Evden Zindana: Martin McDonagh’ın Leenane’in Güzellik Kraliçesi Oyununda Aile Biriminin Çöküşü

As the inaugural play in The Leenane Triology, The Beauty Queen of Leenane has a distinct place in Martin McDonagh’s writing career. Premiering at the Town Hall Theatre in Galway on February 1, 1996, the play explores the unsettling relationship between seventy-year-old Mag and her forty-year-old daughter Maureen, set within the ostensibly secure confines of their rural home – a space that merely ‘appears’ insulated from the anxieties and threats of the external world. Still, as the play unfolds, it becomes obvious that the true menace resides within. The source of this internal danger is the tension between the mother and the daughter, as they are ‘chained’ to each other by invisible bonds, thereby transforming this domestic sphere into a ‘torture room’ marked by emotional and physical destruction. The play culminates in matricide, committed by Maureen, who, driven by trauma and emotional degradation, ultimately begins to mirror her mother’s persona. This convergence erodes the distinction between the two characters and subverts the traditional connotations of the home as a space of comfort and stability. Accordingly, this study aims to examine the disintegration of the foundational ideals such as home, family, faith, and identity through a close reading of the fractured relationship between Mag and Maureen.