ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates how Taylor Coleridge turns tragic interpretations of reality to didactic purpose. He notes the plight of British soldiers abroad, the exploitation of workers, the practices of crimping and scalping, slavery and the related taste for luxury items. By the doctrine of Necessitarianism Coleridge believes that revolution throughout Europe and Britain is inevitable. However, in correspondence from the year of composition, Coleridge refers to the drama six times as a tragedy' and never at all as historic'. The historic drama' subtitle justifies the play by insisting upon the long-term significance of the French Revolution. In Coleridge's works he imposes his inventions onto actual events to evoke tragic pathos. Real occurrences establish the relevance of Coleridge's subject to his audience's circumstances, while the emotional force of the tragic is a tool of dissent that urges political action.
