The 'lethal woman (femme fatale)' image in Turkish literature between 1860-1950

The term Femme Fatale, a selfish and wicked woman known to use her beauty, charm and sexuality in a game frame to prey upon men and to drag her prey to disaster or death, first appears in the XIXth century where women started to be seen as a threat with their introduction to working life. The masculine majority preferred to give sense to the independent woman in society with symbols having bad and exclusive meanings, hence, defined her as 'lethal'. The femme fatale which connects to Freud's Oedipus complex and to Jung's mother archetype via psychoanalysis first appears in French literature. The history of femme fatale goes back to creation and she makes appearance in mythology, epos and fairy tales as jealous and passionate goddesses or evil witches. In Turkish literature, with a similar historical background, the femme fatale appears with wanton female characters. In this work, the existence of the femme fatale in novels written between 1860 and 1950 is sought for. To be able to make a multidimensional character analysis, the discussion is based on the novels. The selected novels are classified according to the characteristics of their femme fatale characters. The point of view of the masculine majority to woman, its positioning of her in the fiction and the link of the femme fatale character to tradition are investigated.