- Bitig Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi
- Cilt: 3 Sayı: 6 - CUMHURÄ°YET'Ä°N 100. YILINA Ä°THAFEN
- Curse Upon Beauty: Analysis of Carol Ann Duffy’s "Beautiful"
Curse Upon Beauty: Analysis of Carol Ann Duffy’s "Beautiful"
Authors : Sinem Özkan
Pages : 1-13
Doi:10.5281/zenodo.10456353
View : 146 | Download : 84
Publication Date : 2023-12-29
Article Type : Research
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 : Güzel, Truvalı Helen, Kleopatra, Marilyn Monroe, Prenses Diana