Realism in opera and analysis of the "Carmen" character in George Bizet's opera Carmen

In this study the verismo movement emerged in the 19th century in opera art and the Carmen opera of Georges Bizet are examined. The social existence of women in the period of the work was investigated and Carmen character in the opera was examined on the shed of the "Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen" and the "Declaration of the Rights of Women and Citizens". In the first part of the study, the French Revolution, the "Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen" and the "Declaration of the Rights of Women and Citizens" were emphasized. The Romantic Period and the Verismo movement, in which the opera "Carmen" took place, was examined within the framework of its historical and musical characteristics. In the second part, the lives of Prosper Merimee, the author of the novel Carmen, the librettists Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, and the composer of the opera, George Bizet, are discussed in the light of the historical process of Carmen opera. In the third chapter, the theme and the characters of the opera are examined within the characteristics of the work and the period. In the fourth chapter, the analysis of the opera Carmen and the character of Carmen is scrutinised in the light of the aforementioned historical process. The struggling of Carmen as a woman to gain the freedom of the womanhood in the society in which dominated by man is examined within the framework of the "Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen" and the "Declaration of the Rights of Women and Citizens".