Muslims and Political Allegory in Elkanah Settle's The Heir of Morocco

In this article, I argue that Elkanah Settle's strong engagement in the political debates of the Restoration period resulted in a tendency to implement more allegories and symbolism in his works. His early successes as a talented playwright enticed him to become more involved in pamphleteering and playwriting to support his political views. The article clarifies that the representations of Muslim characters in The Heir of Morocco were heavily influenced by the contemporary politics of Restoration England. Remarkably, the image of the Muslim character operated in the contemporary political scene, as it was employed by a Whig propagandist like Settle, to convey and code certain political sympathies. The article shows how this strategy enabled Settle to reach a wider range of spectators, evade government censorship, and even to be adopted by major royalist theatre companies like The King's Company.