Karagöz and Hacivat
Turkish shadow theatre
Karagöz (lit. 'Blackeye' in Turkish) and Hacivat (shortened in time from "Hacı İvaz" meaning "İvaz the Pilgrim", and also sometimes written as Hacivad) are the lead characters of a traditional Turkish shadow play, popularized during the Ottoman period and then spread to most nation states of the Ottoman Empire. It is most prominent in Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Adjara (autonomous republic of Georgia). In Greece, Karagöz is known by his local name Karagiozis; in Bosnia and Herzegovina, he is known by his local name Karađoz.
Overview
The central theme of the plays is the contrasting interaction between the two main characters. These are perfect foils of each other: in the Turkish version, Karagöz represents the illiterate but straightforward public, whereas Hacivat belongs to the educated class, speaking Ottoman Turkish and using a poetical and literary language. Although Karagöz is the more popular character with the Turkish peasantry, Hacivat is the one with a level head. Though Karagöz always outmatches Hacivat's superior education with his "native wit", he is also very impulsive and his never-ending deluge of get-rich-quick schemes always results in failure.
Hacivat continually attempts to "domesticate" Karagöz, without much progress. According to the Turkish dramaturge Kırlı, Hacivat emphasizes the upper body with his refined manners and aloof disposition, while Karagöz is more representational of "the lower body with eating, cursing, defecation and the phallus." Other characters in the plays are different ethnic characters living under Ottoman domain such as (in the Turkish version) Armenians, Albanians, Greeks, French, and Arabs, each with their unique, stereotypical traits.
Karagöz–Hacivat plays are especially associated with Ramadan in Turkey, whereas they are associated with the whole year in Greece.
“Karagöz and Hacivat” enters the record as turkish shadow theatre. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Karagöz, Hacivat and Turkish can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q909011. VIAF identifies the subject as 174186286. The Library of Congress control number is n82116931. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Karagöz and Hacivat” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.