ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author shows that Edward Elgar Orientalized his Druids in order to make them Other, in comparison with Caractacus, Orbin and Eigen. She addresses the role of Elgar’s male characters in contrast with Arch-Druid and demonstrates that Elgar employed typical Oriental signifiers to portray the latter. The author shows that Elgar intentionally Orientalized them in order to appeal to common Orientalist tropes of women of late nineteenth-century. A. C. Acworth and Elgar constantly forge lines of comparison between Caractacus and his men and Arch-Druid and his followers. Superstition and idolatry were common images of the Orient at the time Elgar was composing Caractacus and by drawing on clear similarities between Hinduism and Druidism, Elgar effectively Orientalized his Druids. Elgar Orientalizes his Druid maidens in a very subtle way and they could easily be overlooked. Elgar presents a wholly positive Western view of the Oriental woman: indeed, in portrayal of his Druid maidens, Elgar almost verges on the admiring.
