The Oriental Woman and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's The Turkish Embassy Letters (1764) Abdulhafeth Ali Khrisat Department of English and Translation, Faculty of Sciences and Arts/Khulais King Abdulaziz University P.O. Box 80200 Jeddah 21589 Saudi Arabia Telephone: + 966-545-827 965 E-mail: drkhrisat@gmail.com Abstract: Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's The Turkish Embassy Letters (1764) is one of the significant works that has portrayed the Orient. Montagu attempts to present the Oriental man as hypocrite and ignorant. Moreover, the Oriental man is inhuman and has no sympathy since he is a holder of slaves. This paper aims to study how Montagu portrayed the Orient and the Oriental woman, in particular, differently from other Orientalists. Her portrayal of the Orient can be studied by an examination of her letters. No one can deny her acknowledgement that the Oriental women have more liberty than their English counterparts besides managing of their own financial affairs. However, Montagu contributes to the Oriental stereotypical image of pleasure, sexuality and lust. Although critics think that Montagu is a feminist, it seems that she is neither a voice for feminism nor a hero for feminists. Key Words: Lady Mary Montagu, Oriental Woman, Turkish Embassy Letters, English Literature, Eighteenth Century. 1. Montagu and Writing The Turkish Embassy Letters, composed by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu during her accompaniment of her husband on his mission as ambassador to Turkey, hasn't been published until 1764, about one year after her death although she wrote them during her journey and stay in Turkey in 1716-1718. Montagu believes that writing for publication is beneath her. Telling Lady Bute, her daughter, in a letter on 1 Oct. 1752: "I hope you have not so ill opinion of me to think I am turning author in my old age" (Letters, I: 19). Montagu says that writing for money is considered "one of the most distinguishing prerogatives of mankind since it turns into a trade and demean it" (Life, 255). As a member of the aristocracy and as a woman, Halsband (1965) says, Montagu detains herself from writing. Montague claims that the main objective in writing her letters is that "nothing seems to me so agreeable as truth" (Letters, I: 34). Oldfield (2011) remarks that it is Montagu's varied and fascinating life that makes her write the letters. Carey (1997) points out that English writers consistently stress "the potential interchangeability of self and other rather than the racial opposition between the two" (34). Taking her as an example, Montagu