The Grotesque Atrides in Martin McDonagh’s The Beauty Queen of Leenane

Abstract

The first staging of Martin McDonagh’s play The Beauty Queen of Leenane received extreme praise and box-office success, but this accomplishment was overshadowed by some contradictory comments regarding the playwright’s attitude towards Irish identity and culture. This study aims to argue that the Irish-born dramatist engages with the grotesque conventions while depicting the image of native land, culture, and societal norms. In order to achieve this, our study reveals the ways in which McDonagh’s play interacts with the myth of Atrides, Wolfgang Kayser’s notion of grotesque, Mikhail Bakhtin’s concepts of carnivalesque and grotesque, as well as Julia Kristeva’s state of abject, which are used by the playwright to expose the societal anxieties related to the issues of identity, motherhood, emigration, and rootedness. Eventually, in the collision between mythical matrix and the grotesque depictions, McDonagh raises the spectators’ awareness of the necessity of some individual and societal reforms.

Keywords

• Atrides myth
• grotesque
• carnivalesque
• abject
• McDonagh

Martin McDonagh’ın Leenane’nin Güzellik Kraliçesi Eserinde Grotesk Atrideler

Öz

Martin McDonagh’ın Leenane’nin Güzellik Kraliçesi oyununun ilk sahnelenmesi büyük övgü ve gişe başarısı elde etti, ancak bu başarı, oyun yazarının İrlanda kimliği ve kültürüne yönelik tutumuna ilişkin bazı yorumlarla gölgelendi. Bu çalışma, İrlanda doğumlu oyun yazarının ana vatan, kültür ve toplumsal normların imajını betimlerken grotesk geleneklerle meşgul olduğunu savunmayı amaçlamaktadır. Bunu başarmak için çalışmamız, McDonagh’ın oyununun kimlik, annelik, göç, ait olma ve köklülük meseleleriyle ilgili toplumsal kaygılarını incelemek için Atrides miti, Wolfgang Kayser’in grotesk kavramı, Mikhail Bakhtin’in karnavalesk ve grotesk kavramları ve Julia Kristeva’nın iğrençlik hali ile etkileşim kurma biçimlerini ortaya koymaktadır. Çalışmanın sonucunda, mitsel matris ve grotesk tasvirler incelendiğinde, McDonagh’ın seyircilerde bazı bireysel ve toplumsal reformların gerekliliği konusundaki farkındalığını artırdığı gözlemleniyor.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• McDonagh
• Atrides miti
• grotesk
• karnavalesk
• iğrenç

Kaynakça

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