Wedding the opposites: The romantic quest of the Byronic Hero in marging the orient and the occident in Turkish Tales

ABS TRACTWEDDING THE OPPOS ITES : THE ROMANTIC QUES T OF THEBYRONIC HERO IN MERGING THE ORIENT AND THE OCCIDENTMelike KüçükEnglish Literature and Cultural S tudies24 January 2006Lord Byron is one of the extraordinary bards of the English RomanticPeriod. The Byronic Hero, who is recognized to be the mirror of Lord Byron?sinner-self and projection of his persona, is a legendary character. Lord Byron?s,Turkish Tales, which include the Byronic Hero, are written after his firstexcursion to the Orient and they are records of his experiences in the East. TurkishTales, written in verse include; The Giaour, The Bride of Abydos, The Corsair,Lara, and The Siege of Corinth. These tales demonstrate Byron?s unbiasedperception towards the Orient. In these tales, Byron tells about the `Other? cultureiiiwithout drawing distinct lines between cultures and he criticizes the partialWestern preconceptions.Since Byron has made the facts of his life and his experiences a centralstand in his poetry he prefers facts rather than assumptions. Hence, he draws apicture of a unified world, in which the Orient and the Occident are integrated.However, he reaches the synthesis that differences and enmities which also occurin the same world stem from the diseased, shattered, and discriminatory worldview of the Western scholars. This picture which becomes concrete after hiscontact with the Orient has changed his life and thoughts. With his concreteexperience in the Orient, as a Romantic Poet, Byron is purified from artificiallyconstructed and imposed prejudices with his courage, agony and self-dedication;eventually, he rejuvenates and becomes a universal bard when he embraces theoppositions; the past and the future, the ideal and the real, the Orient and theOccident.iv