The Ottoman Familicide in Goffe’s Bajazet the Second (1618)

Abstract

The research paper studies the representation of Sultan Bajazet II in Thomas Goffe‘s The Raging Turk, or, Bayazeth the Second (1618). The play represents a series of plots involving intrigues and treacheries between the ambitious Bajazet II, his three sons, Bashas and generals. The theme of slaying clans in Turkish dynastic disputes is a significant motivation for the dramatists to make the Turk prevalent in shows in early modern times. Elizabethan depiction of the Ottoman sultan is as a merciless killer of his family members in revenge tragedies or history plays set in empires. The death or deposition of a sultan bringsconstantlya period of disorder and catastrophe in the Ottoman Empire. The furiousBajazet, however, satisfies Goffe's aesthetic and personal notions about the Ottoman clan killings. The Elizabethan audience prefers to see the defeated and condemned Turk plays.