The literariness of The Examiner:“Man of Gold” – a portrait of John Churchill,1st Duke Of Marlborough

Abstract

The main objective of the article is to analyse the rhetorical techniques that were used to generate anti-Marlborough Tory propaganda in the early eighteenth century. The source material for the analysis comprises two issues of The Examiner published at the end of February 1712. This “right-wing” organ, revived in December 1711, became something of a razor-sharp tool for anti-Whig propaganda. With the call for an end to the costly war of Spanish Succession, The Examiner targeted criticism towards those who supported a continuation of the conflict. One politician seeking both on the battlefield as well as through the courts a prolongation of the war was John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough. As such he became the subject of a broad wave of criticism expressed in various Tory-writings. The portrait of the Duke, created through a variety of literary tools, demonstrates the wide range of literary elements used in non-fiction writings, proving at the same time the links between fiction and non-fiction which eventually led to the emergence of a new genre, that of the novel.