ELIZA HAYWOOD'UN “LOVE IN EXCESS OR, THE FATAL ENQUIRY” VE ELIZABETH INCHBALD'UN “A SIMPLE STORY” ROMANLARINDA KADIN GÜCÜNÜN İMKÂNSIZLIĞI

Year 2018, Volume: 58 Issue: 1, 973 - 991, 01.01.2018

Kübra Baysal

Abstract

Eliza Haywood ve Elizabeth Inchbald’un onsekizinci yüzyıl İngiltere’si ataerkil zemininde erkek karakterler aracılığıyla çeşitli kadın karakterler tanıtan Love in Excess or, The Fatal Enquiry 1719 ve A Simple Story 1791 romanları, kadın sesinin geçerliliğine karşılık kadınlara uygulanan baskı ve bu iki tutum arasında kadınların kurallara biat etmesi konularını tartışmaktadır. Love in Excess, erkek karakter D’Elmont aracılığıyla, onun Alovysa ve Amena gibi çeşitli kadın karakterlerle olan aşk ilişkileri sonucunda değişimini yansıtarak, erkeklerle olan ilişkilerine göre tanımlanan kadınlarla ilgili onsekizinci yüzyıl sosyal, kültürel ve ekonomik gerçekliklerini betimler. Aynı şekilde, A Simple Story, Millner ile kızı Matilda’nın birbirinden farklı hikayesini aktarır. Millner, meydan okuyan ve cesaretli bir kadınken, Matilda babası Dorriforth’un yönettiği itaat ve sessizlik dolu bir hayat içerisinde kaybolmuştur. Yine de, bu romanlarda kadın karakterler bütünüyle itaatkar veya baskı altında resmedilmemiştir, çünkü bazıları halen fikirlerini ifade edebilecek kadınsal bir güce sahiptir ve hareketleri erkeklerde değişimi başlatır. Bu durum ise, kadınların kurallara boyun eğmediğinin kanıtıdır. Öte yandan, kuralları ihlal eden diğer kadın karakterler ölüm veya mutsuzlukla cezalandırılır, ki bu da Haywood ve Inchbald’un romanlarında, büyük olasılıkla güvenli bir zemin olarak kurallara boyun eğme yolunu seçmiş olabileceğini ifade eder. Bu çalışmanın amacı, onsekizinci yüzyıl İngiltere’sinin sosyal ve kültürel zeminini temsil eden Love in Excess ve A Simple Story romanlarında, Amena ve Matilda karakterlerinin sessizliği ve pasifliğine ve Melliora’nın kurallara uygun hareket etmesine karşılık Alovysa, Ciamara, Violetta ve Millner karakterlerinde resmedildiği gibi, kadınların kuralları ihlal etme yoluyla güç kazanmasının mümkün olup olmadığını tartışmaktır.

Keywords

Onsekizinci Yüzyıl Romanı, Kadın Gücü, Kadınların Kurallara Uyması, Eliza Haywood, Elizebeth Inchbald

IM/POSSIBILITY OF FEMALE EMPOWERMENT IN ELIZA HAYWOOD'S NOVEL LOVE IN EXCESS OR, THE FATAL ENQUIRY AND ELIZABETH INCHBALD'S NOVEL A SIMPLE STORY

Abstract

Eliza Haywood’s Love in Excess or, The Fatal Enquiry 1719 and Elizabeth Inchbald’s A Simple Story 1791 speculate the validity of female voice as opposed to women’s suppression and passivity or female conformity as an attitude in-between by presenting various female characters in the patriarchal backdrop of the eighteenth century England through male characters. Employing a male protagonist, D’Elmont and reflecting his transformation along with his eventual maturation through his love affairs with several female characters including Alovysa and Amena, Love in Excess pictures the eighteenth century social, cultural, and economic reality about women who are mostly defined according to their relationship with men. Likewise, A Simple Story recounts different stories of a mother, Millner and her daughter, Matilda. Millner is a woman of challenge and courage while Matilda is lost in a life of submission and silence conducted by her father, Dorriforth. Nevertheless, female characters are not altogether depicted as submissive and oppressed individuals in those novels as some of them still possess female agency to speak their minds while their acts trigger change in male characters, which proves their transgression. On the other hand, other female characters who transgress the boundaries are punished by death or unhappiness, which amounts the idea of female conformity that is most presumably chosen as a safe ground to stand in their novels by Haywood and Inchbald. The aim of this study is to discuss the possibility of female empowerment through transgression pictured with the characters of Alovysa, Ciamara, Violetta and Millner as countered with Amena and Matilda’s silence and passivity, and Melliora’s conformity in the novels, Love in Excess and A Simple Story that represent the social and cultural background of eighteenth century England.

Keywords

Eighteenth Century Novel, Female Empowerment, Female Conformity, Eliza Haywood, Elizabeth Inchbald

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