Consideration of female characters in 20th century operas in the context of Feminism

From the time when the patriarchal order replaced the matriarchal system, the inequalities women have faced have been a problem throughout nearly every era. These inequalities, which have permeated every aspect of life, have also found their place in works of art, sometimes consciously and sometimes unconsciously, without undergoing any change. Especially in literary works, it is possible to find abundant data about the conditions of women in their respective eras. This situation is also true for the art of opera. The secondary status of women can be understood, for example, from the fact that women were prohibited from appearing on stage during the Baroque period, leading to male soloists taking their place. Also, in operas of Classical period, it can be understood the period's perspective on women from that they were often depicted as easily deceived, scheming, cunning, and deceitful characters. Moving to Romantic period operas, more liberated women began to appear on stage. However, their fate was often death. The changes in the world during the 19th century, which coincided with the Romantic period and the beginning of the women's movement, also caught the attention of opera composers. Despite depicting women as libertarian and resistant characters, these composers still did not offer women any option other than death. The reason that have been emphasized real and ordinary characters, is definetely because of realism movement (verismo) in the 19th century. In this manner, reflections of women's resistance began to appear more prominently in the art of opera. In the 20th century operas, compared to previous centuries, much more realistic and harsh subjects were addressed anymore, although there were still oppressed and unequal women characters, there were also free women characters. It is possible to say this also indicates that more favorable conditions for this study. In this study, it is tried to be explained that the reasons for women's inequalities under the theoretical framework of the Birth of Feminism. In historical process, the discrimination against women that have been encountered after the collapse of the matriarchal order, were researched and explained. In the matriarchal order before the patriarchal system, women were not in a secondary position. However, with the formation of cities and the transition to settled life, women turned into an object of exchange between families in order to preserve the territorial integrity. Over the years, this situation has led to women not having a say in their own lives, being in a secondary position in society, having no visibility before the law, being raised only as mothers and wives, in other words, all their personal rights have been violated. This section has been completed by investigating the underlying reasons that push women to resistance. In the study, after the reasons for the inequalities suffered by women were explained in general terms, the Paris Commune, which was seen as their first resistance to regain their rights, was included. The rights gained by the people after the French Revolution did not meet the expectations of women to eliminate gender inequality. At the same time, with the Industrial Revolution, women gained the opportunity to work in factories, but the unequal pay compared to men, unsafe working environments, and pressures led women to revolt. Women who took various actions to seek their rights, taking advantage of the conditions in Paris at the time were among the most resistant during the Paris Commune, which lasted for two and a half months. During the Paris Commune, women played such an active role in the resistance that the behavior of women, who had been passive until then, greatly disturbed the bourgeois class. As a result, the bourgeois press depicted women as thieves, drunkards, and vandals, misrepresenting them. Despite all this, the Commune is considered important in feminist history because it was the first time women's rights were voiced so forcefully and because women were visible in the resistance. Additionally, the demands for the separation of religion and state affairs and equal education for all were also significant features of the Commune that went down in history. Following the Paris Commune, the February Revolution, which went down in history as another important resistance of women in the historical process, is described in this study. Seen as a precursor to the October Revolution, the February Revolution was an event where women were again at the forefront, actively fighting for gender equality. The administration, which did not allow women to participate in the 1905 elections, led to a large women's movement. Women organized under the women's movement until 1917, conducted strikes in factories, and in 1917, as the strikes spread from women to the entire public, the scope of the resistance changed. After the February Revolution, with the October Revolution, women gained equal rights as never before and managed to influence other countries. The women's resistance, which broke out as the Paris Commune in France and the February Revolution in Russia, is known in England through the Suffragette Movement. Therefore, after discussing the Paris Commune and the February Revolution, the study addresses the Suffragette Movement. The struggle of women to obtain the right to vote and the difficulties they faced are included under this heading. Women carried out their actions by establishing associations to gain the right to vote. Thinking that they could not get what they wanted through legal means and verbal actions, United Kingdom women started militant actions such as breaking windows, setting fire to empty buildings and going on hunger strike. The Suffragettes, who set out to gain the right to vote, also demanded equality in education and laws. As a result of their struggle, women in the United Kingdom obtained conditional suffrage in 1918 and unrestricted suffrage in 1928. Following the Suffragette Movement's struggle, the study is titled The Birth of Feminism as a Theory. In this section, it has been researched when feminism first appeared in literature and an attempt has been made to go to the first written sources, which are called the basis of feminist theory. Since the study adopts a method that moves from the general to the specific, initially women's resistances throughout historical processes were discussed in broad terms. After addressing significant events in the history of women's resistance, considered important in the overall narrative of the study, it moves to more specific discussions, covering the periods known as the First Wave and Second Wave Feminist Movements in the history of feminist theory. The First Wave Feminist Movement refers to the period encompassing the 18th century and the early 19th century, during which women struggled for basic rights and freedoms. These included the right to vote, legal equality with men, custody rights in marriage, and etc. After their struggle for basic rights, the period known as the Second Wave Feminist Movement spans from the mid-19th century onwards. During this period, women primarily fought for sexual freedom, abortion rights, and against sexism. All their resistance against societal and legal control over their sexuality, the right to not bear unwanted children, and their fight against sexist statements in all forms of media occurred during this period. After creating an infrastructure about feminism, an attempt was made to express the importance of operas composed before the 20th century in the women's movement. The inequalities that women are exposed to are expressed through examples from 19th century works that prepare the audience for the 20th century reality. This period has been tried to be explained by giving examples from G. Bizet's operas Carmen, G. Puccini's Madame Butterfly, Suor Angelica and Manon operas. After mentioning the operas that laid the foundations of the 20th century reality, 12 operas composed in the 20th century were examined respectively. The operas were selected based on their themes and the supposed inequalities suffered by female characters. The works are discussed in chronological order, first touching on their subjects and then analyzing the situation of the female characters. The examined works include R. Strauss – Salome R. Strauss - Elektra G. Puccini - Il Tabarro A. Schoenberg - Erwartung A. Haba – Mother D. Shostakovich - Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk G. Gershwin - Porgy and Bess A. Berg – Lulu B. Britten - The Rape of Lucretia S. Prokofiev – Betrothal in a Monastery C. Floyd - Susannah T. Picker - Emmeline Following the analysis of the selected operas' subjects and characters, the works were examined under five main points considered to form the essence of feminism. These five points were derived from the feminist literature review, supported by selections from significant feminist authors, and thought to represent the primary inequalities faced by women. In order to be more clearly understood, the study includes a table showing the sources from which the substances are obtained. There is also a second table showing which article was created using quotes from which sources. In this way, the 5 Articles created were intended to be placed on more solid foundations. The aim was to better analyze and understand the inequalities faced by women in the selected operas. The five points are: 1- The secondary position of women within the family and the inequalities they face. 2- The inequalities women face in their participation in the workforce and their quest for economic independence. 3- The inequalities women face in the field of education. 4- The inequalities women face in the public sphere. 5- The lack of bodily autonomy for women. These 5 articles were supported by scanning feminist literature and with selections from writers who are considered important. Following this, it was determined that from what angles and under which items the selected operas could be categorized. Many operas were found suitable for analysis under multiple points. By examining 20th-century operas within the framework of feminism, it was aimed to highlight the inequalities embedded in these works concerning women. As mentioned before, based on the fact that artworks mirrored the society of the period and the inequalities that women were exposed to were reflected in theartworks, it was thought that opera works would give examples of the inequalities that women were exposed to at that time. Thus, it is aimed to shed light on the women's movement in the subtext of the works known as realism and romantic period works. This study was conducted to raise awareness of the inequalities normalized with the patriarchal order in opera works. Additionally, it aimed to contribute to the character creation process of opera artists. Given the infrequent staging of 20th-century operas on Turkish opera stages, another goal was to add an academic study on 20th-century works to Turkish opera literature.