INTERPLAY OF SOCIO-CULTURAL FORCES AND PSYCHO-SEXUAL MOTIVATIONS IN THE PLAYS OF VIJAY TENDULKAR AND BALWANT GARGI
Abstract: The purpose of the present paper is to study the plays of Vijay Tendulkar and Balwant Gargi to understand the tragic plight of suffocated individuals at the mercy of oppressive socio-cultural forces and hidden psycho-sexual desires. The plays of Tendulkar and Gargi depict the collapse of human life and desires under dysfunctional moral values and corrupt structures of power.
Theatre is a revelation as it unveils the drama of human life and emotions in a society warped by injustice and oppression. Theatre’s ability to plumb the depths of human psyche in this oppressive and corrupt world makes it a strong …show more content…
Sakharam Binder is a Brahmin who hates his upbringing and exists in a society which he loathes. But, he has no qualms about benefiting from its unfairness. He brings to his hovel, women who have been "discarded by their husbands" and gives them "a roof over their heads, two saris a year and food in their belly." In return, they have to perform all the "wifely duties", including sharing their bodies. He is unapologetic about his sexual appetites and is uncontrollably violent during his rages, when he gives the women "what they deserve". Sadly, in a world cruel to women, he finds women who are desperate enough to agree to his terms. But in his provocative way, Sakharam questions the hypocrisy of the "bond" of marriage. Subjected to demands on their lives, bodies and minds, these women stoically accept their fate. Sakharam, on the contrary, believes that he is magnanimous when he gives the women in his life permission to leave, whenever they wish. Fidelity for him means that he brings home a successor, only when the earlier one has left. Tendulkar's play is about this self-proclaimed hedonistic man. Sakharam, though apparently crude, aggressive and violent, has his own standards of personal morality. He is a man who is primarily honest and frank. This openness of his personality is in itself a sharp criticism of the …show more content…
The play’s protagonist Santi is a woman who was in love with a man named Gajjan, but she suppressed her love for him and married Kaku, the ironsmith under the pressures of patriarchal authority embodied by her father. She is a woman who has internalized culturally propagated role designed for her. She is a true woman and an ideal mother focussed entirely on the desires and will of the husband and the family, rarely allowing for her personal needs. It is significant here that her husband is an ironsmith who gives desirable shape to iron by forceful beatings. Kaku’s role exemplifies the oppressive ideals of patriarchal authority which has the power to mould a woman’s life with violent force. Gargi presents a tilted world which makes men incharge of their destinies but give subservient role to women like Santi. She has silently accepted these reductive ideals of femininity propagated by a feudal set-up based on suppression of human desires. The way Santi re-enforces these role options on her daughter Baino, shows how women under the pressures of authority perpetuate stifling gender ideals instead of supporting and encouraging each other. In fact, Baino is surrounded by stereotypes who try to influence her path and mould her character. But Baino is a foil to all these conforming stereotypes. She questions these models of ideal women and chooses a different path.
Abstract: The purpose of the present paper is to study the plays of Vijay Tendulkar and Balwant Gargi to understand the tragic plight of suffocated individuals at the mercy of oppressive socio-cultural forces and hidden psycho-sexual desires. The plays of Tendulkar and Gargi depict the collapse of human life and desires under dysfunctional moral values and corrupt structures of power.
Theatre is a revelation as it unveils the drama of human life and emotions in a society warped by injustice and oppression. Theatre’s ability to plumb the depths of human psyche in this oppressive and corrupt world makes it a strong …show more content…
Sakharam Binder is a Brahmin who hates his upbringing and exists in a society which he loathes. But, he has no qualms about benefiting from its unfairness. He brings to his hovel, women who have been "discarded by their husbands" and gives them "a roof over their heads, two saris a year and food in their belly." In return, they have to perform all the "wifely duties", including sharing their bodies. He is unapologetic about his sexual appetites and is uncontrollably violent during his rages, when he gives the women "what they deserve". Sadly, in a world cruel to women, he finds women who are desperate enough to agree to his terms. But in his provocative way, Sakharam questions the hypocrisy of the "bond" of marriage. Subjected to demands on their lives, bodies and minds, these women stoically accept their fate. Sakharam, on the contrary, believes that he is magnanimous when he gives the women in his life permission to leave, whenever they wish. Fidelity for him means that he brings home a successor, only when the earlier one has left. Tendulkar's play is about this self-proclaimed hedonistic man. Sakharam, though apparently crude, aggressive and violent, has his own standards of personal morality. He is a man who is primarily honest and frank. This openness of his personality is in itself a sharp criticism of the …show more content…
The play’s protagonist Santi is a woman who was in love with a man named Gajjan, but she suppressed her love for him and married Kaku, the ironsmith under the pressures of patriarchal authority embodied by her father. She is a woman who has internalized culturally propagated role designed for her. She is a true woman and an ideal mother focussed entirely on the desires and will of the husband and the family, rarely allowing for her personal needs. It is significant here that her husband is an ironsmith who gives desirable shape to iron by forceful beatings. Kaku’s role exemplifies the oppressive ideals of patriarchal authority which has the power to mould a woman’s life with violent force. Gargi presents a tilted world which makes men incharge of their destinies but give subservient role to women like Santi. She has silently accepted these reductive ideals of femininity propagated by a feudal set-up based on suppression of human desires. The way Santi re-enforces these role options on her daughter Baino, shows how women under the pressures of authority perpetuate stifling gender ideals instead of supporting and encouraging each other. In fact, Baino is surrounded by stereotypes who try to influence her path and mould her character. But Baino is a foil to all these conforming stereotypes. She questions these models of ideal women and chooses a different path.