Context of the Time

Unlike most of Brian Friel’s latter plays, The Enemy Within is the only one based within an Early Christian era in 587 CE. Before we begin, a brief statement from Brian Friel that the reader should keep in mind, “The Enemy Within is neither a history nor a biography but an imaginative account, told in dramatic form, of a short period in St. Columba’s thirty-four years of voluntary exile” (Preface). Therefore, keep in mind that Friel’s intention was not to be historically accurate about key events, although he does try, but to create an informative and imaginative story/plot for his audience by incorporating a part of Irish history.

Christian Colonialism in Ireland

Before Saint Columba, who was also known as Saint Columcille, there was Saint Patrick who spread Christianity across Europe. According to the history timeline on World Geography and Culture Online, it was in 432 CE that St. Patrick introduced Christianity to Ireland. Because the play takes place in a time period where British colonialism has not yet occurred, some say that the play is based in precolonial times. However, I disagree. One of the definitions that Oxford Dictionaries uses to define colonize is, “Come to settle among and establish political control over (the indigenous people of an area)” (“Colonize”). One has to keep in mind that during the Early Christian period, religion was at the center of society. According to Máire and Liam De Paor, authors of Early Christian Ireland, once St. Patrick introduced Christianity:

The early fifth century therefore saw not only the introduction of Christianity to the whole of Ireland but the shaping of the political structure that was to endure for five centuries. […] Although not all the Irish kings accepted Christianity from [St.] Patrick […] there was little opposition to his ministry and he was permitted to move through the country, baptizing, confirming, ordaining clergy, and founding churches. (32-33)

Ireland's Societal Structure Before Christianity

Joseph F. Nagy, a specialist in Celtic Languages and Literatures, states that Ireland’s political structure was mainly focused on class status (464). Before St. Patrick arrived, “There was no central government and no central administration of law, no Civil Service, no currency, no State. […] The primary unit of society was not the individual citizen but the family, and public responsibility for individual acts rested not on the individual but on his family” (De Paor 73). Therefore, it was a land where the people mainly focused on kingship and kinship. However, all of that will change once Christianity takes a strong hold in the sixth century.

Conclusion

While reading The Enemy Within, we never learn the exact reason why Columba has gone into voluntary exile. All we know is that he is conflicted when he reminisces about his family while in the monastery and that he feels as if he is betraying Christ when he does. In the sixth century, because an Irishman was very dependent on his "family group for his status, rights, privileges, and general well-being, that when he sought self-mortification, exile suggested itself to him as one of the greatest penances: to leave his own people and go to live among strangers" (DePaor 52). Perhaps this is why Columba has chosen to go into voluntary exile. And because this was a society that placed high value on kinship and family, going into voluntary exile was not something easy to do (DePaor 76).