Where Lyndaraxa is Very Bad

Almanzor and Almahide, or the Conquest of Granada by John Dryden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

[This is a review of the second play, The Conquest of Granada, Part II. I already rated and reviewed the first part. Goodreads lumps both parts together, unfortunately.]

I'm enjoying Dryden more than I expected, and I liked this play more than the first. More closure, more drama that I care about, more movement. Like so many old plays, I feel like I'd do better to study the background and try it again, but life is short, and there are a lot of things still to read for the first time...

I'm not generally a fan of rhyme in poetry, let alone drama, and Dryden's plays are made up entirely of rhyming couplets, or heroic couplets. I didn't expect to be okay with that choice, though I think it works. He's more recent than Shakespeare of Marlowe or some others who moved away from rhyme, which makes these plays feel older than they are, but perhaps the reason it feels appropriate is that the setting for this pair of plays is 15th century Spain, over 500 before present and about 180 years before they were written (~1670). They should seem old, then, and old-fashioned.

The first play is mostly about the civil war between two Granada families or clans, all of them Muslim Moors. The second continues that to some degree, but under threat from Ferdinand and Isabella trying to oust the last remaining Moorish rulers from the peninsula. In Dryden's version, the civic disunity, personal ambitions of certain individuals, and straight-up treason of one character lead to the downfall of the small state.

The real villain of the story is beautiful Lyndaraxa, the sister of the leader of the Zegry family, who entices one man after another to try for the throne with the promise of marriage, a promise that she withdraws when their plans fall short. She wants to be queen, and will ally herself with whoever can bring it about, regardless of the crimes they need to commit to achieve it. Her lies and tricks are as shocking and effective as Iago's lies in Othello. In the end--spoiler--she joins with the invading Spaniards, opening the way to Granada with the promise of being queen. Further spoiler--she gets her way for about 5 seconds. Her death, after so many lies and tricks leading straight to war and the deaths of many, is one of the most satisfying in drama.

Another entertaining revelation comes right at the end, when we discover that the hero Almanzor is the long-lost son of a Spanish duke who he once did a service for (in part I). Additionally, the beautiful but principled Almahide is widowed when her jealous husband the king dies. She was loyal to him, but really loved Almanzor, and will marry him after her grieving is through. These take some of the sting out of the tragedy.

I thought it was pretty fun. I'm curious how it would sound on the stage, if it would sound natural or sing-songy with so much rhyme. For reading, though, I found meter worked quite well--much to my surprise.

Recommended for curious readers--though it might be nice to do the reading with more resources than I took advantage of. Maybe team-read. Or--just jump on in. See what you think.

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