Page:A history of Hungarian literature.djvu/134

 by her beauty that day after day he neglected his duties for her sake. The viziers began to murmur and to re- monstrate with the Sultan, who by way of reply showed them the beautiful maiden. The pashas and viziers found her a sufficient excuse for the Sultan's remissness, but he, wishing to give evidence of his strength of will, said, 'I will show you that although beauty has temporarily en- slaved me, I am strong enough to tear myself away from my pleasures, and that, being able to command myself, I am fit to command you.' And with that he slew the maiden." Kisfaludy's play reminds us but slightly of this anecdote, so entirely has he transformed it. His heroine, Irene, when she falls into the Sultan's power and sees his devoted love, sets her heart upon gaining the Sultan's favour towards her subjugated fellow countrymen, the Greeks. She sacrifices herself for her people. The sacrifice is the greater since Irene had been betrothed to Leo, a young Greek hero, whom she loves even while facing the task before her. But two things happen. The army begins to murmur and to doubt the Sultan's strength when it sees that he has become the slave of his slave, and the tyrant discovers the secret of Irene's love for Leo. His jealousy and wounded pride urge him to break the spell which binds him, and he stabs Irene to the heart. Some of the scenes display in a striking manner the great- ness of Irene's patriotism and self-sacrifice, though occa- sionally she is too passive for a tragic heroine. "I shall gladly wither on thy fiery heart," she says to Mohammed, and her fate is rather that of a helpless victim than of a powerful tragic character. Another of Kisfaludy's merits was the conversion of Digitized by Microsoft ®