot.
He has sunken eyes, harsh voice, long chin and red complexion.
He spread rumours for ulterior motives.
SHIMEI
Slingsby Bethel, the Sheriff of London.
He is greedy for money.
He is a man of zeal, piety and wisdom, but the ends to which he uses
these deflate the man most affectively.
He kept the Sabbath and broke it only if he could gain out of it.
He was so stingy that his kitchens were cold and the cooks had
forgotten their culinary skills.
He was so miserly that his cooks had quite forgotten their trade.
He fed his servants on spiritual diet.
He makes money by the convenient method of cheating and praying.
ZIMRI
A man so various that he seemed to be
Not one, but all mankinds epitome.

Duke of Buckingham
He constantly changed his opinions, was fickle-minded about
hobbies, ideas and occupations.
His interest varied from women to rhyming and drinking.
He is such a various man that he changed his mind at least a ten
thousand times
He is not an individual, the epitome of mankind
In the course of a month, he became alchemist, fiddler, statesman,
and buffoon.
He was interested in innumerable spheres, apparently in a shallow
manner.

 He used to go to the extremes whether he was praising or

condemning anybody.
He wasted his money and was an easy dupe even of fools.
He is a fool, not a knave.

PEOPLE
They are restless, ungrateful and easily swayed.
They are fickle-minded wavering between one political party and
another.
They are the rascal rabble, never content with what they have.
Having helped to install the king on his throne they now wanted to
dethrone him.
The English people are headstrong, moody and murmuring race,
who could find fault even with god.
They demanded unlimited freedom and changed their principles
restlessly.