@article{article_1044658, title={THE BEGINNINGS OF SHAKESPEAREAN INFLUENCES ON OTTOMAN- TURKISH DRAMA: NAMIK KEMAL’S AKİF BEY 1874 AND GÜLNİHAL 1875}, journal={Ankara Üniversitesi Dil ve Tarih-Coğrafya Fakültesi Dergisi}, volume={59}, pages={1170–1187}, year={2019}, DOI={10.33171/dtcfdergisi.1044658}, author={Dinçel, M. Sibel}, keywords={Metinlerarasılık, Namık Kemal, Akif Bey, Gülnihal, Tanzimat Dönemi Osmanlı-Türk Tiyatrosu, Shakespeare, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth}, abstract={This article aims at an intertextual justification for the technical and thematic similarities between Namık Kemal’s, Akif Bey 1874 and Gülnihal 1875 , and William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth and Tempest to illustrate Kemal’s enriched texts and better understand his display of power relations, forms of defiance and non-submissiveness in his own society and hence, his aim for constructing his plays upon what he considered as the best of the Western, Shakespearean material. However, this particular attempt, no doubt signifying the beginnings of Shakespearean influence upon the Ottoman-Turkish drama in the late Nineteenth Century, came considerably late when compared to Europe starting as early as the end of the Seventeenth Century. The reason might be the Ottoman- Turkish tendency of seeing themselves as the centre of the world or their religious reservations or the danger of publicizing revolt against authority. Hence, when a fearless Kemal came forward and openly displayed his resistance against an authoritative rule in his first play, Vatan Yahut Silistre in 1873, he had his share of provoking riots, followed by his arrest and final deportation to Magusa. Few years later in Akif Bey 1874 and in Gülnihal 1875 , both of which he wrote during this exile, Kemal only covertly revealed his negative opinions about an authoritarian rule. However, it did not save him from being arrested a few more times, and even die during another exile in Sakız Island. Lastly, it is possible to note that despite his ceaseless critical attitude, Kemal had showed his optimism and love of his country in Gülnihal by suggesting the possibility of a just rule without oppression, and in Akif Bey by displaying a constructive effort through the power of language, to alter the negative Shakespearean/European prejudices about the Ottoman-Turks and Turkish soldiers in general.}, number={2}, publisher={Ankara Üniversitesi}