Orientalism in the

Turkish Embassy Letters

by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
Grbe Dvid JA-EN

Lady Mary Wortley was born in the year of 1689 being the daughter of
Evelyn Pierrepoint and Lady Mary Fielding.
In 1716 she marries Edward Wortley who is appointed British
Ambassador of the Sublime Porte ,an event which allows her to travel
to along with her husband to Turkey ,which ultimately leads to the
writing of the Turkish Embassy Letters ,a journal in which she
describes her experiences on the way there but more importantly the
experiences she has at the turkish towns, but due to her daughter
burning her journal she had to rewrite the experiences using only her
memories ,the letters being published post-mortem.
Another important thing about Lady Mary was that , she was a feminist
criticizing social attitudes towards women ,who had been the lower
class , having less privileges ,and also lacking the possibility of higher
learning : God and Nature has thrown us into an Inferior Rank. We are
a lower part of the Creation; we owe Obedience and Submission to the
Superior Sex; and any Woman who suffers her Vanity and folly to deny
this, Rebells against the Law of the Creator, and the indisputable Order
of Nature.
She is taken aback by the experiences in Turkey , because it is not
exactly how it is described in the written texts of western
imperialism ,she being the first to view and write down this culture
shock from a womans perspective showing a whole different side of it ,
the opposite of what the writers before her had shown. Montagu
constantly referred to the writings of previous travel writers, by saying
that the Turks did not lack in courtesy and manners so much as the
English had been made to think.
1

Unlike many other English travellers, she participated in local events

and was tolerant of local customs. Therefore, the memories of her stay
in Edirne and stanbul, in other words:
at the gateway to Asia, filled with people of every race and religion,
its markets laden with goods from the exotic, unknown East, were to
remain with Lady Mary for the rest of her life.
She is more than astonished by what she experiences there , she finds
the culture , the language , the habits , and the whole method of how
people are treated fascinating , she does not just take part in it by
being an observer , she actively tries to take part in it by learning their
language ,wearing their clothes ,getting to know their culture , and
constantly exchanging ideas with the people of the orient.
I ramble every day, wrapd up in my ferige and asmak, about
Constantinople and amuse myself with seeing all that curious in it. I am
pretty far gone in Oriental Learning, and to say truth I study very
hard.
She does not think of her own country or the whole westernism to be
superior to the orient, but in fact she sort of has the fantasy of
levantization trying to get closer to the orient but at the same time
drifting away from her beloved English.
She is constantly trying to get rid of the barriers and get closer to the
people of the east seeing this not just objectively as she had done by
reading the texts about it , but rather empirically , to see the other side
how it really ,is beyond the stereotypization.
Lady Mary Wortley is gradually more-and-more interested in the
orient , that after a certain point she even confesses that she is so
much involved with it , so fond of it that she fears her native language
fading away , the so-called linguistic alienation taking place :
I am allmost falln into the misfortune so common to the Ambitious:
while they are employ'd on distant, insignificant Conquests abroad, a
Rebellion starts up at home. I am in great danger of loseing my
English
As I prefer English to all the rest, I am extremely mortify'd at the
daily decay of it in my head, where I'll assure you (with greife of heart)
it is reduce'd to such a small number of Words.
2

Lady Mary presents the women of the orient in a positive-likeable way

so that the reader can somehow relate to them ,though she shows
both their negative and positive aspects , she encourages identification
with the women there.
Lady Mary takes on masculine role ,something which she could not
have done in her country because of the segregation of the sexes,
meaning that in her country the men were superior to the women
,women having less privileges and authority ,but at the orient she
experiences something thats close to equality, for instance the scene
of the bathhouse. The bathhouse was a place where Lady Mary saw
something stunning ,and that were the women there ,who have had
different social statuses, ranks being at the same place ,but more
importantly being equal to each other ,a place where nobody was more
important than the other one. Once inside she describes the women
there being eager to make her undress to show that she is not
anymore bound to the rules of a patriarchal society :
The Lady that seem'd the most considerable amongst them entreated
me to sit by her and would fain have undress'd me for the bath. I
excus'd my selfe with some difficulty, they being all so earnest in
persuading me. I was at last forc'd to open my skirt and shew them my
stays, which satisfy'd 'em very well, for I saw they beleiv'd I was so
lock'd up in that machine that it was not in my own power to open it,
which contrivance they attributed to my Husband.
without any distinction of rank by their dress, all being in the state
of nature, that is, in plain English, stark naked, without any Beauty or
defect conceal'd.

The bathhouse was not just a place of hygienic purposes but it was
also the place where people would go to do medical , practices, the
bathhouse was also the place where she had learned about
inoculation in which a person is injected with something very similar
to the smallpox, which Lady Mary had already gone through in her
years, but this dose was only half as dangerous , with the intention of
keeping the real smallpox away which was very deadly ,the inoculation
being very effective and famous in Turkey. Lady Mary had later brought
this technique back to her country , saying that its a very effective
method with a low risk , to keep the smallpox away, for which she was
3

later praised. The bathhouse was the opposite of the englishmens

coffee house, a place where only men could enter , whereas in the
bathhouse everyone is treated equal ,she describes it as a place where
women have a larger sense of freedom.
As to their [Turkish women's] Morality or good Conduct, I can say like
Arlequin, 'tis just as 'tis with you, and the Turkish Ladies don't commit
one Sin the less for not being Christians. Now I am a little acquainted
with their ways, I cannot forbear admiring either the exemplary
discretion or extreme Stupidity of all the writers that have given
accounts of 'em. 'Tis very easy to see they have more Liberty than we
have.
Adeiu, Madam. I am sure I have not entertained you with an account
of such a sight as you never saw in your life and what no book of
travels could inform you of. Tis no less than for a Man to be found in
one of these places.
Upon the Whole, I look upon the Turkish Women as the only free
people in the Empire.
When she arrives back home to England she talks about the true
aspects of the other countries , comparing them England:
And, after having seen part of Asia and Africa, and almost made the
tour of Europe, I think the honest English Squire more happy who verily
believes the Greek wines less delicious than March beer, that the
African fruits have not so fine a flavour as golden Pipins, and the
Becfiguas of Italy are not so well tasted as a rump of Beef, and that,
in short, there is no perfect Enjoyment of this Life out of Old England. I
pray God I may think so for the rest of my Life; and since I must be
contented with our scanty allowance of Daylight, that I may forget the
enlivening Sun of Constantinople.
The true meaning of that quote ,I believe is that the Englishmen are
very stubborn and arrogant believing they are superior to the others
,without actually checking or tasting the other side of things ,like
Lady Mary ,who after a long journey to the east finds them and their
ways a lot more interesting.
Lady Mary feels that she had gained a lot from this experience , and
she feels that she has changed , because she experienced it first-hand:
"You will imagine me half a Turk.
4

Getting the chance to see harems, mosques and baths, and making
Turkish acquaintances, she enjoyed the experience of being in a
foreign land, in one of her letters she says:
this country is certainly one of the finest in the world; hitherto all I
see is so new to me, it is like a fresh scene of an opera everyday.
In conclusion Id say that Lady Marys trip to Turkey was really
important because the information she had written down about the
habits , culture ,and everything related was true and not just biased.
Even nowadays we are prone to having prejudices about other
countries or cultures , what we should do is do more research about it
or verify the information empirically.