Bir hacıdan daha fazla, bir eşten daha az: Geoffrey Chaucer’ın Canterbury Hikâyelerindeki Harry Bailly karakteri

Öz

Geoffrey Chaucer’ın dev yapıtı Canterbury Hikâyelerindeki hacı karakterleri her hacı üzerine farklı konularda sayısız makale ve kitap üreten araştırmacılar tarafından geniş ölçüde ele alınmıştır. Fakat metnin göz alıcı hancı karakteri Harry Bailly’e çok az ilgi gösterilmiştir. Bailly farklı sınıflara mensup bir grup Orta Çağ insanına Canterbury’deki aziz Thomas Becket’in türbesine giderken rehberlik eder ve okuyucuya Orta Çağ’ın en kapsamlı resmini sunar. Bailly metnin ana çerçevesi olarak hacılardan Canterbury yolunda hikâye anlatmalarını ister. Kendisi bir hikâye anlatmaz fakat hacılar arasındaki tartışmaları yönetmede ve onları bir düzene sokmada çok başarılıdır; her zaman hem hikâyeler hem de onları anlatanlar için söyleyecek bir sözü vardır. Orta Çağ toplumunun belkemiğini oluşturan üç sınıf düzeni ile ilgili de çok ihtiyatlıdır. Canterbury Hikâyeleri herhangi bir hacı karakteri olmadan düşünülebilir fakat bir Harry Bailly olmadan Canterbury Hikâyeleri düşünülemez. Otoriter ve her şey hakkında bir bilgisi olan Bailly, metin boyunca hancı, lider, hakem, eleştirmen ve yönetici gibi farklı roller üstlenir. Hükmeden konumu makalede başka bir Bath’lı Kadın olarak ele alınan baskıcı karısı tarafından sekteye uğrasa da, Bailly hacıların orkestra şefi olarak eşsiz bir yere sahiptir. Bu bağlamda, bu makalenin amacı Canterbury Hikâyelerindeki Harry Bailly’e odaklanıp, onu Geoffrey Chaucer’ın başyapıtındaki yeri doldurulamaz fakat ihmal edilmiş bir karakter olarak ele almaktır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Geoffrey Chaucer
• Canterbury Hikayeleri
• Orta Çağ
• Harry Bailly

More than a pilgrim less than a wife: Harry Bailly in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales

Abstract

Geoffrey Chaucer’s pilgrims in his monumental work The Canterbury Tales have been widely treated by the scholars who produced copious articles and books on the countless matters focusing on each pilgrim. Nevertheless, little attention has been paid to Harry Bailly, the striking innkeeper of the text. Bailly guides a group of medieval people of different ranks to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury which introduces the reader to the greatest panorama of the medieval period. As the main framework of the text, Bailly asks pilgrims to tell stories on their way to Canterbury. Bailly does not tell a story himself; yet, he becomes so successful in handling of the disputes among the pilgrims and putting all of them in order; and every time he has a say for the stories as well as the story tellers. He is also very cautious about the traditional three estates order which constitutes the backbone of the medieval society. The Canterbury Tales can be envisaged without any of its pilgrims, but not without a Harry Bailly. He is the authoritative figure, and a know-it-all. Throughout the text, he performs divergent roles as a host, a leader, a judge, a critic and a governor. Although his commanding position is impeded by his domineering wife, taken as another Wife of Bath in the paper, Bailly occupies a unique position as the maestro of the pilgrims. Accordingly, this paper aims to dwell on Harry Bailly in the Canterbury Tales to present him as the inalienable yet neglected character of the masterpiece of Geoffrey Chaucer.

Keywords

• Geoffrey Chaucer
• the Canterbury Tales
• medieval period
• Harry Bailly

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