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Assoc. Prof Ünal Norman (Committee Member) I certify that I have read this thesis and that in my opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English Language and Literature. Assist. Prof. Hamit Çalışkan (Committee Member) I certify that I have read this thesis and that in my opinion it is fully adequate in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English Language and Literature. Dr. Marcia Vale (Advisor) Approved by the Institute of Economics and Social Sciences 111 Abstract The Carnivalesque in Ben Jonson's Three City Comedies: Volpone, The Alchemist and Bartholomew Fair Gül Kurtuluş Ph. D. in English Literature Advisor: .Dr. Marcia Vale March, 1997 The idea of carnival is explored in Rabelais and His World, in which Bakhtin shows that the carnival was an officially sanctioned period in which all dogmas and doctrines, as well as the fonns and ideologies of the dominant culture could temporaiily be overturned. This resulted in activities that could be seen as profane and heretical, such as the paiodies of religious rituals, or treasonous and socially subversive, such as the parodies of kingship, inversions of master-seiwant roles, and the like. Moreover, the phenomenon of carnival allowed the merging of categories that are kept separate by the ideologies of a certain culture; the serious and the ridiculous, the sacred and the profane, life and death, rulers and the mled, and so on. According to Bakhtin, the advantage of carnival was that it reminded of the athibutes of the dominant culture, the characteristics of the people at large, the divisions in the culture, of class distinctions, and of value judgments and differences. Bakhtin considers carnival as an actual socio-cultural phenomenon. In Bakhtin's analysis of carnival, symbolic polarities of high and low, official and unofficial, grotesque and classical are deformed and reconstructed. Ben Jonson's comedies deal with the symbolic extremities of the exalted and the base. In his comedies Jonson plumbs the depths of social classification, taking his characters from the lower strata of the underworld, as well as from the higher IV stiatum of the body politic; the advocates, masters, doctors, etc. Thus, Jonson comments on the political and the social changes in the first half of the seventeenth centuiy. In his plays the 'licensed release' of carnival is experienced, which is a kind of protest against the established order. Yet, the carnival Jonson depicts in his comedies is also intended to preserve and stiengthen the established order. It is a foim of social control of the low by the high. Although the world seems to be turned upside down and the roles change during the carnival, in fact the rulers who were chosen and crowned reaffinn the status quo. Therefore, the carnival spirit in Ben Jonson's comedies is a vehicle for social protest, but at the same time the method for disciplining that protest. Bakhtin's concept of camivalesque is highly significant in discussing the socio­ cultural and political content of Ben Jonson's comedies. His theoiy helps one see Jonson's comedies in an especially wide perspective. This dissertation aims to link Bakhtin's discovery of the importance of camivalesque with Ben Jonson's three best known comedies: Volpone, The Alchemist and Bartholomew Fair. öZet Ben Jonson'ın Üç Şehir Komedisindeki Karnaval Özellikleri Gül Kurtuluş İngiliz Edebiyatı Doktora TeZi Tez Yöneticisi : Dr. Marcia Vale Mart, 1997 Karnaval düşüncesi Bakhtin'in Rabelais and His World adlı kitabında incelenmiş ve karnaval resmi olarak belirlenmiş bir zaman dilimi olarak tanımlanmıştır. Bakhtin eserinde, bu belirli devrede bütün dogmalarm ve öğretilerin, baskın kültürün yerleştirdiği tüm kalıp ve ideolojilerin geçici olarak altüst edilebileceğini gösteimiştir. Bu tür bir anlayış ya dini törenlerin gülünç hale sokulması gibi dine karşı saygısızlıkla sonuçlanmaktadır, ya da krallık makamıyla dalga geçilmesi, efendi uşak rollerinin tersine dönmesi ve benzeri olaylaıla devlete ihanet niteliğinde toplumsal düzenin yıkılıp bozulması gibi faaliyetlerle sonuçlanmaktadır. Bundan başka, karnaval, belirli bn kültürün ideolojileri doğrultusunda ayrı tutulan komik veya komik olmayan, kutsal veya kutsal olmayan, ölüm veya yaşam, yönetenler veya yönetilenler ve buna benzer gruplann birbirine kanşıp birleşmesine olanak tanır. Bakhtin'e göre, karnavalın avantajı, baskın kültüıün nitelüdermi, çoğunluktaki insanların özelliklerini, kültür içindeki bölünmeleri, smıf farklanm, değişik değer yargılanm ve değer yaıgılaıındaki farklılaşmalan akla getirmesi ve hatırda tutmaya yardımcı olmasıdır. Bakhtin, karnavalı gerçek bir sosyo-kültürel olay olarak benimser. Bakhtin'in karnaval incelemesinde yüksektekiyle alçaktaki, resmi olarak kabul görenle görmeyen, garip ve gülünç olanla ideal olan arasındaki simgesel zıtlıklar çarpıtılıp tekıar biçimlendirilebilir. VI Ben Jonson'in komedilerinde de toplumda yüksek makamlarda olanlarla aşağıda olanların simgesel sınırları ele alınmıştır. Jonson komedilerinde sosyal sınıflandırmanın boyutlaıını incelemeyi amaçlamıştır. Karakterler hem lağımcılar ve yeraltı dünyasında yaşayanlar gibi toplumda alt sınıfı oluşturan insanlaıı hem de avukatlar, zengin efendiler, doktorlar gibi üst sınıfa ait kişileri temsil ederler. Böylece, Jonson eserlerinde onyedinci yüzyılın ilk yarısında toplumda gelişen politik ve toplumsal değişimleri yommlamıştır. Onun oyunlarında karnavalın hoşgörülen rahatlığı temsil edilmiştir, ki bu yerleşik düzene karşı bir çeşit isyandır. Ancak yine de Jonson'in komedilerinde betimlediği karnaval, yerleşik düzeni korumayı ve hatta güçlendiimeyi amaçlamaktadır. Bu, alttakilerin üst sınıftakiler tarafından toplumsal olarak kontiol edilme biçimidir. Karnaval süresince dünya tersine dönmüş ve roller değişmiş gibi görünse de aslında seçilen ve başa geçirilenler varolan durumu tekıar sağlamlaştırır. Dolayısıyla Ben Jonson'in komedilerinde karnaval mhu sosyal isyan için bir araçtır; fakat aynı zamanda bu isyanı dizginleyen, disiplin altına alan bir yöntemdir. Bakhtin'in karnaval düşüncesi Ben Jonson'in komedilerindeki sosyo-kültürel ve politik içeriğin incelenmesinde büyük önem taşır. Bakhtin'in kuramı Jonson'in komedilerine olağandışı bir bakış açısı getirilmesine olanak sağlai'. Bu çalışmanın amacı, Bakhtin'in karnavalın önemini ortaya çıkaran buluşuyla Ben Jonson'in önde gelen üç komedisini bağdaştırmaktır. vn Acknowledgements I would like to express my indebtedness to my advisor Dr. Marcia Vale, whose valuable comments and criticisms have contributed greatly to the realization of this thesis. 1 am grateful to Matthew Suff for his kind interest in this study and also for his helpful advice and practical suggestions. I would also like to express my gratitude to Assist. Prof Hamit Çalışkan, whose help in finding the topic of this dissertation cannot be underestimated. I owe special thanks to my mother Prof Nurten Koçak and my sister Lale Uluyiice for their patience and support. I would like to acknowledge my husband Alparslan Kurtuluş's encouragement and endurance at all stages in the preparation of this thesis. Vlll Table of Contents Page Introduction ; Laughter as a Stratagem: Carnival and Its Sociopathology in Jonson’s Age Chapter I : Civic Disorder and Incivility: the Breakdown 31 of the Humanist Worldview in Jonson’s Thiee City Comedies Chapter II : The Dumb God's Eloquence: the Role of 48 Materialism in Volpone Chapter III : Intercalary Days: Temporaiy License for 80 Face, Subtle and Doll in The Alchemist Chapter IV ; Carnival's Unexpected Prizes: Jonson’s Tender 113 Attitude in Bartholomew Fair Conclusion : Clio's Revels: Carnival’s Persistent 134 Interruptions in History Notes 145 Works Cited 165 IX INTRODUCTION Laughter as a Stratagem: Carnival and Its Sociopathology in Jonson’s Age The cultural categories of high and low, whether in the social or aesthetic domain, are never entirely separable. The human body, psychic forms, geographical space and social order, art and literature, are all fixed/determined/contained within interrelating and dependent binary oppositions, hierarchies of difference; high and low. It is possible to examine these interlinked and mutually dependent
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