I write this a personal note to myself and the handful of readers of my blog can give this one a miss as it is irrelevant to you.
Is it Olive, Butterfly or Stork. Although I would describe the characterization of the three suspects by Pamuk as scanty and insufficient, there is sufficient detail in the middle chapters to give a hint as to who the murderer of Elegant Effendi. I will now try to hazard a guess as to who the culprit is at this stage of the story and come to see if my logic worked well enough.
We know for sure that Elegant was a mediocre guilder who nevertheless believed in the Master's sense of art and was against the Frankish influences that seemed to be corrupting Enishte's work slowly and steadily.
Lets consider Olive first. This miniaturist's striking characteristic that differentiates from Butterfly and Stork is that he illustrates solely for his self satisfaction and for the sake of art. He is also the only one of the trio who has an independent thinking and is not bound to the dictates of the masters of old.
Butterfly has a lust for lucre like none others and wants to succeed Master Osman as the Head Illuminator. So these two sins are sure to spell doom for his character. He believes the old masters truly and also believes that he is truly gifted like the masters of old or the next Bihzad.
Is it Olive, Butterfly or Stork. Although I would describe the characterization of the three suspects by Pamuk as scanty and insufficient, there is sufficient detail in the middle chapters to give a hint as to who the murderer of Elegant Effendi. I will now try to hazard a guess as to who the culprit is at this stage of the story and come to see if my logic worked well enough.
We know for sure that Elegant was a mediocre guilder who nevertheless believed in the Master's sense of art and was against the Frankish influences that seemed to be corrupting Enishte's work slowly and steadily.
Lets consider Olive first. This miniaturist's striking characteristic that differentiates from Butterfly and Stork is that he illustrates solely for his self satisfaction and for the sake of art. He is also the only one of the trio who has an independent thinking and is not bound to the dictates of the masters of old.
Butterfly has a lust for lucre like none others and wants to succeed Master Osman as the Head Illuminator. So these two sins are sure to spell doom for his character. He believes the old masters truly and also believes that he is truly gifted like the masters of old or the next Bihzad.
Finally, there's Stork. Again like Butterfly, he lusts for money and has hardly any scruples. This is further proven by the fact that he bribes the page boy and copies a picture of a horse from a painting that he had hidden. He is not content at knowing that he is the best miniaturist. He wants The Sultan to acknowledge this fact too and is ready to go any lengths to achieve this.
Hint 1: There is no actual money at the site of the Elegant's death which proves that miniaturist who drew the horse didn't possibly do it for the money.
Hint 2: The one who drew the horse for Enishte is in all likelihood Elegant's killer. So all we need to find out is who drew the horse.
Hint 3: The horse bears its own style which is a violation of the masters of great.
Hint 4: Before Enishte was killed, the murderer had a burning desire to see the final painting. Only a miniaturist interested in the art itself would be burning to see the last painting.
Hint 5: The murderer regrets having killed Elegant.
Hint 1: There is no actual money at the site of the Elegant's death which proves that miniaturist who drew the horse didn't possibly do it for the money.
Hint 2: The one who drew the horse for Enishte is in all likelihood Elegant's killer. So all we need to find out is who drew the horse.
Hint 3: The horse bears its own style which is a violation of the masters of great.
Hint 4: Before Enishte was killed, the murderer had a burning desire to see the final painting. Only a miniaturist interested in the art itself would be burning to see the last painting.
Hint 5: The murderer regrets having killed Elegant.
Given the three hints, Butterfly is eliminated as Butterfly is believer of the masters and there is no money factor here either. And killing Elegant will in no way bring him closer to his goal of overthrowing Master Osman as Head Illuminator.
Stork is a strong contender. His only desire was to be known as the best. But was that a strong enough reason to kill Elegant? I think not. Also Stork's character has me believe that he would repent having killed Elegant if he did indeed do it but we know that the murderer repents having killed Elegant.
So my logical conclusion is that the killer is Olive. If Olive was convinced that he was doing the greatest horse of all times and this involves drawing a real horse like the Frankish masters, he probably would not let Elegant get in the way of true art. And he is likely to repent for killing Elegant for he has the clearest conscience among the trio.
Therefore, my money is on Olive. So lets see if my prediction turns out to be true. Then I can claim that I have truly understood the characterization.
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