Güzelliğin Laneti; Carol Ann Duffy'nin "Güzel" Adlı Şiirinin Analizi

Year 2023, Volume: 3 Issue: 6 - CUMHURİYET'İN 100. YILINA İTHAFEN, 1 - 13, 29.12.2023

Sinem Özkan

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10456353

Abstract

Carol Ann Duffy'nin "Güzel" şiiri, güzelliğin alışılmadık yönlerinin eşsiz bir incelemesini sunuyor. Şiir, canlı imgeler, imalar, mecaz ve çağrışımcı bir dil kullanarak güzelliğin karmaşıklığını ve kadının sosyal yaşamda yıkımına neden olma potansiyelini analiz eder. Dört farklı kadının -Truvalı Helen, Kleopatra, Marilyn Monroe ve Prenses Diana- dört farklı zamanda dört farklı açıdan incelenmesiyle şiir, kadınların hayatlarına getirdiği hem fiziksel hem de zihinsel yıkımı göstererek geleneksel güzellik kavramına meydan okuyor. Bu nedenle, Duffy'nin şiiri, çağlarında güzelliğin hem sembolü hem de kurbanı haline gelen, açıkça ismi verilmeyen ancak ima edilen kahramanların trajedileri etrafında döner. Duffy, ataerkil geleneklere, erkek düzenine ve kadını baştan aşağı süzen bakışlara nasıl maruz kaldığını ve dahası, kadınların sosyal düzen içinde nasıl kapana kısıldığını ve güzellikleri nedeniyle insanlık dışı muameleyle insani statülerinin onlardan nasıl gasp edildiğini gösteriyor. Duffy'nin güzelliğin karanlık tarafını sunması, kadının değerini ataerkil düzende alınıp satılabilen basit bir metaya indirger. Güzelliğin bu metalaştırılması, her yaşta kadının nesneleştirilmesine ve sömürülmesine yol açar. Duffy, şiirde farklı çağlarda farklı isimlerin kullanılmasıyla çağların değişse de sorunun aynı kaldığını kanıtlıyor. Sonuç olarak, güzelliğin ve güzel olanın takdir edilmesi artık olumlu değerini korumaz, kadının hayatını zehirleyen bir lanet haline gelir. Bu nedenle, bu makalenin amacı, Duffy'nin “Beautifull” şiirinde kadın olmanın ve güzel olarak etiketlenmenin karmaşıklığının nasıl irdelediğini analiz etmektir.

Keywords

Güzel, Truvalı Helen, Kleopatra, Marilyn Monroe, Prenses Diana

Curse Upon Beauty: Analysis of Carol Ann Duffy’s “Beautiful”

Abstract

Carol Ann Duffy’s poem “Beautiful” presents an unmatched exploration of unusual aspects of beauty. With the use of vivid imagery, allusions, metaphor, and evocative language, the poem analyses the complexities of beauty, and its latent potential to cause the destruction of women in social life. Through the exploration of four different women namely —Helen of Troy, Cleopatra, Marilyn Monroe, and Princess Diana— of four different times from four different aspects, the poem challenges the conventional notions of beauty by showing both the physical and mental devastation that it brings to women’s lives. Thus, Duffy’s poem revolves around the tragedies of the clearly unidentified but hinted protagonists that become both the symbols and victims of beauty in their ages. By being exposed to the patriarchal conventions, male order, and the gazing eye, Duffy shows how women are entrapped in the social order and how their human status is usurped from them in their inhuman treatment based on their beauty. Duffy’s presentation of the dark side of beauty reduces women’s value into a simple commodity that can be bought and sold in the patriarchal order. This commodification of beauty results in the objectification and exploitation of women in every age. Through the use of different names for different ages, Duffy proves that even though the ages change, the problem remains the same. As a consequence, the appreciation of beauty and what is beautiful no longer preserves its positive value but becomes a curse that poisons women’s life. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to analyse how Duffy delves into the complexities of being a woman and being labelled as beautiful in her poem “Beautiful”.

Keywords

Beautiful, Helen of Troy, Cleopatra, Marilyn Monroe, Princess Diana

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