Sömürgeciliğe karşı : Abdülhak Hâmid tiyatrosu

The aim of this thesis is to explore the imperialist context in Abdülhak Hâmid Tarhan’s (1852-1937) plays, namely Duhter-i Hindû (1876), Finten (1898), Cünûn-ı Aşk (1925-26), Yabancı Dostlar (1924-25) and Yadigâr-ı Harb (1917), by using post-colonial theories. In the first chapter, Hâmid’s position towards classical Ottoman Turkish literature and appropriating new genres from Western literature was analyzed in relation to the concepts such as “appropriation” and “authenticity”. Abdülhak Hâmid was trying to combine new genres with classical Ottoman literary tradition to reach a synthesis. In the second chapter Duhter-i Hindû was read as a political criticism of British colonialism. The third chapter focuses on the conflicts between English society and the people coming from British colonies, and the psychological effects of colonialism on the colonized people. The intertextual relations between Finten and Shakespeare’s plays were scrutinized in terms of imperialism. The last chapter focuses on the cultural effects of imperialism in Cünûn-ı Aşk. This chapter also deals with the conflict between imperialism and culture which is apparent in Yadigâr-ı Harb, Yabancı Dostlar and Cünûn-ı Aşk. The thesis concludes that Abdülhak Hâmid did not only write about political aspects of colonialism but also emphasized its cultural and psychological effects. The criticism of colonialism in these plays was limited to the British Empire. Hâmid did not only criticize colonialism but he also undermined essentialist discourses such as Orientalism.