“THE ROSE SULTANA OF THE NIGHTINGALE” ORIENTAL IMAGES, CHARACTERS AND SETTING IN BYRON’S THE GIOAUR

Abstract

It is surprising that Romanticism, a literary movement generally associated with nature, emotions and imagination, had close connection with imperialism, through its most distinguished cultural characteristic - Orientalism. Most of the major Romantic poets found in the Orient not just a noteworthy point of reference for various cultural or political backgrounds, but an important backdrop in the realization of their literary careers. However, most of the writers of this period had never visited the East. Hence, their attitudes towards it differ from Lord Byron’s, who not only embarked on the Grand Tour, among other countries to Albania, Greece and Turkey, early in his career, but also eternalized the theme of escapism in some of his greatest poetry like Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage and Don Juan. The exotic East offered Byron the basis for the aesthetic achievement in his Oriental Tales: The Giaour, Lara, The Corsair, The Siege of Corinth and The Bride of Abydos, but also his play Sardanapalus. The main interest of this paper, however, is the study of Oriental elements in Byron’s first Oriental tale - The Gioaur. I have come to realize that Byron emerges as distinct from and rises above his contemporaries in the treatment of the Orient with regard to the broad range, accurate portrayal and his creative empathy. One of the purposes of this paper would be to acknowledge this uncommon responsiveness to the Orient and to enlighten Byron's use of Oriental allusions. The poem represents an artistic mixture of Eastern and Western elements. This paper will focus on the depiction of the East in images, settings, characters and themes, and explore the way the poet skillfully incorporates a Western hero in an Eastern setting and increases the overall impression by the poem’s various narrators. Byron was the first author who allowed an Oriental character to relay a story from his Islamic point of view. This makes Byron different from his contemporaries; he does not throttle the Oriental voice. The voice of the Muslim narrator emphasizes the Oriental character of the poem as his references and viewpoints bestow a specific Oriental colour. In the depiction of the two main male characters, Byron has skillfully employed the effect of doubling which excludes the position of the Giaour as superior over his Oriental rival. Just as Hassan does not feel any remorse for the death of Leila, so does the Giaour’s regret not stem in the immorality of his deeds or social transgressions. He is endowed with the same weaknesses and vices as Hassan. Artistically threading together, a diversity of Oriental details, such as natural and animal imagery, creatively incorporating picturesque similes and allusions, Byron has managed to fashion a faithful Oriental story.