Rabindranath Tagore,recipient of the 1913 Nobel Prize for Literature, is an internationally acclaimed Indian writer who wrote in Bengali.One of the distinctive as well as recurrent aspects of his fiction is his skilful handling of bold,freedom-seeking women characters.In many of his novels and short stories he takes care to show his women adopting unconventional stand to give vent to their feminine voice in a traditional Hindu society,which can undoubtedly be referred to, in Tennyson’s words, as a “Man to command and woman to obey”(The Princess) society.They do not hesitate to stand against the established values and norms of the society they live in and seek to find their freedom and identity within a situation which is totally and cruelly
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Jogajog(Relationships,1929) depicts a conjugal relationship based on force rather than consent.The Tagorean message here is that Madhusudan’s – or any man’s for that matter – idea that women were simply beings to be kept and used was not acceptable.Women have particular sensibilities and need to be wooed not just claimed.Shesher Kobita(The Last Poem,1929) recounts the love story of Amit Ray,an Oxford educated person with virulent intellectualism.His chance encounter with Labanya in a car accident in Shillong results in the building up of a romance between the two.Amit’s iconoclasm meets with Labanya’s sincere simplicity through a series of dialogues and poems that they write for each other.After building up their affair the lovers decide to marry other suitors,without any air of tragedy.In the text the reason appears to be that they feel that daily chores of living together will kill the purity of their romance. However Tagore’s most subtle portrayal of a woman’s heart perhaps occurs in the novella Nastoneer(The Broken Nest,1903).It tells the tale of a neglected housewife Charulata whose rather old detached husband pays no attention to her owing to the mad pursuit of his intellectual hobby of running a radical English news …show more content…
Saudamini loves her husband and yet deceives him in order to continue her life’s work.She tells her husband, “ I love you and have looked after you to the best of my ability,and I hoodwinked you for the sake of what I consider my duty.”(Gapaguchha,p.782). It has been the traditional Indian belief that husband is the supreme spiritual lord of a wife and the most trustworthy person.Tagore seems to attack this tradition through Saudamini. Many other stories of Tagore like Postmaster,Haimanti,Khata ,Samapti etc are also marked by the presence of wonderful women characters.In Postmaster Tagore captures the innermost feelings and emotions of a small village girl Ratan brilliantly.Mrinmayi in Samapti,Uma in Khata also exemplify Tagore’s rare art of characterization but their brilliance lies elsewhere as they are not so boldly and forcefully portrayed as the ones discussed
Jogajog(Relationships,1929) depicts a conjugal relationship based on force rather than consent.The Tagorean message here is that Madhusudan’s – or any man’s for that matter – idea that women were simply beings to be kept and used was not acceptable.Women have particular sensibilities and need to be wooed not just claimed.Shesher Kobita(The Last Poem,1929) recounts the love story of Amit Ray,an Oxford educated person with virulent intellectualism.His chance encounter with Labanya in a car accident in Shillong results in the building up of a romance between the two.Amit’s iconoclasm meets with Labanya’s sincere simplicity through a series of dialogues and poems that they write for each other.After building up their affair the lovers decide to marry other suitors,without any air of tragedy.In the text the reason appears to be that they feel that daily chores of living together will kill the purity of their romance. However Tagore’s most subtle portrayal of a woman’s heart perhaps occurs in the novella Nastoneer(The Broken Nest,1903).It tells the tale of a neglected housewife Charulata whose rather old detached husband pays no attention to her owing to the mad pursuit of his intellectual hobby of running a radical English news …show more content…
Saudamini loves her husband and yet deceives him in order to continue her life’s work.She tells her husband, “ I love you and have looked after you to the best of my ability,and I hoodwinked you for the sake of what I consider my duty.”(Gapaguchha,p.782). It has been the traditional Indian belief that husband is the supreme spiritual lord of a wife and the most trustworthy person.Tagore seems to attack this tradition through Saudamini. Many other stories of Tagore like Postmaster,Haimanti,Khata ,Samapti etc are also marked by the presence of wonderful women characters.In Postmaster Tagore captures the innermost feelings and emotions of a small village girl Ratan brilliantly.Mrinmayi in Samapti,Uma in Khata also exemplify Tagore’s rare art of characterization but their brilliance lies elsewhere as they are not so boldly and forcefully portrayed as the ones discussed