Othello Syndrome in Turkish Folk Songs / Türkülerde Othello Sendromu

Abstract

Literature, which awakens esthetic pleasures in the human soul, has as its theme man and life, and psychology has as its theme sensation, thought, and behavior. In both fields, imagination, the importance of the subconscious, the method of association, and similar methods of investigation are used. In the studies of narratives, literature in the broadest sense benefits from psychology in terms of method, and psychology benefits from literature in terms of the effects of the works on the human mind. The main axis of our study is to evaluate folk songs, which are anonymous types of folk literature, on the basis of psychological data within the framework of this relationship. Cases that were the source of each genre in the context of the subject and theme can be accepted as human behavior and artistic reflection of this behavioral model. Since man has existed, he has established his relationship with the environment first with the basic impulses and then with the cultural achievements he has acquired. Jealousy is one of the most important factors that influence these relationships. If we approach folk songs from a thematic point of view, the tragic consequences of the impact of the events caused by pathological jealousy on the community spirit become clearly visible. For this reason, it is necessary to consider the psychological depth of the emotion that had such an impact on a genre and its effects on literary and artistic works previously written or created. Any impulse becomes art, and the phenomenon used in art becomes the name of this impulse. The terminology thus named sets in motion a cycle of analysis of subsequent creations. In this context, the impulse is reflected in Othello’s work; the theme is called a syndrome because of its similarity to real events, and becomes a source for similar situations in subsequent narratives. Since folk songs cannot be isolated from this cycle, they have become the focus of the study. In this sense, pathological jealousy in folk songs was analyzed in the context of the Othello syndrome.

Keywords

• folk song
• jealousy
• othello
• othello syndrome
• shakespeare
• complex
• public conscience