what is even more remarkable is that he can make his dream come true by re-
constructing the terms of Spanish identity and Spanish rule. Immediately
after Fernando’s murder, the Queen Mother urges the court to “choose a new
Soveraign,” and “all” automatically endorse the ostensible heir apparent,
“Prince Philip” ( 3. 4. 1783 – 84 ). Yet Eleazar makes his own claim to the crown
(with the blood of this regicide at least metaphorically on his hands), and in
the process, not only takes charge of the Spanish bloodline but also under-
mines its stability and its significance. While on the one hand he declares
Philip a “bastard,” on the other he promotes behavior over birth as the deter-
minant of rule (3.4.1788). Positioning himself next to Philip as a Spanish in-
sider and not a Moorish outsider, he implores the courtiers and public to
“look well on Eleazar,” to
Value me not by my sun-burnt
Cheek, but by my birth; nor by
My birth, but by my losse of blood,
Which I have sacrificed in Spains defence. ( 3. 4. 1794 – 98 )Here, he explains his skin color as the product of the sun and distances him-
self from his Barbarian birth, aligning his “blood” rather with defense of
Spain. Letting blood sacrificed forSpain trump the blood ofSpain, he gives
political action precedence over genealogy. With inheritance rendered there-
fore secondary, he then directs the audience to “look on Philip, and the
Cardinall,” and to compare him to these “gaping currs,” who would (as he
himself implicitly would not) “swallow you, your country, children, wives”
( 3. 4. 1799 – 1800 , 1804 – 5 ). The Queen Mother clinches the case by emphasiz-
ing Eleazar’s racial difference only to underplay its significance. Pretending to
see “horror on each side,” she deems it “miserie” “when Indian slaves thirst
after Empery” ( 3. 4 .1821, 1818– 19 ), but declares setting “the Crown / Upon a
bastards head” the greater “disgrace” to “fair Spain” ( 3. 4. 1832 – 35 ). Since
“Spains bright glory” has already been dimmed by the shame of Philip’s bas-
tardy, she argues, Spain might as well put its stock in “that proud Black-
amore,” who, if he is not a perfect choice, is comparably the best choice for
an already compromised Spain ( 3. 4. 1836 – 38 ). In playing thus into the poten-
tial prejudices of the “Princes and Peers of Spain,” she plays against them,
minimizing the significance, but not the signs, of racial difference ( 3. 4. 1820 ).
With the Queen Mother behind him, Eleazar succeeds: he not only gains the
endorsement of the anonymous “all” who first championed Philip; he also,
Banishing “all the Moors” 131