An Island of One’s Own: Home and Self-Fulfilment in Madeline Miller’s Circe

Year 2024, , 527 - 541, 26.04.2024

Pelin Kut Belenli

https://doi.org/10.21547/jss.1345559

Abstract

Kirke, Yunan mitolojisinin ikincil tanrıçalarından biri olarak efsunculuktaki engin bilgisiyle tanınır. Homer’ın klasik şaheseri Odysseia Destanı’ndan John William Waterhouse’ın tablosu Kıskanç Kirke’ye (1892), edebiyatta, resimde, müzikte ve popüler kültürde tasvirleri ve temsilleri çok sayıdadır. Yakın zamanda Kirke, çağdaş Amerikan roman yazarı Madeline Miller tarafından modern bir dokunuş ile yeniden yaratılmıştır. Miller’ın romanı Ben, Kirke’de (2018/2019), Kirke kendi hikâyesini başkahraman olarak birinci ağızdan anlatır. Roman, başkahramanın ruhsal gelişimine ve kendini gerçekleştirmesine odaklanır. Miller tarafından ilk bölümlerde aile evinde yeniden hayal edilen Kirke, masum ancak ihmal edilmiş, daima garip, bir kenara itilmiş, hor görülmüş ve ebeveynleri, kardeşleri ve akrabaları tarafından dışlanmış olarak tasvir edilir. Miller Kirke’yi öncelikle babasına ait büyük salonlarda, başarısız, kusurlu, eksik biri olduğuna ve ne bir nimfa ne de bir tanrıça olduğuna inandırılmış olarak resmeder. Ne var ki cadılık güçleri baş göstermeye başladıkça bazı eylemleriyle hayatındaki pederşahilerin dikkatlerini çekmeye başlar, bu erkekler tarafından cezalandırılır ve “Aiaia” adlı bir adaya sürgün edilir. Romanda bir kadının erkekler tarafından kendisine verilen bir cezayı nasıl avantaja dönüştürebildiği gösterilmektedir. Ötekileştirilen ve üzerinde bir ev, ormanlar, şifalı otlar, bitkiler ve hayvanlar olan ıssız bir adaya sürgün edilen Miller’ın Kirkesi cadılığını icra eder, hayatı keşfeder ve öz benliğini dışa vurur. Bu bakımdan bu makale, Kirke’nin kendi evine dönüştürdüğü adasının, Kirke’yi bir kadın olarak nasıl güçlendirdiğine odaklanmaktadır.

Keywords

Ben, Kirke, Madeline Miller, Ev, Kendini Gerçekleştirme, Yunan Mitolojisi

An Island of One’s Own: Home and Self-Fulfilment in Madeline Miller’s Circe

Abstract

Circe is renowned for her profound knowledge of sorcery as a minor goddess in Greek mythology. Her depictions and representations are numerous in literature, painting, music, and popular culture, ranging from Homer’s classical masterpiece The Odyssey to John William Waterhouse’s painting Circe Invidiosa (1892). Recently, Circe has been recreated with a modern kick by the contemporary American novelist Madeline Miller. In Miller’s novel Circe (2018), Circe voices her own story as the first-person heroine. The novel focuses on the spiritual growth and self-fulfilment of the protagonist. Reimagined by Miller in her family home in the early chapters, Circe is the innocent yet neglected child, always strange, pushed away, looked down upon, and alienated by her parents, siblings, and relatives. Miller first portrays Circe in her father’s halls where she is made to believe that she is a failure, she is incomplete, lacking, and neither a nymph nor a goddess. However, as her powers as a witch begin to unravel, some of her practices draw the attention of the patriarchs in her life, and she is exiled by these men to an island named “Aiaia.” How a woman can turn a punishment given by men into an advantage is shown in the novel. Marginalised and exiled to a deserted island with a house, forests, herbs, plants, and animals, Miller’s Circe practices her witchcraft, discovers life, and manifests her true self. In this respect, this article focuses on how Circe’s island, which she turns into her “home,” empowers Circe as a woman.

Keywords

Circe, Madeline Miller, Home, Self-Fulfilment, Greek Mythology

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