Von Freunden und Fraktionen: Die Historiendramen von Shakespeare

Year 2019, Volume: 36 Issue: 1, 179 - 187, 17.06.2019

Murat Öğütcü

https://doi.org/10.32600/huefd.430253

Abstract

In the Late Elizabethan Period, factionalism complicated the notion of, especially, male friendship. The scarcity of
financial resources of the royal patronage, the arbitrary distribution of favours, and bottom-up pressures of patronees
further problematized a healthy relationship among patrons and patronees and among friends. The horizontal and
vertical social relations were to be conducted within theatricality; by performing a certain social role, while keeping
one’s real ideas as confidential as possible. Deception and hypocrisy were necessary in order to survive verbal and
non-verbal means of factionalism, which targeted, especially one’s reputation. This, however, problematized the
perception of the reality of social behaviour. Friendship should be about sincerity. Yet, that sincerity was usually nonexistent in the overall pattern of Late Elizabethan theatrical behaviour that lacked demarcated lines between essence
and appearance in a clear-cut way. Published or unpublished examples of advice literature, therefore, urged a thorough
analysis of the behaviours of friends to instrumentalise them in utilitarian ways. One ought to be careful in choosing
friends, who should both give support and provide advice. One should also be careful in rejecting double-dealers and flatterers. The problems to meet practice and theory led to many shifts of allegiance, double-dealings, and the lack to
differentiate between advice and flattery. In Shakespeare’s Elizabethan history plays, the reign of King John, the
Hundred Years War, and the Wars of the Roses found in chronicles provided several conflicting sets of values about
the notions of friendships that were adapted to contemporary phenomena in the Post-Armada Period. Whether seen as
plays or read in quarto versions, the plays reinforced the perception of friendship as performance liable to be a matter
of appearance rather than essence. Therefore, this article will analyse the notions of friendships in the Late Elizabethan
Period in Shakespeare’s history plays and illustrate how factionalism problematized those notions.

Keywords

Shakespeare, Friendship, factionalism, Elizabethan Period, history plays

Dostlar ve Hizipler Üzerine: Shakespeare’in Tarih Oyunları

Abstract

Geç Elizabeth Dönemi’nde hizipçilik, özellikle erkekler arası dostluk kavramını karmaşık hale getirmiştir. Kraliyet
hazinesinin azalması, hazine gelirlerinin dağıtımındaki gelişigüzellik ve tabandan gelen baskılar, hami ve himaye
altında olanlar ile dostlar arasındaki sağlıklı ilişkileri daha da sorunsallaştırmıştır. Yatay ve dikey toplumsal ilişkiler,
teatral üsluplarla yürütülürdü; belli bir toplumsal rolü icra edip, kendine ait gerçek düşünceleri olabildiğince mahrem
bırakarak. Hile ve takiye, özellikle itibarı hedef alan hizipçiliğin sözlü ve sözsüz araçlarına karşı hayatta kalabilmek
için gereklilerdi. Fakat bu, gerçekliğin ve toplumsal davranışların algısını sorunsallaştırmaktaydı. Dostluk, dürüstlükle
ilgili olmalıydı. Ancak bu dürüstlük, öz ve biçim arasında ayırt edilebilir bir çizgisi olmayan Geç Elizabeth Dönemi
teatral davranışların genel yapısında mevcut değildi. Bundan dolayı basılı ve basılı olmayan nasihatnameler, dostların
davranışlarını iyice çözümlemek ve bunları kendi çıkarları için kullanmak için insanları teşvik ediyorlardı. Destek ve
nasihat verebilecek dostların seçiminde dikkatli olunmalıydı. Ayrıca iki taraflı oynayanları ve dalkavukları geri
çevirirken de dikkatli olunmalıydı. Söylemle eylemi birleştirmedeki sorunlar, ittifaklar arası geçişlere, iki taraflı
oynamalara ve nasihat ile dalkavukluğu ayırt edememeye yol açıyordu. Shakespeare’in Elizabeth Dönemi tarih
oyunlarında, vakayınamelerde bulunabilen Kral John dönemi, Yüzyıl Savaşları ve Güller Savaşı birbiriyle çatışan ve
Elizabeth Dönemi’nin olgularına uyarlanan dostluk kavramları sunmuşlardır. Gerek izlenen gerekse okunan bu
oyunlar, dostluğun özden çok biçimsel bir eylem olduğu algısını pekiştirmişlerdir. Bundan dolayı bu çalışma Geç
Elizabeth Dönemi’ndeki dostluk kavramlarını inceleyip, hizipçiliğin bu kavramları nasıl sorunsallaştırdığını
örneklendirecektir.  

Keywords

Dostluk, Elizabeth Dönemi, Shakespeare, hizipçilik, tarih oyunları

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