The Journal of Academic Social Science Studies
International Journal of Social Science
Doi number:http://dx.doi.org/10.9761/JASSS2881
Number: 35 , p. 463-469, Summer I 2015
Yayın Süreci
Yayın Geliş Tarihi
20.04.2015
Yayınlanma Tarihi
15.07.2015
LADY MONTAGU AND THE REPRESENTATION OF THE
ORIENTAL WOMEN
LEYDİ MONTAGU VE DOĞULU KADININ RESMEDİLİŞİ
Merve Senem ARKAN
Eötvös Lorand Universitesi
Abstract
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu visited the Ottoman Empire between 1716 and
1718 as the wife of the British ambassador. During her journey she wrote letters about
her observations in Constantinople. She portrayed the harem, hamam and the Oriental
women, besides their life styles, fashion, music, religion, amusement and many other
aspects of the Oriental world. Montagu’s Oriental women were portrayed as
independent individuals who had economic liberties. Her image of free women can be
seen in her descriptions of different concepts such as the hamam or the veil. This
representation is in contrast to the traditional image of the Oriental woman that was
depicted by other western writers and it separates Lady Montagu's constructive
perspective from the rest of the literature with restrictive views. However, even though
her perspective appears as an opposing view at the first glaze, when in some ways her
letters contribute to the traditional representation of Orientalism. Her representation that
connected the East and the West civilizations, and also her letters that contributed to the
traditional image created division of the Orient and the Occident too. The aim of this
paper is to examine her letters and analyze their differentiation and contribution to the
traditional representation of Oriental world.
Key Words: Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Orientalism, Harem, Oriental
Women, Eastern Culture
Özet
Leydi Mary Wortley Montagu 1716 ve 1718 yılları arasında diplomat olan eşinin
görevi nedeniyle Osmanlı topraklarını ziyaret etmiştir. Bu ziyareti sırasında
mektuplarında Osmanlı topraklarındaki gözlem ve tecrübelerini yazmıştır. Doğu
kültürüne ait olan harem, müzik, eğlence, din, moda, yaşam tarzı ve Osmanlı kadını
hakkındaki gözlemlerinden bahsetmiş ve yorumlamıştır. İngiliz elçisinin karısı olan
leydi Montagu İstanbul’da saraya ve hareme girebilmekteydi. Bu ayrıcalık, dönemin
diğer yazarlarına göre ona avantaj sağlamış ve doğu kavramları hakkında kendi
edindiği tecrübelerini yazılarına yansıtmıştır. Yazılarında Doğuya özgü olan hamam ve
peçe gibi kavramları kendince yorumlanmıştır. Montagu bu mektuplarda, diğer yazarlar
tarafından köle olarak resmedilen Doğulu kadınının aksine, hem erkek egemenliği
altında olmayan, hem de kendi ekonomik özgürlüğü olan kadını betimlemiştir. Peçe,
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Merve Senem ARKAN
onun için doğulu kadına özgürlük kazandırmakla birlikte, hamam, sadece kadınların bir
araya geldiği ve erkekler tarafından rahatsız edilmeden rahatladıkları, birlikte konuşup,
eğlendikleri bir kahvehane olarak tasvir edilmiştir. Bu resmedilişle Montagu’nun doğulu
kadınları diğer batılı yazarların betimlemelerinden ayrılmaktadır. İlk bakışta,
Montagu’nun Osmanlı kadınına bakış açısı farklı gibi gözükse de bazı noktalarda
geleneksel oryantalizm tasvirlerine katılmaktadır. Yazıda ayrıca Doğu ve Batı halkları
arasındaki farklılıkları vurgulamaktadır.
Bu makale leydi Montagu’nun
mektuplarındaki doğulu kadının resmedilişine odaklanıp, bu bakış açısının ve
yorumunun oryantalizmin genel bakış açısına nasıl karşıt olduğunu ve ayrıca nasıl
katkıda bulunduğunu incelemektedir.
Anahtar kelimeler: Oryantalizm, Leydi Mary Wortley Montagu, Doğulu Kadın,
Harem, Doğu Kültürü
INTRODUCTION
The Turkish ladies, who are, perhaps, freer than any ladies in the universe, and are the
only women in the world that lead a life of uninterrupted pleasure, exempt from cares, their
whole time being spent in visiting, bathing or agreeable amusement of spending money and
inventing new fashions.
-Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, The Turkish Embassy Letters
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu represented the Oriental women with these words. She
visited the Ottoman Empire between 1716 and 1718 as the wife of the British ambassador,
Edward Wortley Montagu. During her journey she wrote letters about her observations. She
portrayed the harem and the Oriental women, their life styles, fashion, music, religion, as well
as many other aspects of the Oriental world.
Other writers, who traveled to the East and wrote about their observations, addressed
the subjects of the harem in particular and the Oriental women in general very often. They
mostly represented the enslaved women under men’s absolute power and the Oriental women
as symbol of sexuality. This representation separated not only the Oriental women from the
European women but also it created the differences between the Eastern and the Western
depictions of women.
On the other hand, Montagu’s Oriental women were portrayed as independent
individuals who had economic liberties. In her letters, Montagu (1993) depicted the Orient
women as “The Turkish ladies, who are, perhaps, freer than any ladies in the universe” (136).
Montagu undermines the prejudice of this traditional representation which is in contrast to the
traditional image of the Oriental woman that was depicted by other writers and it separates
Lady Montagu's constructive perspective from the rest of the literature with restrictive views.
However, even though her perspective appears as an opposing view at first gaze, upon closer
inspection it can be seen that, in some ways her letters contribute to the traditional
representation of Orientalism just as well. Peirce wrote that even though, she gave freedom to
the Oriental women, she also depicted their numerous lovers which made her representation
contribute to the trope of the exotic sexuality of the Oriental women, similar to the traditional
image (Montagu 1993, 115). Not just Oriental women’s affairs but also some other features of
her writing contribute too. The aim of this paper is to examine her letters and analyze their
differentiation and contribution to the traditional representation of Oriental world while
focusing especially on the Orient women.
The image of the East in the Western imagination
The long history of conflict between the East and the West civilizations has caused
many disputes and differences to occur within their shared history. From the Western view, the
Lady Montagu And The Representation Of The Oriental Women
465
Eastern countries were seen as religious, militaristic, and economic threats (Lewis 1993a, 75)
with religion being accepted as the focus of their differences; both sides viewing the other one
as infidel (Lewis 1993a, 171). Wheatcroft stated that “‘Islam’ was seen as the prime external
challenge to True Christian Faith” (39). Thus, Islam was considered a serious religious threat for
the Christians. The threat of Islam increased with the ever expanding Ottoman Empire into
Europe; their westward expansion, especially reaching Vienna two times marked the siege of
Vienna as another important event to note within the interactions of the East and the West as
the siege occurring in 1529 showed that there was not only an alarming increase of Ottoman's
military threat but that they were already marching upon European soil.
The shift in power was observed until the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in 1683 during
their second siege of Vienna (Lewis 1993a, 11-19). As their expansion came to a halt in 17th
century, Ottoman's started losing land as well. This caused the general barbaric depictions of
the Muslims to change, adopting a less threatening image, yet still maintaining the uncivilized
representation which was agree upon by the majority of European writers. Lewis wrote about
changed view of “A new image of the Turk – weak and decadent, an invitation to foreign
domination – was replaced the once prevalent images of power and menace, while a new image
of the European – threatening, alien, and yet seductive – was looming on the Turkish horizon”
(Lewis 1993a, 84). This change in image was reflected in writings about the Oriental world,
especially in the travel literature.
Orientalism of the period and the Oriental women
The Orient was a subject of interest in Europe; diplomats, soldiers, artists, captives and
travelers who interacted with different regions helped to spread knowledge of the East with
their writings (Lewis 1993b, 25). The harem and the Oriental women were engaging subjects for
the writers as they were both exotic and mysterious as an unfamiliar concept in the eyes of the
Europeans. According to the traditional image of the Muslims, the common knowledge dictated
that the Oriental women were enslaved women under the tyranny of the men. (Lowe 1994, 39)
and the harem was seen as a place for men's pleasure. As such the comments and the details
were often encountered in the travel literature.
Jean Dumont who wrote “A new voyage to the Levant” in 1696, pointed out about the
enslavement of women “The Sultan’s wives are lodg’d in a Third Seraglio…. I need not to tell
you with what severity they are guarded by the white and black Eunuchs, who never
permit’em to enjoy the least Shadow of Liberty” (Lowe 1994, 38). The writer depicted the
Oriental women as slave and strictly under the control of the influential men. The enslavement
of women was sign of the Turkish barbarism (Lowe 1994, 39) and their sexualisation supported
their idea of harem. This was one of aspects which the writers used in order to intensify the
eroticism in their works; depicting lustful men and their enslaved women and creating a
frequently appearing illustration for the Eastern people.
Additionally, the subjects, harem and hamam, were popular because it was eye
catching and appealing to many readers, especially to the males. The male writers were
providing them a fantasy world with the Oriental world which was completely different from
Europe and it was done specifically for the male gaze whereas it was Lady Mary Wortley
Montagu who had provided diversity with her writings without depicting enslavement of the
Oriental women.
Lady Mary Montagu
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu visited Constantinople in the beginning of the eighteenth
century. Her journey started in 1716, from London to Vienna after for a while she stayed in
Adrianople and finally she reached Constantinople and stayed there until 1718. During this
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time, she kept journals which do not exist anymore and also wrote letters to her friends in
London. These letters which contained her observations and experiences in Turkey were
published in 1763 after a year from her death.
Similar to other travel texts her letters contain her observations, experiences and
interpretation about the East. One important feature of these letters is that they have detailed
descriptions of the harem and the hamam. Her travel to Constantinople was during the Tulip
period of the Ottoman Empire. In this period the interaction, diplomacy between the Ottoman
Empire and the European countries was increased. The Ottoman Empire became more open to
foreigners in this period (Lew 1991, 450). This was one of the reasons that Lady Montagu freely
entered to the palace and had chance to observe the Oriental women in the harem. On another
note, to access the harem of the palace was impossible for a male visitors but she, as a privileged
female visitor had advantages that gave her access to these places, including her position as an
upper class woman and the wife of the ambassador. Halsband pointed out her privileges as
“Her sex and her social rank allowed her a great privilege not given to most travel- writers –
that visiting Turkish court ladies in their harems” (70). She was in a different position than the
male writers. This feature sets her writing apart from the other authors’ texts. Although her
letters are partially fictitious, they contain more about the truth nature of the harem and the
Oriental women than those of the male writers.
Lady Montagu’s Oriental women
Lewis (2004) stated about Montagu’s letters “The West’s curiosity about harem life was
first satisfied to any extent by the now famous letters from Constantinople of Lady Mary
Wortley Montagu” (10). In her letters, Montagu depicted detailed image of the harem and she
gave a diverse representation of the Oriental women than the accustomed one.
According to Lowe,
Although she writes in that tradition of letters about traveling in Turkey,
Montagu distinctly sets herself apart from that tradition by criticizing the
representations of women, marriage, sexuality and customs in the travel accounts
of Robert Withers, George Sandys, John Covel, Jean Dumont and Aaron Hill (31).
She provided the image of independent woman rather than the enslaved one. She was
expecting to find barbaric, violent Turks and slave women but she saw a different picture. She
emphasized that the other writers did not write about true nature of the Oriental women but
just wrote about their imagination. For example, she wrote about Dumont’ observation in her
letter that “They never fail to give you an account of the women, which ‘tis certain they whose
company never saw” (Montagu 1993, 104).
Montagu pointed out freedom of the Oriental women as “Upon the whole, I look upon
the Turkish women as the only free people in the Empire” (72). She interpreted these concepts
differently from their representations in the Western eyes with the proposed image of free
women in the veil or the hamam. She interpreted their dress which covered the body almost
completely and mentioned that the veil gave freedom to the women. She continued her writing
You may guess then how effectually this disguises them, that there is no
distinguishing the great lady from her slave and ‘tis impossible for the most
jealous husband to know his wife when he meets her, and no man dare either
touch or follow a woman in the street (Montagu 1993, 71).
The dress and the veil protected the women and helped them to disguise from their
husbands and also from other men and gave the women liberty of movement.
In addition to the freedom of movement they had economic independence too. Oriental
women having control of their money, the economic freedom, also did not support the other
Lady Montagu And The Representation Of The Oriental Women
467
writers’ texts (Montagu 1993, 72). Montagu’s representation of women is in contrast to the
image that men have absolute power over the women. Another description of the freedom of
women in her letters is about the hamam (bagnio). She observed the hamam as a coffee shop;
“fine women naked, in different postures, some in conversation, some working, others drinking
coffee or sherbet…In short, ‘tis the women’s coffee house, where all the news of the town is
told, scandal invented etc” (Montagu 1993, 59). For an English lady a coffee shop was a place for
men. It was a surprise for her that women had such a place where they can talk, gossip, or drink
coffee. The Oriental women had a place for themselves where men cannot enter or disturb
women, and where women can gather and enjoy themselves.
Her perspective and interpretation of Oriental women was different from the image of
enslaved women. Although most of her letters provide an opposite view on the subject, they
also have some features that contribute to the traditional representation.
Contribution To The Traditional Representation
Al-Rawi cited that “Edward Said mentioned, the West imagined the East in a way that
would only be suitable to serve its fantasies and own interests” (19). Mostly she wrote letters
about the Oriental women to her female friends. So to make the subject interesting for the
female perspective, she described free women, who had economic freedom, could have lovers,
and was able to hide from her husband and had a place to enjoy themselves. This
representation was interesting for females rather than males. Rather than repeating the similar
concepts that Europe was already aware, she focused on the differences in her interpretations,
making the Oriental women more interesting and engaging for the readers. In her comparison
between the English and the Orient woman, Montagu’s interpretation stated that the Oriental
women were even freer than the English women;
the Turkish ladies, who are, perhaps, freer than any ladies in the universe, and
are the only women in the world that lead a life of uninterrupted pleasure,
exempt from cares, their whole time being spent in visiting, bathing or agreeable
amusement of spending money and inventing new fashions (Montagu 1993, 136).
Montagu described the Oriental dress and the veil as freedom of movement to the
women. She illustrated the veil as the familiar concept to the West, the masquerade. She said,
just like a masquerade they disguise themselves and she continued her interpretation with
This perpetual masquerade gives them entire liberty of following their
inclinations without danger of discovery. The most usual method of intrigue is to
send an appointment to the lover to meet the lady at a Jew’s shop,.. The great
ladies seldom let their gallants know they are, and ‘tis so difficult to find it out
that they can very seldom guess at her name they have corresponded with above
half a year together (Montagu 1993, 71).
Lowe stated that
Implying that Turkish women are the site of a variety of subversive actions, that
veiled they are protected by an anonymity that allows them sexual and social
license, Montagu makes of Turkish women a sign of liberty and freedom in a
manner not unlike Dumont’s earlier rendering of Turkish women as a sign of
enslavement and barbarism (45).
She depicted the immoral women to the reader, and supported the image of erotic
Oriental world. In this point, her writings became parallel to the traditional image of the Orient.
She also depicted the beauty of the women in her writings. Montagu stated about the
hamam “I perceived that the ladies with finest skins and most delicate shapes had the greatest
share of my admiration” (59). She illustrated two hundred naked women and their admirable
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beauty. This picture of the hamam also supported the trope of the exotic sexuality of the
Oriental women. Her descriptions gave inspiration to artists such as; Jean-Auguste Dominique
Ingres and his painting “Turkish bath”. Ingres used the texts of Montagu about the hamam, and
reflected the masculine desires in his painting (Benjamin 1997, 15).
As another example, she described the beauty of the wife of the vizier, Fatima,
according to Montagu (1993) “I never saw anything so gloriously beautiful, nor can I recollect a
face that would have been taken notice of near hers…. Nobody would think her other than born
and bred to be queen…” (89). Her description of the beauty of the Oriental women, make her
texts parallel to the traditional image. The representation that she created is suited to the male
desires, just like erotic harem scenes that were depicted by the male writers. She stated that the
scene can be inspiring for artists “I had wickedness enough to wish secretly that Mr Gervase
could have been there invisible. I fancy it would have very much improved his art to see so
many fine women naked” (Montagu 1993, 59).
She used these exotics in order to get attention of her readers. While she depicted the
Oriental women in contrast to the traditional image she also emphasize difference between the
Oriental and the English women, and so she created division of the East and the West as well
(Montagu 1993, 40-48). This separation also could be seen in the other writers’ texts because of
the traditional representation of the East. Her letters support the sexuality and also the male
point of view towards the Oriental women. Her interpretations about the women also
contribute to in the traditional image.
Conclusion: The division of the East and the West
The observations of the East could be interpreted in various ways by different writers.
Within these various depictions, there was a common image of the East and the Oriental
women. Montagu, with interpretations which differed from the common representation, was
able to illustrate detailed observations of the Oriental women. While in innovative letters she
portrayed the independent Oriental women, she created an opposite point of view than
generally accepted Western view against the Oriental women and their life style.
Even so, while she illustrated beauties of the East as immoral and exotic as well as
stating that Oriental woman as freer than the English women, at certain points her
interpretations contributed to fantasies of the West about the East with a different perspective
than male writer's works. Her writings differed in its approach to the Oriental women, yet she
still used their exotic and mysterious representation in order to create her own version of the
fantasies. Where male fantasies about Orient women’s enslavement, Montagu fantasies about
their freedom.
Her letters also contributed to the common vision of the East from a Westerner's view.
The writers who were trying to depict the Oriental world against the traditional representation
which based on prejudice against the Orient used similar prejudice at description of the Orient
(Cırakman 2001, 64). Even though, Montagu’s letters became part of the traditional
representation of the East like other writers’ texts, they still represented the differences between
the East and the West.
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