Abstract
THE INSTITUTION OF MARRIAGE IN AHMET MİTHAT EFENDİ’S NOVEL “TALE OF WIFE AND HUSBAND”
In Ahmet Mithat Efendi’s narration which was indited as a story teller tale and monolog, the institution of marriage was discussed; concepts such as beauty, ugliness, love, envy, equity and loyalty that affect women-men relationships were handled. Ahmet Mithat who included himself in the narration as a writer, started out promising to tell a tale at the beginning but continued with the meta fiction method. Mrs Mahcemal and Mr Cemal who are the major characters of the narration and who appear towards the end of the narration are an ugly but a happy husband and wife. Ahmet Mithat’s one of the first novels, “Tale of Wife and Husband” which was published in 1875 is an important work in terms of reflecting the writer’s appreciation of the institution of marriage, the sense of equity in women-men relationships, men’s and society’s perspective of women in Reform Era; and it is also worth studying since the writer can relate the narrator, readers and the text in an amusing relation.
Keywords
Ahmet Mithat Efendi, the institution of marriage, Husband and Wife Tale, Reform, women-men relations