Three Turk Plays from Early Modern England

by Daniel J. Vitkus (Editor)

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Ottoman empire posed a clear and present danger to Christian rule in Europe. While English commerce with the Mediterranean world expanded, Ottoman forces invaded Greece, Hungary, and Austria. At the same time, "Turkish" pirates and renegades from North Africa roamed the Atlantic and raided the coast of England. The threat was ideological as well: English sailors captured by Barbary pirates sometimes renounced their faith and converted to Islam.

Here, three important early modern "Turk" plays -- Robert Greene's "Selimus, Emperor of the Turks" (1594); Robert Daborne's "A Christian Turned Turk" (1612); and Philip Massinger's "The Renegado" (1623) -- are available for the first time. These texts represent Islamic power and wealth in scenes of piracy on the high seas, on-stage execution by strangulation, and rites of religious conversion. The plays are set in historical and cultural context by Daniel J. Vitkus's clear and thoughtful introduction. These carefully edited, annotated, modern-spelling editions are particularly valuable for understanding the cultural production of English identity in relation to the Islamic Other.

Genres: Plays, 17th Century, Drama

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 15, 1999

About the author

Daniel Vitkus earned his Master's Degree in English Language and Literature at Oxford University (Hertford College) and his Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University.
He is currently Professor of English at UC San Diego.

Reviews

[Presley Hinkle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, it made me enjoy and appreciate some plays I would’ve never heard of, but loses two stars for the racism within said plays.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating book, showing the presentation of Islam on the Early Modern English stage, from three different playwrights, from the early 1590s to the 1620s.

Daniel Vitkus' excellent introduction lays out in great depth the influence the Ottoman and Islamic world had on London, and how important it was for better known plays such as Othello.

The Renegado is the best-known (and by far the best) of these three plays, and there is also a good Arden edition of that, so I shan't focus on this.

Selimus is a pretty terrible piece of work, a sort of bargain-basement Tamburlaine, with none of the subtlety of those plays. Considering the author (Robert Greene) complained of Shakespeare being an "upstart crow", you would expect something better from him: this consists of a bundle of long monologues and soliloquies with very little dramatic impetus. One can quite see why he wasn't paid for the planned sequel. It is possible this was meant as a chamber piece or University play, but there are better ones out there.

A Christian Turned Turk is a better play; and for the first few scenes, I was thinking this should be put on now. Then it gets "problematic". The appearance of the "comedy Jew" Benwash, and the utterly bizarre "conversion to Islam" scene (it is so weird that to write a description of it here might get me "cancelled") make this play objectionable on so many levels. However, as an image of what 1610s Londoners thought Muslim Tunis was like, it's fascinating. And it feels Dr Faustusy at times.

And it clearly had an influence: The Renegado seems to be written as a reply to it ten years later.

So: a really fascinating book, but Selimus? There really is no point in reading this play, except to see how good Tamburlaine, Titus Andronicus and Richard III are by comparison.

[Gill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just "A Christian Turn'd Turk" by Robert Daborne.

A bit of a mess - some fine speeches; I enjoyed the Faustus-like qualms when the protagonist surrendered his Christian faith, but the plot rather fell apart, and a lot of people stabbed each other or themselves at the end for no apparent reason - especially as the real person this was based on didn't die for over a decade after this play was written. Echoes of a few other plays, including an explicit shout-out to the by-now perennial Spanish Tragedy and bits of Macbeth.

This play is offensive to Jews, Moslems, Turks, Catholics and women. It's hard to imagine it will ever be performed in full again.

[Angel Grubbs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helpful book for a Renaissance Literature class; however Selimus is a poor piece of literature even if it gives helpful glimpses into the literary subjects of ita time.

[Fiza]

only read a christian turn'd turk for my renaissance module

[Elena]

read for class, not a fan

[Ella Louise Schalski · Rating 2 out of 5]

I literally hated these plays omfg

[Rees · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not convinced that all the plays in the introduction are Turk Plays, nor am I sure that this is a genre or a type—usually by genre we mean Tragedy, History, Comedy. Still, interesting plays and great research and editing by Viktus.

[Debbie Gilpin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't wait to actually see A Christian Turn'd Turk now!

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good for research and possessed of an excellent introduction, but the plays aren't exactly the cream of the early modern crop.