An exploration of love in Azerbaijani Folklore Saray abd Shakespeare’s Hamlet Based on the comparative studies of the American school

Abstract

Purpose- This research aims to study the similarities and differences in Azerbaijani and European perspectives on themes of love, the role of the beloved, and how they view love and concepts related to it. It does so by comparing the character of Saray in Azerbaijani folklore and Ophelia in Shakespeare’s Hamlet based on the American School of Comparative Literature and yet the benefit of this kind of literary research is to describe and understand and understand literary works as well as possible.



Methodology- The present research follows a descriptive-analytical method, with qualitative data analysis. First, the Saray legend was studied using library resources, and the most well-known and popular version was extracted from various sources. Then, Hamlet was analyzed from the perspective of the love between Hamlet and Ophelia. To conduct a comparative analysis of Saray and Ophelia, and their respective loves, information was gathered in line with the American School of Comparative Literature. With this approach, the study aims to describe, analyze, compare, and draw conclusions to reach the stated objectives.



Findings- This research reveals both the differences and similarities between Azerbaijani and European cultures in past centuries regarding concepts such as the status of women, honesty, fidelity in love, and the issue of suicide. In Azerbaijani tribal culture, women are independent and influential, while in the European aristocratic culture portrayed in Hamlet, women are depicted as submissive and vulnerable to influence.This freedom of women can be considered one of the ways to distinguish the culture of Azerbaijan from the elite culture and the properties of the fifteenth century Europe, which the play Hamlet says is open. In Azerbaijani tribal culture, honesty, especially in the context of love, is ingrained, whereas in European courtly culture, deceit in love to fulfill sexual desires seems more probable. It can be an example of the freedom of emotional relationships from the boundaries of commitment in European culture at the time, especially among the noble class. From this point of view, this difference may be considered the most important difference in the two cultures examined by Azerbaijani and European at the time and place discussed. Moreover, loyalty in love is understood as an ethical virtue by women in both cultures. Suicide, when motivated by love preservation as seen in Saray’s story, is admired in Azerbaijani tribal culture, while in Hamlet, the nature of suicide conflicts with the moral values of the European society at that time. In this sense, Ophelia's suicide is a source of regret, sorrow, and misconduct in 15th-century European culture.



Conclusion- Ultimately, this comparative study highlights the similarities and differences between Azerbaijani and European cultures of past centuries concerning their attitudes toward love, the role of women, honesty and loyalty in love, and the act of suicide. It shows that love, although a global experience, has its meanings and manifestations in different cultural platforms, different and unique.