AŞKI MEMNU: PSYCHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE BIHTER CHARACTER

In the series adapted from the same name by Halit Ziya Uşaklıgil, Bihter character draws our attention with both good and bad features. Although there are many differences between the book and the series, we will also refer to the parallels and contrasts between the series and the book time to time in this review. We will begin our study by examining Bihter's relationship with her mother Firdevs, which is perhaps the cause of everything, and the concept of the Electra complex, and we will also refer to contrasts between Bihter and her sister Peyker. We will move from the Electra complex to Bihter's mate selection, and then to her suicide and unconscious dynamics.

Bihter and Family

“I know this woman, the same ambition, anger, and passion. No matter how much you say that I am my father's daughter, you are my daughter, Bihter. I'm proud of you.''

Bihter is literally a character who feels anger to her mother, hates the idea of resembling her mother, and fears turning into her mother. The more Bihter loves her father, the less she loves her mother. His mother cheated on his father, and she thinks that this caused her father's death. So, her father's death is because of her mother... The character Bihter, who appears in the book, dislike resembling her mother physically, and perhaps she is jealous of her sister Peyker because she looks like her father in every way. Peyker is literally the daughter of her father, Mr. Melih, both physically and with the calmness in her behavior. When it comes to analyzing the character of Peyker in the series, parallel to the book, Peyker become different in the family in terms of her behavior and way of thinking. Even in the last chapters, Peyker decides to move abroad with her husband and child. Ms. Firdevs, on the other hand, "You're just leaving here, since you can't drop your surname, nothing will change" says. Peyker "A lot of things will change... we will be more peaceful than you can ever think." gives the answer. Peyker is right. Although she is different from the family in lots of ways, this distance, which she will create between her family, will make the boundary with her family more obvious. Because sometimes the greatest solution is distance, which really changes a lot of things. Peyker and Bihter have opposite characteristics to each other on many issues. Bihter is rebellious, while Peyker is seen more as an obedient person. Bihter opposes her mother on everything, and blames her mother for her father's death. Peyker, on the other hand, accepted her mother as she is, in fact, she does not feel any anger and blame against her. She has a happy marriage compared to Bihter and her mother. It can even be said that she managed to have the healthiest relationship among the "Melih Bey takımı kadınları (characters in the series)".

Bihter and Electra Complex

The concept of the electra complex was first introduced by the psychoanalyst Carl Jung. Although this concept is similar to Freud's Oedipus complex, Freud rejected the Electra complex. In both complexes, there is anger towards the same-sex parent, a sense of competition and envy from the other parent, and a deep love, commitment, excessive interest and indulgence towards the opposite sex parent. This condition is usually observed in the phallic stage (the phallic stage is the third stage of psychosexual development) (3-6 years) and is resolved by identifying with the same-sex parent as age progresses. Similarly, in the Electra Complex, the daughter feels an intense love for the father and envies her father from her mother, and considers the mother as a competitor.

In the same way, Bihter feels a great anger towards her mother, she puts all the problems in her parents' marriage onto her mother by idealizing her father excessively. Bihter and her mother are always in a competition, never having established a bond of complete love and compassion between them. Bihter's competition with her mother, her sense of anger, and her over-idealization of her father are characteristics of the electro-complex.

Bihter's Marriage to Adnan

In the series, parallel to the book, it is actually Ms. Firdevs who wants to marry Mr. Adnan, but Adnan proposes to Bihter. Bihter proudly says, "Adnan chose me." to her mother. Her mother deprived her father of her by causing her father's death, and she thinks that her mother stole her father. It is possible to say that Bihter, by marrying Adnan, subconsciously took revenge on her mother. Her mother took her father, and she took Adnan from her mother.

Bihter loves his father, misses him, and even unconsciously searches for her father, the father figure. It can be said that Adnan is an excellent candidate for this father figure. Even the first encounter of Bihter and Adnan is at the tomb of Bihter's father, the father figure lost by his death has been found. Adnan is a respectable person, older than Bihter, even older than his father, financially superior, and most importantly, someone who can protect Bihter. It is not a problem for Bihter that Adnan has two children, on the contrary, this situation supports Adnan to be a father figure because Adnan is already the father of someone...Bihter will become a mother by marrying Adan, and we see that Bihter is excited about this situation. Perhaps the reason of this excitement is the desire to establish that loving family she never had, to correct the family schema in her head. However, an opposite situation arises with Bihter being a mother; the fact that she will be a mother, and this also gives rise to the possibility to resemble her mother figure she first learned during her life.

Bihter may respect Adnan and find many things she is looking for unconsciously in him, but it is hard to say that Bihter is in love with Adnan. As we mentioned before, Bihter's reason for marrying Adnan is to spite her mother, and take revenge on her. Another reason may be the desire to get away from her mother. Bihter actually had a marriage of convenience, but she could not find the happiness she dreamed in this marriage. It is quite normal for her to marry Adnan because of Bihter's relationship with her mother, longing for her father, and unresolved events in her unconscious. As I mentioned earlier, Bihter is rebellious, has an opposite character, and does not hesitate to stand against the boundaries imposed by society or her mother. And yet, if we consider that Behlül, who is Adnan's nephew, is known as playboy, Bihter and Behlül is like fire and gunpowder.  Bihter cheats on Adnan with Behlül... Bihter's unconscious conflicts also begin here. She has no longer turned into the person she was afraid to be; her mother, who is the cheating woman. It is a mystery whether or not Behlül really loves Bihter. Even if he loved, he could not dare to be with Bihter because of his own internal reasons, etc., and chose to marry Adnan's daughter Nihal. Nihal, on the other hand, has things that Bihter never had and longed for; unlike Bihter, she is a "good child", she has a mother who loves her even if she loses her at a young age, she has a father, and Behlül, whom Bihter feels like the love of her life, belongs to Nihal. In this case, how can Bihter really love Nihal?

Bihter's Suicide

Adam Philips says that“A neurotic person chases something by running away, and always arrives where it runs away." Bihter has also avoided being like her mother all her life, and has become more and more like her mother. In the last quarter of the series, we often hear the phrase Firdevs' girl Bihter, and even Bihter began to realize the truth by saying “I am Firdevs' daughter.” She noticed, but it is not certain whether she accepted the situation or not, or is her self-definition in conflict because she turns into someone that she fears to be unconscious?

Her mother in the first episodes of the series, "Whatever you say, I'm thinking of you. If I growl from now on, I will not hesitate to commit suicide. I will die, I will not make Melih Bey takımı (characters in the series) growl '' says. These sentences, which are said by her mother, are an ironic parallel to Bihter's suicide at the end of the series. Most of you who read this article will remember that suicide scene.Bihter cannot accept the marriage of Behlül and Nihal, Adnan has learned that Bihter cheated on him, and Bihter has become the daughter of Firdevs, not her father.

Suicide can have many causes, including inner conflict, loneliness, despair, and a sense of helplessness. Freud defines depression as ''introverted anger'' in his book “Yas ve Melankoli”. The reason for suicide is this anger against himself/herself. The object of anger is actually an external cause, a loss, but this anger has unconsciously turned into oneself. While there is a real loss in mourning, this loss is the loss of a real or imaginary object of love in melancholy. Freud also mentions suicide in the context of his famous structural model as “the sacrifice of the self by a sadistic superego.” It can also be interpreted as the ego's desire to take revenge on the superego, or to be forgiven. Bihter has also become a person she does not want to be because of her superego. In such a situation, both the self may want to be forgiven for turning into what is forbidden, and the superego may want to punish the self.

Melanie Klein, on the other hand, emphasizes that suicide targets the bad object in the person, and wants to protect the good object in this way. The bad object is the one which is intended to be killed by the suicide. In this context, Bihter's suicide may be directed at killing her mother, her sides resembling her mother, and the woman who cheated and loved Behlül.

As it is seen, the character of Bihter is beautifully done, and the origin of her behavior can be seen, obviously. Although we get to know different versions of her with books, series and movies, the Bihter character has managed to attract our attention in every version.