The comparative image of woman from the perspective of pessimism in Guy de Maupassant's and Ömer Seyfettin's stories

The subject of this research, based on the works of Guy de Maupassant, creator of short story genre in French literature at the end of the 19th century, and Ömer Seyfettin, first representative of short story writing in Turkish literature at the beginning of the 20th century, is to compare the ways of women's existence in society (the disempowerment of women in areas such as social life, socio-economic, social-cultural and socio-political situation, gender oppression) by focusing on Turkish and French literature. The examination of the critical perspectives of these two writers, who witnessed the social and political destruction of their era, towards women in social life, can shed light on today's problems, as well as provide solutions that will guide the existence of women in society and ensure social peace in the future. For this purpose, two stories were examined within the framework of comparative literature and answers were sought to some questions in the light of social history and cultural improvement: What is the social position of women in French and Turkish societies at the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century? How can women's social powerlessness be improved? In this context, problems awaiting solutions to ensure social peace have been revealed. Based on the two short stories examined, four concepts formed the basis of the research within the framework of socio-economic, social-cultural and socio-political conditions of the authors' periods: (1) woman and pessimism, (2) woman and socio-economic situation, (3) woman and genderism (4) woman and war. In the research, cultural theories, namely the Intellectual-Historical orientation approach, Marxist theory and gender theory were used, which enable the interpretation of the foundations on which inter-literary comparisons will be based. The pluralistic method, one of the comparative literary studies methods, was used. This study, which is qualitative research, was carried out with descriptive method. The images of woman are classified based on the themes of the stories and main subjects they contain. By focusing on the heroine, the shared theme related to the problematic of the study was identified and the data was examined in a meaningful and systematic way. Before the findings, analyses and interpretation section of the study, by examining the general conditions in which the writers are located, explicitly their biographies, the literary movements they followed, their works, the authors they were influenced by, and the important female figures who left an impact on their lives, are presented. Findings procured by the data obtained from the stories and the analyses show that under the pressure of social sexism, women are deprived of their personal rights as well as their legal, economic, educational and professional development rights; they do not lead an equal life with men in society. It has been revealed that, having been exposed to many injustices and prejudices, she (woman) continues to live suffering from negative emotions such as learned helplessness, sadness, loneliness, revenge and disappointment. KEYWORDS: Woman, Pessimism, Social Reality, Socio-Cultural, Socio-Economic, Socio-Political, Literary Realism