The Book of Job and Stuart Politics

Abstract

In 1649 Charles Stuart and John Milton confronted each other across the chasm of eternity, the late king projecting his own image (Eikon Basilike) for the edification of his followers and the confusion of his enemies, the poet doing his rhetorical best to destroy that image (Eikonoklastes). Only one small scene in that confrontation concerns me here, the part played in it by the Book of Job, but I hope to demonstrate – using 1649 as the crucial year – the historical logic, the inevitability, and the significance of Job's appearance in that highly charged drama.