Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in My Name is Red, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Storytelling, Identity, and Perspective
Creation vs. Representation
Life, Death, and Consciousness
Virtue vs. Sin
Love, Desire, and Greed
Summary
Analysis
As the final guests leave, Shekure asks Orhan and Shevket to kiss Black’s hand. She tells them to respect Black and asks Black to be patient with them, as they are unused to having a father around. She then tells the boys that Enishte is very ill and ignores Shevket’s request to go and see him. As the boys go to bed, Hayrire begins to tell them a story about a blue man and a jinn, and Shekure scolds her for speaking of jinns tonight of all nights. After cuddling Orhan, Shekure goes into the next room and lays out the illustrations for the book before Black, and they look at them together in silence. Shekure suggests that in the morning they tell the children that Enishte died in the night. She walks into the room where Enishte’s body lies, looks at his face and feels frightened. When she returns to Black, he embraces and kisses her, and she fights him off, saying that she will not share his bed until the murderer is caught. She then goes into the children’s room and gets into bed with them. Once asleep, Shekure has “fitful” dreams and awakes covered in sweat, worried that she heard a sound.
The surreal antics continue as the family settles down for a highly unusual wedding night. It seems as if Black has not only married Shekure but the whole group of Shekure, the boys, Hayrire, and even Enishte’s dead body. Shekure’s frantic movement between the different rooms emphasizes that there is little privacy in the house; even if she and Black did decide to consummate the marriage that night, it is difficult to imagine they could do so without being interrupted. Although theoretically Black and Shekure’s plan has been executed successfully, there is a distinct sense that trouble lurks around the corner. As long as Enishte’s body is in the house, Black and Shekure are hiding a secret that jeopardizes their future together.
Themes
Shekure thinks that if this had happened before she was married she would have taken “charge of the situation like the man of the house.” Instead, she gets up cautiously and notices that the front gate is open. She then feels certain that Enishte’s soul is at that moment struggling to leave his body, and that perhaps Black’s presence in the house is upsetting him. Shekure then hears that Black is speaking with Hasan in the street, and part of her feels sympathy for Hasan, who is telling Black that the marriage is illegitimate, as Shekure’s first husband is still alive. Black explains that Shekure’s widowhood was legally certified and that Enishte—who is on his deathbed—consented to the marriage, and Hasan accuses him of poisoning Enishte. Suddenly there is a cry from inside the house; Shevket wails that Enishte is dead. Hasan tells Shekure that if she silently returns to his house immediately, he will forget about her “crimes.”
While Shekure’s husband was absent, she was afforded a level of autonomy that was highly unusual for women. Ordinarily, women in 16th-century Istanbul were legally controlled by a father, husband, brother, or son. However, because Shekure’s husband was legally considered alive yet was effectively nonexistent, she could—at least in her own home—assume the position of “man of the house.” Although this was undoubtedly a difficult position to occupy, it is also a difficult position to let go of. Now that she is married to Black, Shekure feels unsure about her role within her own home.
Themes
As Hasan continues to accuse Black of killing Enishte, Black concedes that Enishte was murdered, but suggests that it was Hasan himself who did it. Shekure refuses to go with Hasan, and Hasan states that this leaves him no choice but to go to the judge in the morning. Black counters that in that case, he will tell the judge that Hasan murdered Enishte. Shekure cries out that both of them will be tortured, and Hasan insists that he has no fear of this. He then asks Black what is depicted in the book; Black replies “nothing.” Hasan leaves, and Shekure returns to bed, after checking on Enishte once more.
This chaotic encounter highlights the fact that no one is truly innocent. While Black and Shekure were arguably in the right when they annulled Shekure’s marriage, they have clearly sinned by pretending that Enishte was still alive. Meanwhile, although Hasan claims to want Shekure to return to his house in order to honor religious law, in reality he wishes her to return so that he can marry her himself.
Themes
