Section 1: The Turkish Politie
Rycaut uses engravings in his book to give his audience a clear picture of the Ottomans. For British citizens unfamiliar with Ottoman style and culture, these pictures afforded them the ability to put Rycaut’s written observations to detailed pictures. In the engraving of the Prime Vizier and the four different positions in government, Rycaut enables his well-educated readers to draw distinctions between members of the Turkish court in both job and style. This section of the “Turkish Politie” also includes Rycaut’s account of the Turkish culture. Rycaut examines family life under the Ottomans, and describes gender roles. Again, in his engraving of the fashion of Turkish women, Rycaut gives his readers an image to enhance his description of Turkish familial life.
While Rycaut's engravings of the Ottomans do not accentuate their ‘backwardness’ or ‘otherness,’ Rycaut still critiques the Ottoman government. Rycaut’s purely observational accounts are tinged with moments of British superiority. He calls the Ottoman government ‘violent’ and says that ‘cruelty is natural to it’ (2-3). This major contradiction, writing objectively yet condemning the Ottomans, is present throughout all three sections of Rycaut’s book.