Abstract
MALE/FEMALE CHARACTER DEPICTION IN THE GAVUR- A FRAGMENT OF A TURKISH TALE
Lord Byron is an English romantic writer who was in the quest of an adventure and experience far from England. In years 1809-1811 he undertakes a journey to Portugal, Spain, Malta, Turkey and Balkan region of Albania and Greece. Even though the journey was long, it was the Balkan region which provided him with the thrill he expected to get. He became acquainted with the geography, history, social conditions and culture of the region, which he did not hesitate to use in his writings, as a certain material for success.
There is a belief that Byron furnished himself with information on the Balkan region, prior to his voyage. These claims did not embower the originality of his work, as he experienced this world first-hand. He proved his familiarity and fondness with this world by using the cultural background and vocabulary.
In this study, we chose one of Byron, Turkish Tales, The Giaour-A Fragment of a Turkish Tale, which is known as a “snake of a poem” due to the constant revision and reaching to 1334 lines in the twelfth edition, from the 407 lines in its first copy.
This study, aims to discuss Byron’s usage of his experience in the description of male/female characters by unfolding their status. In this particular tale, Byron treated the subject of infidelity. Initially we discussed the wife, Leila’s position as a woman in Turkish harem who tried to break the taboos and enter male realm of action, just to go through her condition after her disturbance of moral values of the Oriental world.
Following Leila’s state, this study focused on the Giaour, Leila’s Christian lover and Hassan Pasha, Leila’s Turkish husband. Knowing the polarity between their cultural background the tale surprises us by presenting the Giaour as “a cultural hybrid” who turns into Oriental man not different from Turkish Hassan. On the other side, Hassan is portrayed as a cruel husband who strives to live and die in accordance to his cultural values. Upon his discovering Leila’s infidelity, Hassan is defeated by his mentality and spills out his rage by killing Leila.
The study reveals that only after Leila’s death the resemblance between Turkish Hassan and Venetian the Giaour starts. As representative of two different worlds these two proud men shared the same temperament in the moments of anger. However, we tried to prove that Byron put into action his western mentality, thus favored the Giaour by justifying his murdering of Hassan.
Keywords
Lord Byron, Orient, Turks, infidelity, mindset, revenge
