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

Abstract

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.