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ORTA ÇAĞ’A YEŞİL BAKMAK: SİR GAWAİN VE YEŞİL ŞÖVALYE’YE EKOELEŞTİREL BİR YAKLAŞIM

Year 2021, Volume: 7 Issue: 27, 363 - 377, 25.06.2021

Abstract

Bu çalışmada, bir Orta Çağ romansı olarak yazılan Sir Gawain ve Yeşil Şövalye şiirindeki insan-doğa mücadelesi ekoeleştirel bir yaklaşımla irdelenmektedir. Sir Gawain ve Yeşil Şövalye’de, insan ve doğa ikilemini Yeşil Şövalyenin Pagan inanıştan gelen ve Kelt mitolojisinde de kutsallaştırılan doğanın insanla bütünleşmesini ve insanın doğanın bir parçası olması olgusunu yansıtmasıyla, Hristiyan erdemlerini kendisinde barındıran bir şövalye olarak Sir Gawain’in de Kutsal Kitap İncil’de belirtildiği gibi insanın doğaya olan efendiliği, tahakkümü ve üstünlüğünün bir çatışması şeklinde görmekteyiz. Bu açıdan bakıldığında, şiirde insan/insan ol-mayan varlıklar, medeniyet/yaban hayatı ve kültür/doğa ikili karşıtlıklarını şiirde Sir Gawain/Yeşil Şövalye çatışmasında görmekteyiz. Ayrıca, Sir Gawain ve Yeşil Şö-valye şiirinde mekânsal anlamda da medeniyet/yaban hayat ve kültür/doğa ikili karşıtlıklarının çatışmasını ve birbirlerine olan üstünlük kurma çabalarını görmek-teyiz. Mekânsal bakış açısıyla bakıldığında ise, Kral Arthur’un efsanevi sarayı olan Camelot medeniyeti, kültürü ve insanın merkezde olduğu bir mekânı, diğer taraftan Bertilak’ın Wirral yaban Ormanlarının derinliklerinde kurulmuş olan “Hautdesert” isimli kalesi ve Yeşil Kilise de yaban hayatı ve doğanın insan eliyle bozulmamış bir mekânını temsil etmektedir. Böylelikle, Camelot insan merkezli bir hayatı, Hautdesert (Bertilak’ın Kalesi) ve Yeşil Kilise de ekoloji merkezli yabanıl bir hayatı sembolik olarak vermektedir. Ekoeleştirel bir yaklaşımla irdelenecek olursa, Sir Gawain doğayı ötekileştiren ve tahakküm altına almaya çalışan insanmerkezci bir ideolojiyi temsil ederken, Yeşil Şövalye de insanın doğayı tahrip etmesi ve me-denileştirmeye çalışmasına meydan okuyan ve insanı doğanın bütüncül bir parçası olarak görerek doğaya dengeli ve sürdürülebilir bir yaklaşım sergileyen eko-merkezci ve organik bir dünya görüşünü temsil etmektedir.

References

  • Alaimo, S. (2010). Bodily Natures: Science, Environment, and The Material Self. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
  • Anonim. (2017). Sir Gawain ve Yeşil Şövalye (Çev.: N. Ağıl). İstanbul: YKY
  • Attfield, R. (1983). The Ethics of Environmental Concern. New York: Columbia University Press.
  • Benson, L. D. (1965). Art and Tradition in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
  • Boersema, J. J. (2002). Why is Francis of Assisi the Patron Saint of Ecologists? Science and Christian Belief, 14(1), pp. 51-77.
  • Capra, F. (1995). Deep Ecology: A New Paradigm. G. Sessions (Ed.), Deep Ecology for The Twenty-First Century (19-25). Boston: Shambala.
  • Cohen, M. (2004). Blues in The Green: Ecocriticism under Critique. Environmental History, 9(1), pp. 9-36.
  • Dindar, G. (2012). Derin Ekoloji Hareketi ve Ekoeleştri: Bir Garip Şair Orhan Veli. S. Oppermann (Ed.), Ekoeleştiri: Çevre ve edebiyat (59-92). Ankara: Phoenix.
  • Garrard, G. (2012). Ecocriticism. London: Routledge.
  • Goldhurst, W. (1958). The Green and the Gold: The Major Theme of Gawain and the Green Knight. College English, 20, pp. 61-65
  • Glotfelty, C. (2003). A Guided Tour of Ecocriticism with Excursions to Catherland. Cather Studies, 5, pp. 8-43.
  • -----------. (1996). Introduction: Literary Studies in The Age of Environmental Crisis. C. Glotfelty and H. Fromm (Eds.). The Ecocrititism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology. (xv-xxxvii). At-hens: Georgia University Press.
  • Iovino, S. (2010). Ecocriticism and a Non-Anthropocentric Humanism. Reflections on Local Na-tures and Global Responsibilities. L. Volkmann, N. Grimm, I. Detres, and L. Thomson (Eds.) Local Natures, Global Responsibilities: Ecocritical Perspectives on The New English Literatures. (29-53). Ansterdam: Rodopi.
  • Logan, W. B. (2005). Oak: The Frame of Civilization. London: W.W. Norton.
  • MacCormack, P. (2009). Queer Posthumanism: Cyborgs, Animals, Monsters, Perverts. N. Giffney and M. O’Rouke (Eds.) The Ashgate Research Companion to Queer Theory. Burlington: Ashgate.
  • Meeker, J. (1997). The Comedy of Survival: Literary Ecology and a Play Ethic. Arizona: Tucson.
  • Miah. A. (2008). A Critical History of Posthumanism. B. Gordjin and R. Chadwick (Eds.) Medical Enhancement and Posthumanity. London: Springer.
  • MonCrief, L.W. (1970). The Cultural Basis of Our Environmental Crisis. Science, 170, pp. 508-12.
  • Naess, A. (1995). The Deep Ecological Movement: Some Philosophical Aspects. G. Sessions (Ed.), Deep Ecology for the Twenty-First Century (64-84). Boston: Shambala.
  • -----------. (2005). Culture and Environment. The Trumpeter, 21(1), pp. 53-57
  • -----------. (1995). Self-Realization: An Ecological Approach to Being in the World. G. Sessions (Ed.), Deep Ecology for the Twenty-First Century (225-239). Boston: Shambala.
  • Oppermann, S. (2012). Ekoeleştiri: Çevre ve Edebiyat Çalışmalarının Dünü ve Bugünü. S. Op-permann (Ed.), Ekoeleştiri: Çevre ve edebiyat (9-57). Ankara: Phoenix.
  • Patterson, L. (2001). Brother Fire and St.. Francis's Drawers: Human Nature and the Natural World. Medieval Perspectives, 16, pp. 1-18.
  • Sarıkaya, D. (2012). Gılgamış Destanı’na Ekoeleştirel Bir Bakış. S. Oppermann (Ed.), Ekoeleştiri: Çevre ve edebiyat (93-128). Ankara: Phoenix.
  • Schmidt, A.V.C. (1987). ‘Latent Content’ and ‘the Testimony in the Text’: Symbolic Meaning in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The Review of English Studies, 38, pp. 145- 148.
  • Speirs, J. (1957). Medieval English Poetry: The non-Chaucarian Tradition. London: Faber and Faber.
  • White, L. (1967). The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis. Science, 155, pp. 1203-1207.
  • Woods, W. (2002). Nature and the Inner Man in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Chaucer Review, 36, pp. 209-227.

GREENING THE MIDDLE AGES: AN ECO-CRITICAL APPROACH TO SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT

Year 2021, Volume: 7 Issue: 27, 363 - 377, 25.06.2021

Abstract

Written as a medieval romance, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight depicts the struggle between man and nature. In this respect, in the poem, man and nature are reflected as binary oppositions and dualism, challenging and conflicting with one another, circulating with the discourses of power. The dichotomy of man and nature is achieved by two major characters, Sir Gawain, who represents anthropocentric ideology, objectifying and dominating nature, seeing it as the other, and the Green Knight, who adopts an eco-centric, posthumanist, and organic ideology, challenging man’s destroying and civilizing wild life and nature. However, considered more as nature anthromorphized through Bertilak/the Green transformation by the help of Morgan Le Fay, the Green Knight exemplifies the integration of man and nature. In other words, Bertilak/Green Knight deconstructs and subverts human/non-human, man/nature and culture/nature dualisms of the anthropocene view of the Judea-Christian world, adopting a more sustainable and ecological approach to nature. On the other hand, the civilization/wild life dichotomy is achieved also in the presentation of conflicting and dualistic geographical spaces, between Camelot and Hautdesert. Camelot represents human civilization, war, luxury, extravagancy, and civilized nature, while Hautdesert represents wild life, peace, and minimal economical use of natural sources. Thus, this study re-reads and examines Sir Gawain and the Green Knight from an ecocritical perspective, stressing the dichotomies of "man/nature" and "civilization/nature", in which nature conquers civilization.

References

  • Alaimo, S. (2010). Bodily Natures: Science, Environment, and The Material Self. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
  • Anonim. (2017). Sir Gawain ve Yeşil Şövalye (Çev.: N. Ağıl). İstanbul: YKY
  • Attfield, R. (1983). The Ethics of Environmental Concern. New York: Columbia University Press.
  • Benson, L. D. (1965). Art and Tradition in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
  • Boersema, J. J. (2002). Why is Francis of Assisi the Patron Saint of Ecologists? Science and Christian Belief, 14(1), pp. 51-77.
  • Capra, F. (1995). Deep Ecology: A New Paradigm. G. Sessions (Ed.), Deep Ecology for The Twenty-First Century (19-25). Boston: Shambala.
  • Cohen, M. (2004). Blues in The Green: Ecocriticism under Critique. Environmental History, 9(1), pp. 9-36.
  • Dindar, G. (2012). Derin Ekoloji Hareketi ve Ekoeleştri: Bir Garip Şair Orhan Veli. S. Oppermann (Ed.), Ekoeleştiri: Çevre ve edebiyat (59-92). Ankara: Phoenix.
  • Garrard, G. (2012). Ecocriticism. London: Routledge.
  • Goldhurst, W. (1958). The Green and the Gold: The Major Theme of Gawain and the Green Knight. College English, 20, pp. 61-65
  • Glotfelty, C. (2003). A Guided Tour of Ecocriticism with Excursions to Catherland. Cather Studies, 5, pp. 8-43.
  • -----------. (1996). Introduction: Literary Studies in The Age of Environmental Crisis. C. Glotfelty and H. Fromm (Eds.). The Ecocrititism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology. (xv-xxxvii). At-hens: Georgia University Press.
  • Iovino, S. (2010). Ecocriticism and a Non-Anthropocentric Humanism. Reflections on Local Na-tures and Global Responsibilities. L. Volkmann, N. Grimm, I. Detres, and L. Thomson (Eds.) Local Natures, Global Responsibilities: Ecocritical Perspectives on The New English Literatures. (29-53). Ansterdam: Rodopi.
  • Logan, W. B. (2005). Oak: The Frame of Civilization. London: W.W. Norton.
  • MacCormack, P. (2009). Queer Posthumanism: Cyborgs, Animals, Monsters, Perverts. N. Giffney and M. O’Rouke (Eds.) The Ashgate Research Companion to Queer Theory. Burlington: Ashgate.
  • Meeker, J. (1997). The Comedy of Survival: Literary Ecology and a Play Ethic. Arizona: Tucson.
  • Miah. A. (2008). A Critical History of Posthumanism. B. Gordjin and R. Chadwick (Eds.) Medical Enhancement and Posthumanity. London: Springer.
  • MonCrief, L.W. (1970). The Cultural Basis of Our Environmental Crisis. Science, 170, pp. 508-12.
  • Naess, A. (1995). The Deep Ecological Movement: Some Philosophical Aspects. G. Sessions (Ed.), Deep Ecology for the Twenty-First Century (64-84). Boston: Shambala.
  • -----------. (2005). Culture and Environment. The Trumpeter, 21(1), pp. 53-57
  • -----------. (1995). Self-Realization: An Ecological Approach to Being in the World. G. Sessions (Ed.), Deep Ecology for the Twenty-First Century (225-239). Boston: Shambala.
  • Oppermann, S. (2012). Ekoeleştiri: Çevre ve Edebiyat Çalışmalarının Dünü ve Bugünü. S. Op-permann (Ed.), Ekoeleştiri: Çevre ve edebiyat (9-57). Ankara: Phoenix.
  • Patterson, L. (2001). Brother Fire and St.. Francis's Drawers: Human Nature and the Natural World. Medieval Perspectives, 16, pp. 1-18.
  • Sarıkaya, D. (2012). Gılgamış Destanı’na Ekoeleştirel Bir Bakış. S. Oppermann (Ed.), Ekoeleştiri: Çevre ve edebiyat (93-128). Ankara: Phoenix.
  • Schmidt, A.V.C. (1987). ‘Latent Content’ and ‘the Testimony in the Text’: Symbolic Meaning in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The Review of English Studies, 38, pp. 145- 148.
  • Speirs, J. (1957). Medieval English Poetry: The non-Chaucarian Tradition. London: Faber and Faber.
  • White, L. (1967). The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis. Science, 155, pp. 1203-1207.
  • Woods, W. (2002). Nature and the Inner Man in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Chaucer Review, 36, pp. 209-227.
There are 28 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language Turkish
Journal Section Research Articles
Authors

Volkan Kılıç

Publication Date June 25, 2021
Published in Issue Year 2021 Volume: 7 Issue: 27

Cite

APA Kılıç, V. (2021). ORTA ÇAĞ’A YEŞİL BAKMAK: SİR GAWAİN VE YEŞİL ŞÖVALYE’YE EKOELEŞTİREL BİR YAKLAŞIM. Kesit Akademi Dergisi, 7(27), 363-377.