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.
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