Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Irene is a Neoclassical tragedy play written by Samuel Johnson that was first performed on 6th February 1749. It is the only play that Samuel Johnson wrote and though he continued revising the play for a long period, he concluded that the play was a disaster after it was performed. He began writing the play in 1726 and he dedicated the play to his wife Elizabeth Johnson who was also known as Tetty who liked the play and believed that it will be a success. Samuel Johnson wrote the play in blank verse. Johnson completed the play in 1736 but couldn’t find a patron for its performance. In 1737, the British government announced the censorship act on theatres and it became difficult for Johnson to arrange the performance of his play. Irene was first performed in 1749 when Johnson’s former student and friend David Garrick decided to stage it. Many critics comment that the play might have worked well had Johnson chosen to write it in rhyme and not in blank verse which makes the play a moral preaching.
The play is based on the history of the Ottoman Empire and concerns the fate of Irene, a Greek slave loved by the emperor Sultan Mahomet. Johnson used Richard Knolles’s General Historie of the Turks as a reference that was published in 1602. He also used material from George Sandys's Relation of a Journey...containing a Description of the Turkish Empire (1615), Herbelot's Bibliothèque Orientale (1697), and Humphrey Prideaux's Life of Mahomet (1697).
The original documents suggested that the Ottoman Sultan Mahomet invaded and conquered Constantinople in 1453 and imprisoned a Greek Christian named Irene. He was enchanted by her beauty and decided to make her his mistress. He got so enamored by her that he began neglecting his duties and responsibilities as a monarch. He would spend most of his time with Irene, pursuing her romantically. The neglect of his duties resulted in riots and rebellion among his subjects. To bring order back, he murdered Irene by himself to prove his dedication towards his people.
Samuel Johnson fictionalized this incident to offer a view of Irene’s temptation.
Characters of Irene:
The main character of the play is Irene, a Greek Christian young girl who is captured by Ottoman invader Sultan Mahomet. Irene is a devoted Christian but the temptation of life and power persuades her to change her faith. Sultan Mahomet is an able administrator and a warrior. Aspasia is another Greek Christian girl, a friend of Irene who is also captured by the Ottomans. She is a devout Christian and maintains her faith. Cali Bassa is the prime Visier of Sultan Mahomet who warns him about the deteriorating administrative situation. Mustafa is a Turkish Aga honored by Sultan Mahomet. Abdalla is a military officer of Sultan Mahomet and he likes Aspasia and wishes to marry her but his love remains unrequited. Demetrius is a Greek nobleman whom Aspasia loves. He and Aspasia conspire against the invaders. Though Demetrius succeeds in freeing Aspasia, their conspiracy to topple the empire fails.
Summary of Irene:
The play begins as the Ottoman army celebrates its victory over Constantinople. The Ottoman emperor Sultan Mahomet is the new ruler of Constantinople. The Ottoman army has captured some Christians as prisoners and Irene is one of them. When Sultan Mahomet sees Irene, he finds her extremely beautiful and decides to keep her as his mistress. While he intends to use her as his personal slave, Irene with her beauty and intelligence, impresses him too much and he falls in love with her. He continues spending most of his time with her as he is romantically involved with her and wishes to marry her. However, Sultan’s too indulgence with a Christian slave creates tension among his subjects. His prime Visier Cali Bassa and Aga Mustafa do not like Irene because she is the reason why the Sultan is now neglecting his duties as the emperor. Meanwhile, Sultan’s military officer Abdalla falls in love with Aspasia, another Greek Christian prisoner who is a friend of Irene. He takes the help of Irene in pursuing Aspasia. When Irene informs Aspasia about Abdalla’s interest in her, Aspasia clearly says that she would prefer a life of celibacy in a convent rather than becoming a mistress of a Turk. Aspasia ridicules Irene for falling for worldly charms while ruining her faith.
Meanwhile, Mustafa and Cali Bassa engage in a power tussle to gather more political power among the subjects as Sultan Mahomet is ignoring his official duties. This power tussle creates mismanagement and the Ottoman administration bears the burden in the form of riots among citizens. Demetrius, the Greek nobleman and lover of Aspasiaplans takes advantage of the situation and he creates further tension among the people. As situations worsen, prime Visier Cali Bassa earnestly requests the Sultan to take care of his regime or he will face a revolt. Mahomet finally decides to take control of the situation. He offers Irene a proposal that if she accepts Islam, he will make her his queen. Irene is tempted to accept the proposal as she will be the queen of the strongest empire she knows of. She discusses the matter with Aspasia who again ridicules her and breaks all her friendly relationship with her. Irene gets enraged. She curses Aspasia and declares that she will accept Islam and will be the queen of Sultan Mahomet while Aspasia may continue with her faith and languish in prison.
Sultan Mahomet fulfills his promise and Irene becomes his queen who has accepted Islam. However, Vissier Bassa and Aga Mustafa are against this marriage and consider it immoral. They conspire against Sultan Mahomet and take the help of Demetrius in fanning the fire of riots in the city areas. Abdalla and Mustafa present inform Sultan Mahomet about the riots in such a manner that suggests that Irene is conspiring against him with the help of Demetrius and his associates. Sultan Mahomet is convinced that Bassa, with Irene's complicity, is plotting against him. This enrages him and fills his heart with hatred for Irene. He decides to punish her. Two of Abdalla’s captains attack Irene but before she dies, she succeeds in meeting Sultan Mahomet. In her dying moments, she reveals that she never conspired against him. She makes it clear that Bassa had conspired against the Sultan with the help of Demetrius and Aspasia whom Demetrius loved. Demetrius helped Bassa to get Aspasia back. She informs him that Demetrius and Aspasia have safely escaped from the prison. Mahomet investigates all the claims made by Irene and confirms that she was telling the truth but now she is dead and he is distraught by knowing that she was loyal to him.
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