Author
Hayrî, Hayrullah Hayrî Efendi (b. 25 Dhul-Hijjah 1233/1818 - d. 17 Shaban 1283/1866)
Publication Date
29/07/2022
Subject
Turkish Literature in the Renovation Period - theater
Type
Book
Language
Undetermined
Digital
No
Manuscript
No
Library
Dictionary of Turkish Literature Works
Record ID
hikaye-i-ibrahim-pasa-ve-ibrahim-gulseni-hayri-hayrullah-hayri-efendi-tees-1442
Date
1844
Notes
Tragedy/historical play/drama, which was written in 1844 by Abdülhak Hâmid Tarhan's father, the historian, statesman, physician and scholar Hayrullah Efendi, which deals with the political events of the period in a historical fiction and is very weak in terms of theater technique. The characters of this historical play, which consists of four chapters and takes place during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent; İbrahim Pasha, İskender Çelebi, Siyavuş, Silâhdar-ı Şehiryâri Ağa, Tebaa-i İbrahim Pasha, Şeyh İbrahim-i Gülşeni, Sultan Süleyman and Erkân-ı Devlet. İbrahim Pasha; He was a successful pasha who gained the sultan's appreciation with his military successes. Siyavush, who came from far away, wants to inform him of a prophecy of his master, the scholar. At that time, the treasurer İskender Çelebi was also with them. According to the prophecy, a person named Abraham will emerge from Egypt and cause great harm to the Ottoman Empire. Ibrahim Pasha, who was also recruited from Egypt, became afraid when he heard this prophecy. Although İskender Çelebi wanted this news to be delivered to the sultan immediately for the sake of the country's authority, İbrahim Pasha did not allow this, thinking that he would be under suspicion. However, Alexander, who is very loyal to his country, ensures that the news is secretly delivered to the sultan, despite everything that may happen to him. Realizing that the sultan was aware of this prophecy, İbrahim Pasha resorted to deceit and ensured that İbrahim-i Gülşeni was presented to the sultan, and on the other hand, he imprisoned Alexander. When traveler Siyavuş hears that Alexander is imprisoned, he tries to reach him and manages to see Alexander. Meanwhile, the sultan; He saw İbrahim-i Gülşeni, realized that he was innocent and sent him back to Egypt. Siyavuş informs the imprisoned Alexander that the Abraham in the prophecy is neither İbrahim-i Gülşeni nor İbrahim Pasha, but an Abraham who will appear in 1247. Ibrahim Pasha, unaware of the final prophecy, has them both executed. However, his conscience is not at ease, he cannot sleep at night, and he leaves the army and goes to Istanbul to see the sultan. The sultan did not approve of his irresponsible abandonment of the army, and moreover, Lütfî Pasha delivered the letter that Alexander wrote before his death to the sultan. The sultan, who learned the intrigues of the incident from this letter, sees Ibrahim Pasha's disloyalty and betrayal, and that he executed Alexander, whom he valued very much, and decides to take revenge on Ibrahim Pasha. The Ibrahim who will harm the Ottoman Empire in the play based on the confusion of the Ibrahims is Ibrahim Pasha, the son of the Egyptian governor Kavalali Mehmed Ali Pasha. The year 1247 marks the year of rebellion of the Egyptian Governor Mehmet Ali Pasha and his son Ibrahim Pasha. Even though the events in the play take place during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, the problem of the 19th century Ottoman Empire is actually addressed. Balı Kaplan thinks that this play, which he finds quite successful in terms of the emergence of the tragic situation and the fact that the characters are drawn from an impartial perspective, is an example of a tragedy that has most of the characteristics of the genre, has a bad ending, is handled by questioning universal values, and develops around a historical subject (2014: 151). In this play, which is set on a historical background, elements of tragedy such as prophecy, reversal of fortune/peripetie, tragic mistake/hamartia, disaster, painful event/pathos, purification/catharsis attract attention. In the play, the turn of fortune takes place with the prophecy that Siyavuş informs the sultan. The tragic dilemma arises with the indecision of Alexander, who is loyal to the sultan and his country, whether or not to deliver the prophecy that will affect the future of the country to the sultan. Ibrahim Pasha, who is afraid of death, does not allow him to deliver this news to the sultan for his safety, but Iskender, who stands out with his loyalty, delivers the news at the cost of his life. At this point, it becomes the representative of universal values such as loyalty, devotion and truth. The tragic mistake is based on the fact that Ibrahim Pasha, a very successful soldier in the wars, endangered the future of the country with his weaknesses such as envy and arrogance and the fear of being killed. İbrahim Pasha becomes the victim of his tragic mistake. This is where catharsis emerges as the play ends in disaster. With the murder of Alexander, the values he exalted gain immortality. What brings out the tragic is the subject of high values and the conflict of these values in the eyes of the characters of İbrahim Pasha and İskender.19. This play, which is considered one of the first examples of 19th century Turkish theatre, appeared later, although it was written before Şinasi's Poet's Marriage. İsmail Hâmi Danişment, in an article introducing the play, says that Hayrullah Efendi wrote this play when he was a senior medical student, so it was written at least 15 years before Poet's Marriage, and in this respect, it is the first Turkish play (Danişment 1939: 14). Metin And states that it is not easy to agree with this view and that this play is an attempt at a play that was not published at the time and remained as a doodle among the notes of a medical student (1983: 24). Yakar, after stating that there is no need to forget Hikâye-i İbrahim Paşa and that both of them should be given their due in order not to cast a shadow on the firstness of Şair Evliği, classifies Şair Evliği as the "first published Turkish play" and Hikâye-i İbrahim Paşa as the "first written Turkish play" (1964: 6-11). This play, which emerged as a new text, shows that other Turkish plays were written earlier than Poet's Marriage, and accordingly, discussions about the 'first copyrighted work' gained another dimension after the second half of the twentieth century (Ümit 2019: 140). In addition to the debates about whether it is the first copyrighted work, the contribution of this play to Turkish dramatic literature and the extent to which it bears the characteristics of theater and especially the tragedy genre are still controversial. According to Tanpınar, although this work did not have an impact on the future development of Turkish theater because it was not published, it is important in terms of showing that the taste for theater went back to an experience of ibda in this period, as well as showing where Abdülhak Hâmid's taste for historical plays came from (2010: 144). Akün thinks that this play, which shows Hayrullah Efendi's literary taste turning towards Western theater and the progress he made in this direction, is an important attempt to respond to the need for modern contemplation on the Turkish stage. According to him; It can easily be said that the work is not the first play of European Turkish theater as claimed, but the oldest performance whose subject is taken from Ottoman history (1998: 72). Although it is widely believed that it was written to be read, not to be played, this play has an important place in terms of being the first example in our theater literature where the tragic situation stands out. Süheyl Ünver informs that the copy of this rare work is in Abdülhak Hamid Bey's possession (1986: 13). Yakar states that Abdülhak Hamid gave this notebook to Süheyl Ünver for safekeeping (1964: 6). Özaydın gives the following information about the copy of the play: This four-act theater play, written by Hayrullah Efendi while he was a student at the Medical School, is in the notebook in which he kept lecture notes. The notebook, with a marbled cover and containing the plans of the Medical School, cartoons, signatures and prescription samples, is 190x290 mm in size and has 43 leaves. The play covers 16 pages of the notebook between pages 20/2-28/1. The notebook is registered at number 370 in the Department of Deontology Library of Cerrahpaşa Faculty of Medicine (1995: 123-124). According to the information given by And; Abdülhak Hâmit found the manuscript of the play among his father's writings and gave it to the Istanbul Medical History Library. This text is registered in the manuscripts section of the Institute of Medical History under number 221. The play was first published in the 8th issue of Türklük Magazine, dated 1939. It was later prepared for reprinting by adding a foreword and footnotes by Aytekin Yakar, and was published as publication number 3 of Ankara University DTCF Turkish Language and Literature Research Institute in 1964 (1983: 24). The play was re-prepared by Metin And for the Theater series of İnkılâp ve Aka Bookstores in 1983 and published in the book titled The First Turkish Plays Before the Poet's Marriage. For the author's biography, see. “Hayrî, Hayrullah Hayrî Efendi”.Turkish Literature Names Dictionary.
ISBN
978-9944-237-87-1
Madde Yazarı
Araş. Gör. Dr. ZEHRA KAPLAN
Alfabesi
Arap
Yapısı
Mensur
Niteliği
Telif
Kaynakça
Akün, Ömer Faruk (1998). “Hayrullah Efendi”.İslam Ansiklopedisi. C. 17. İstanbul: Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı Yay. 67-75.
And, Metin (1983).Şair Evlenmesinden Önceki İlk Türkçe Oyunlar.İstanbul: İnkılâp ve Aka Kitabevi.
Balı Kaplan, Zehra (2014).Türk Tiyatrosunda Trajedi.Yüksek Lisans Tezi. Eskişehir: Eskişehir Osmangazi Üniversitesi.
Danişment, İsmail Hâmi (1 Aralık 1939).“Türk Tiyatrosunun İlk Piyesi”.Türk Tiyatrosu,I (109): 14-15.
Hayrullah Efendi (1964).Hikâye-i İbrahim Paşa Be İbrahim-i Gülşenî. (hzl. A. Yakar). Ankara: DTCF Yay.
İbni Abdülkah, Hayrullah (1939). “Türk Tiyatrosu Tarihine Ait Çok Mühim bir Vesika: Hâmid’in Babası Hayrullah Efendinin Piyesi”.Türklük Mecmuası,2: 109- 121.
Özaydın, Zuhal (1990).Tanzimat Devri Hekimi Hayrullah Efendi, Hayatı ve Eserleri. Doktora Tezi.İstanbul: İstanbul Üniversitesi Sağlık Bilimleri Enstitüsü.
Özaydın, Zuhal (1995). “Tanzimat Devri Hekimi Hayrullah Efendi, Hayatı ve Eserleri II”.Yeni Tıp Tarihi Araştırmaları-1, 5: 98-132.
Tanpınar, Ahmet Hamdi (2010).XIX. Asır Türk Edebiyatı Tarihi.İstanbul: YKY.
Ümit, Nazlı Miraç (2019).Türk Tiyatrosu Tarihiyazımının İlk Örnekleri: On Dokuzuncu Yüzyıl Sonu Yirminci Yüzyıl Başı Batılı Araştırmacıların Türk Tiyatrosu Çalışmaları.Doktora Tezi. İstanbul: İstanbul Üniversitesi.
Ünver, Süheyl (1986). “Tabib Hayrullah Efendi ve Makâlât-ı Tıbbiye”.Tıp Tarihi Araştırmaları.(ed. H. A. Göksoy, H. Hâtemi ve N. Sarı ). İstanbul: İstanbul Üniversitesi Yay. 11-16.
Atıf Bilgileri
KAPLAN, ZEHRA. "HİKÂYE-İ İBRÂHİM PAŞA VE İBRÂHİM GÜLŞENÎ (HAYRÎ, HAYRULLAH HAYRÎ EFENDİ)".Türk Edebiyatı Eserler Sözlüğü,http://tees.yesevi.edu.tr/madde-detay/hikaye-i-ibrahim-pasa-ve-ibrahim-gulseni-hayri-hayrullah-hayri-efendi-tees-1442. [Erişim Tarihi: 25 Ağustos 2025].
