Journal of Faculty of Letters

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the theme of revenge in the Turkish novels of the Tanzimat Period in the contexts of the search for justice and reckoning. With the Tanzimat literature, the Western novel genre was introduced into Turkish literature and the psychological conflicts of the individual and social issues began to be dealt with in more depth. While the social function of the novel genre is taken into consideration, it is seen that individual reckoning, moral collapse and the concept of justice are also questioned through this new genre. In this context, Ahmet Mithat Efendi's novels Hasan Mellah or Mystery in a Secret, Georgian Girl or Revenge and Dürdane Hanım, Namık Kemal's İntibah and Nabızade Nazım's Zehra are analyzed. Throughout the study, it was observed that the theme of revenge was treated with a more positive motivation towards the establishment of justice in some works. In others, it is realized that it turns into a destructive passion linked to individual anger, jealousy and moral degeneration. Especially in narratives in which female characters are at the center, revenge is also dealt with as the expression of repressed emotions, while it is also constructed based on the search for honor and rights in both male and female characters. In Tanzimat novels, revenge is not only a feeling of revenge. This emotion turns into a multi-layered narrative tool in which social values and individual identity are questioned. In this respect, the study contributes to understanding the world of mentality of the period through literary texts. One can also gain insight into the moral preferences of Tanzimat writers on the individual-society axis. In addition, the idea that revenge is sometimes a legitimate means to achieve justice and sometimes a dangerous deviation that leads to the destruction of the individual is emphasized.