1.1 the European Dramatic Tradition of Theatre with Reference to Women Characters

Introduction 1

1.1 The European dramatic tradition of theatre with reference to women characters

Drama as a genre of literature has been one of the earliest and the most inﬂu- ential forms of expressions. It has been so due to its comprehensive nature, its capacity to deal with subtleties and its inherent aspects of putting them on stage in a manner that is convincing and entertaining. As a result, it has been the chief genre of literature that has undergone many changes on structural and thematic levels and has successfully become contemporary in its appeal. In the contemporary sense of subject matter, the present day issues, the thematic and structural changes suiting to the understanding of the audience in society. Theatre has been used as an artistic endeavour and sometimes also as reactionary against social change and justice. They represented their trends through theatrical presentations. Along with this, one of the main objectives of presentation of drama is making the audience aware of the social and contemporary issues. It alerts the audience to changes in society and provides new ways of responding to them and imagining alternative possibilities. Along with the purpose of entertainment, drama conveys certain issues such as moral, social or political concerns. In general literature is primarily concerned with man’s social world, his adaptation to it and his desire to change it. In Introduction to the Study of Literature, William Henry Hudson argues that

Literature is a vital record of what men have seen in life, what they have experienced of it, what they have thought and felt about those aspects of it which have the most immediate and enduring interest for all of us. It is thus fundamentally an expression of life through the medium of language (W. H. Hudson/1996:10).

The issues discussed in the presentation of the pieces of drama, introduce the new ways of thinking, and acting in relation to existing, established contemporary systems in the society.

As the present study deals with the selected plays by Henrik Ibsen namely, A Doll’s House, Ghosts, The Lady from the Sea, and Hedda Gabler and Vijay

1 Tendulkar’s plays namely, Silence! The Court is in Session.., Sakharam Binder, Encounter in Umbugland and Kamala; from a feminist point of view, it will conﬁne only the plays where the treatment of women, as per the present social norms at that particular time, is revealed. Though feminism is substantially a new approach to study, right from the earlier and the medieval period we observe the presence of male domination as a backdrop in the themes and the presentation of the plays.

1.1.1 Classical Greek Tradition of Literature

Along with other sources such as the Bible, the Greek mythology, English literature also borrowed themes from Greek literature. The era of classical Greek literature lasted from 5th to 4th century B.C. The age of classical Greece drew to a close with the end of the fourth century B.C. Yet through its literature, classical Greece still has an enormous effect on modern Western thought and traditions. Almost all Western literature, from histories to romance novels, from thrillers to poetry, draws from classical Greek traditions. Many of the themes present in those ancient plays and poems are in fact still popular in modern literature. The inﬂuence of Greek thoughts, its civilization and also the literary traditions is very visible even today in the realm of literature. Classical Greek literature developed out of an even older tradition of oral storytelling. The dramatists wanted to convey new ideas and educate people as to how to live life and how to face the problems in life. These new plays were generally performed for showing gratitude to Gods. With this background, the focus of the study would turn on the women’s role in Greek society and its portrayal in literature. The following paragraph supports the patriarchal view in Greek society.

Greek society, like most societies all over the world throughout history, was dominated by men. In Ancient Athens, the exclusion of women was all more striking. An Athenian woman was always under the guardianship of some male–father, husband, or nearest male relative–no matter her age. Women married young, usually between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, while their husbands were usually over 30. The difference in age reinforced the guardian role of husbands in a marriage. Marriages were arranged; a woman normally had no choice. Her dowry was controlled by a male relative and given to her husband to control. The main function of a respectable Athenian woman was to produce a male heir. A daughter could inherit property from her father in the absence of brothers or other male heirs, but she would be forced by law to marry a relative on her father’s side. Because the pure and legitimate lineage of children was so important in continuing

1.1 The European dramatic tradition of theatre with reference to women characters 2 the family line, women were carefully segregated from men outside the family and were conﬁned to special quarters . Men and women did not socialize within the home–the husband would entertain male guests exclusively. While men were free to seek sex outside the marriage, such behavior was severely punished in women. Respectable women stayed home to raise the children, cook, weave cloth, and oversee the management of the household. Once a year, women could participate in the public festivals in honor of Athena and attended the dramas presented on this occasion. Aside from this, women were expected to remain home, out of sight, silent, quiet, and unnoticed. (www.hist.uib.no/antikk/antres/womens/ ’women of Athens: two views’).

The history of Athens cannot be overlooked besides reading the famous speech of Pericles as a tribute to the soldiers who died in the battle field. Pericles was a brilliant general, orator, patron of the arts and politician – “the first citizen" of democratic Athens, according to the historian Thucydides. Under his leadership the Athenian culture flourished and the citizens of Athens, followed his words as the guidelines of looking at life. He portrayed his feelings about a woman’s place in Athenian society. Thucydides provides the Pericles funeral oration in the Ancient History Sourcebook, The Peloponnesian War.

First, he believed women to be the weaker sex. When speaking to widows at the funeral for warriors, he tells them not to fall into their character, as a woman’s character is weak and vulnerable. He also explains to them that younger women should ﬁnd someone else and have children, to ease the pain and help them forget about their loss. He tells older women to be grateful that the prime of their lives was happy.’ (Pericles’ Funeral Oration : www.hyperhistory.com).

It accounts the position of women in the society in the eyes of men in ancient Greek society. The reflection of these thoughts is clear in the Greek plays. Besides, there are a few women characters who try to break those shackles and have self esteem. For instance, the women characters in Sophocles’ Oedipus and Antigone. They are portrayed in typical traditional women’s roles. Each character has her own way of interacting and dealing with the men in her life. Each character is able to be compared against Pericles’ ideal of Athenian womanhood. Many of these women characters shows traits that contrast immensely with this ideal of womanhood, while others fit very well with it. The plays and therefore drama as a genre – even at the time of ancient Greece was a medium for challenging social norms and assumptions, specifically when it comes to the subordination of women.

1.1 The European dramatic tradition of theatre with reference to women characters 3 In Antigone, there are two very contrary female characters. Antigone herself contrasts immensely with Pericles’ ideal of womanhood. Antigone is furious with Creon, who has become a king after Oedipus’s two sons, Polyneices and Eteoclese, have killed each other in battle. Creon declares that because Polyneices fought against the city, he will not be allowed to have a proper burial. Antigone, feeling her first loyalty to her family and not to the country, goes against Creon’s law and buries her brother. Instead of doing this secretly, she tells her sister, Ismene, to announce it to the town so that everyone knows what she has done. It seems that she wanted to make an example that she believes the natural law takes precedence over human law. When Creon finds out and sentences Antigone to death, she argues with him to his face. Finally, when she is sealed in the cave to die, she kills herself first, before she dies naturally, showing her control over her own life.

Eurydike, Creon’s wife seems to fit in with Pericles’ ideal of womanhood. She is not seen or heard till the end of the play. This coincides well with Pericles’ ideal. When she learns that her son, Haemon, has killed himself, when he saw that Antigone was dead, Eurydike’s character becomes a great contrast to the ideal. At first she mourns her son in private, but she makes her final statement publicly. She kills herself in public, in front of an alter, while cursing her husband Creon for killing their two sons, Haemon, who has just died and Megareus, who had died prior to the start of the play. She blames Creon for their deaths in public, making her final breath and her final action a last stand against him and a public statement, which goes against Pericles’ view of Athenian womanhood. Since then there is a change in the women’s attitude. Some followed the social norms as their duties without any complaint, some tried to express their feelings and acted accordingly at the cost of their lives.

1.1.2 The Miracle plays and In drag

The history of English literature reveals how there was a gradual change in the themes which were the repercussions of the changing social and moral situations in the society. From the days when the religion was overpowering, the stories from the Bible were presented through the plays. During those days Bible was the only source to educate the principles of living. In order to take the moral values to the masses, the plays were written in vernacular language. It was much easier for the people to understand the ethics and the morals in simple language

1.1 The European dramatic tradition of theatre with reference to women characters 4 which they knew. The lessons were conveyed through the mystery plays. The Mystery plays were also called as Miracle plays. The Christian miracles were presented to convey the poetic justice, where the bad is punished and the good is rewarded. These plays were mainly intended to teach the principles of Christian living in a compressed way. It was helpful to those who found reading of Bible hard. They dramatized moral allegory. In those plays the protagonist is always the ’man’. We hardly see any play where a woman is a protagonist. The idea of women as inferior creatures got percolated and more deeply rooted in the minds of the audience, both men and women. As these plays dramatised the moral allegories, the actors presented the seven deadly sins by personifying their qualities and abstractions to teach moral lessons to the audience. Throughout the history of English literature, in every phase and in every genre the element of man as a superior being and woman as the secondary is reﬂected. Even in the Miracle and Morality plays, the ’man’ stood for all mankind. The play narrated the story of the hero’s life to which all the audience could relate. The hero, being a man was allowed to commit sins, yield to the temptations, possessing both virtues and vices, but ﬁnally he was forgiven and saved by repentance pardoned by God’s mercy. The women were always secondary and necessarily they were shown to be the epitome of virtues only. If not, they were considered sinful and were given punishment. The plays based on such morality could be cited as The Miraculous Apple Tree or The Greedy Old Woman and The Lime Tree and many others in which this aspect is seen more prominently.

In the process of time, the religious plays were substituted by the performances on the stage, particularly during the Elizabethan era. The English Renaissance slowly developed the plays from religious to secular themes during 1500 to 1600. At the end of the 15th century the short entertainments called the Interludes became popular. Interludes were non religious pieces of entertainment between the main programmes performed for the Kings and Queens. It was the beginning to move away from the didactic nature of the earlier plays and focused on subjects which were more secular in content. Women were not allowed to participate in the plays during performances in Europe before the 17th century. Therefore, female impersonation was the standard way to portray women on stage, and was considered far more normal than females playing female characters. In Elizabethan drama, the same tradition of males playing female roles was followed. Women were members of comedy troupes from the 16th century onwards. They were comic in nature and the roles were played by older

1.1 The European dramatic tradition of theatre with reference to women characters 5 women. Men ruled over everything. Women always performed the secondary roles in homes and in society.

Later there were some changes in the presentation of the plays. Around 1870s, the ‘In drag’ concept came into this ﬁeld. It means a boy athlete would disguise as a girl and was made to resemble a woman of taste and beauty.

The origins of the theatre in religious cults meant that women were barred from the performance, a prohibition by social sanctions against their public exhibition in general (Stanton Sarah & Banham Martin,1996:117).

The center of the religious stories was shifted to social and moral issues. Of course the main motive behind the performances was to educate people. Later, instead of the abstract characters, human beings as common people were presented on the stage. It was customary that the ancient dramatists presented boys as girls and they were supposed to entertain the audience girlishly.

The 16th and 17th centuries were the peak period of dramatic presentations. Christopher Marlow, Thomas Middleton, Ben Jonson and William Shakespeare were the prominent playwrights during this period. It was the period of Renais- sance. There was a new beginning to look at the world with new knowledge. Therefore, there were changes in the perspectives also to look at the issues in the society. Naturally, it got reﬂected in the theatre too. The English Renais- sance Theatre, which was also called as theatre of England was known for its modernism. The ﬁrst characteristic associated with this concept is the denial of religious and moral ways of thinking as the only basis of the progress of the society. It added other perspectives to look at the lives of the people with logical and rational thinking. The modern views to look at the world were introduced through the plays. Drama became the best source of entertainment and enlightenment.

1.1.3 Shakespearean drama

Shakespeare stands as the supreme dramatist of the Renaissance period. He wrote tragedies, comedies, and chronicles which appeal to readers and audience members even today who can relate to the universal issues presented through them. He reﬂected the mind, experiences and the language of the people of all strata of society. His plays mirror humans with greater authenticity and

1.1 The European dramatic tradition of theatre with reference to women characters 6 originality. Thus his characters are universal in nature. He keenly observed society, thought profoundly and irrespective of the traditional dramatic roles he presented situations and characters in an amazing true manner.

As in the Athenian society, the social state of the Elizabethan time was more male dominated. The women had no authority or recognition of their own. They were known through their fathers and husbands. They had no power to deal with money matters, nor did they have any political rights. They were expected to be silent observers and submissive to their husbands. Shakespeare was the one who attempted fearlessly to go against the rigid social norms and orders. He portrayed women in his plays in such a manner that it made the audience sympathetic and thoughtful. In his plays there are numerous shades of ’woman’ psyche. As Petrt Oana and Major Petru quote-

Through the female characters such as Goneril and Cleopatra, he expressed the rebellion against the social order. Through the characters like Cordelia, Ophelia and Miranda, he demonstrated extreme feminine virtue and invoked sympathy in the audience. Desdemona revealed boldness. Portia is brave and intelligent. Thus, in spite of the fact that the women were overlooked in the Elizabethan period, Shakespeare projected them as important beings in the society. The situations in the plays revealed the fact that women had a significant role to play in a man’s life. The women characters like Isabella, Desdemona influenced men characters. Like all aspects of Shakespeare’s plays, the female characters play a significant role in contributing to the plot and theme (Petrut Oana and Maior Petru, 2001: 01).

In many of his plays, Shakespeare has also created female characters that are inferior to men. At the same time, in most of his plays he gave each of them a sense of power to change by their words, actions and witty interactions. In the stories of Shakespeare, the women characters represent the norms established in the 17th century. Yet, they have the capability to be independent, having a sense of power and control. Shakespeare depicted charming, rational, rebellious, dutiful, jealous, unfaithful and every sort of female characters in his plays. Though most of the time his plays are male based yet the females too have an importance in the plot. The period from 1500 to 1660 was the Renaissance period and that was known to be the most fruitful period of drama. It was only the beginning of the full-ﬂedged English drama. It is an astonishing fact that in spite of the Renaissance and the spread of knowledge, there were no women writers during those periods. The male dramatists were given credit for discussing women’s issues or presenting woman in all positive manners, but

1.1 The European dramatic tradition of theatre with reference to women characters 7 there is no evidence that the women started writing on their own. After the Elizabethan era, King James ruled over the country from 1603 – 1625. This period is known as the Jacobean era. Jacobean tragedies are the name given to the plays written during the reign of James I. Violent actions and revenge themes were the main issues in the plays. As they are considered man’s regime, women were always at the secondary place. Gender issues were a major theme in 17th Century drama. The dramatists of the 17th Century used their female characters to challenge the common perception of women, often defying many accepted stereotypes. John Webster through his The Duchess of Malﬁ, written in 1612, displays the injustice of the common treatment of women, and shows that strength and pride are not purely male characteristics. By this time, the playwrights began to create a different kind of female character that is multidimensional and just as complex as the male characters. The Duchess, for example, is neither a villain nor a heroine. She, like the rest of the women in the play, is humiliated by the male characters. The critic, Lisa Hopkins points out that-

The female speaker is repeatedly interrupted by the men and is never in fact allowed to ﬁnish what she wants to say; the male speakers dominate the conversation (//literaturereverie.wordpress.com/.../gender-in-renaissance-literature).

The Jacobean plays represent the social life of London of those times. The society was very similar to what it was during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Most of the divisions of the roles and positions of men and women were the same. Men did their duties mainly to earn money and had to go outside of work; while women took responsibility of household duties. However, there were some women who began to venture out and earn money. Some women also dared to work in the public performances through plays. It was something newly discovered element during that time. The major dramatists of the Jacobean period are Shakespeare, Webster, Jonson, Middleton, Marston, Heywood, Dekker, Chapman, and Beaumont and Fletcher. They have depicted the social perspective of women’s ways of thinking and their rational and intellectual equality with men through their stories. The playwrights of those times reﬂected on the situations of women in society from the point of view of their liberty in society, their economic status which regarded their relation with husband etc.

After James the quality of English Drama rapidly declined and the Puritans ordered the closing of the theatres. From 1642 to 1660 England was under the

1.1 The European dramatic tradition of theatre with reference to women characters 8 rule of the Commonwealth and was run by the Puritans who closed the theatres for religious and ideological reasons. The order remained in effect for eighteen years. This period was contrary to Queen Elizabeth’s and it faced civil wars and the King was beheaded in 1649. Watching plays were considered to be wastage of time and energy. But after 1660, again the theatres were opened and that event is known as the Restoration of Theatre. King Charles was credited for that as he brought new elements in the original English drama. He brought French concepts of comedy and other innovative ideas such as wearing masks and allowing women too in the coffee clubs, etc. Till then women never performed on the stage and during the Restoration period they were allowed to participate in the performance on the stage. People accepted them with reverence.

1.1.4 Restoration Drama

The restoration age was very critical in its essence and the plays were more critical than creative. The themes of the plays dealt with the mannerisms and the behavioral patterns of the people in their day to day life. The criticism of the manner was more emphasized and focused through the presentations of the plays. The innovations were borrowed from French and Italian models. Accordingly the Restoration comedies were based on the follies and fashions of the neo rich, upper class people and reﬂected immorality. It mirrored the then social scenario. The intention of the Comedy of Manners was to satirize social pretensions. The society had totally lost its morality and ethical values. The women presented in these plays differ from the women presented in Shake- spearean drama. Basically, there was a vast difference between the cultural backgrounds of these two periods. The women till then were not allowed to go in the public openly. The Restoration period allowed them to do so wearing the masks. It was the beginning when women entered on the stage. As per the human psychology the women who were suppressed till then got freedom and they like a liberated soul tried every possible opportunity, without thinking of morality much. The Country Wife in Wicherley’s play written in 1675, reﬂects this attitude very obviously. Even the language of the men and women, descended from the standard, ideal norms. Dryden, Wycherley and Etherege were the well known playwrights during this era who presented this change through their plays.

1.1 The European dramatic tradition of theatre with reference to women characters 9 The main characteristic features of restoration comedy were that it had sexual, immoral themes which were presented very explicitly. The heroes were lively gentlemen who had a strong will to make love to their neighbour’s wives. Husbands and fathers were portrayed as dull and stupid persons. But the heroines were lovely and chirping. Their characters were always presented superﬂuous and fragile. They seemed to be engrossed in gossiping. The amorous widows and jealous wives kept themselves busy in low level thinking. There is no trace of the feelings like sympathy, faithfulness, kindness, honesty or loyalty as it was in the Elizabethan plays. On the contrary, they seemed to follow the life of pleasure. Millamant and Mirabell in Cogreve’s Way of the World reﬂect this attitude.

There were two remarkable waves in restoration plays. The first wave of restoration contained comedies which reflected the atmosphere in the court and presented the incessant sexual conquest and intrigues. The best examples of these genres can be seen in the plays by the dramatists like William Wycherly (1640-1716) in his The Country Wife and by Aphra Behn (1640-1689) in The Rover and Dryden. The second wave of Restoration comedy in the 1690s tried to present themes which would transform the social and cultural viewpoints. William Congreve and John Vanbrugh dealt with these soft comedies. These playwrights satirized the manners and etiquettes of the people in the society. The use of disguises, masks, mistaken identity, misunderstandings and confusion were elaborately introduced in their plays. The major change from the earlier plays was that these plays were written in prose and not like the poetic form, the heroic couplet. The worth mentioning change is that the men and women were shown to be morally down fallen to an extent. In a way they were social com- mentaries and at times they were more exaggerations than the actual situation. Cuckolding is a recurring theme that suggests that men were concerned with their reputation and the possibility of being made a fool by their wives. This also represents a kind of male concern for power over women’s bodies. Shaming rituals were common and a form of public humiliation. Another theme presented in multiple plays was seduction; with women on the stage and influences in Charles’s court, sexuality could not be ignored. In these plays women played the role of men as a form of situational comedy. Plays also reflected new stock characters that were present in society such as the rake and the fop. Not only were these types seen on the stage, but they were also the topic of pamphlets and social writings. Rakes were men who catered to their vices and were very

1.1 The European dramatic tradition of theatre with reference to women characters 10 witty, often at the expense of the fop. Fops were men overly concerned with their appearance and aspired to be witty but often unknowingly failed. The Comedy of Manners revealed the foibles of the society that watched them. The society enjoyed laughing at itself. Restoration Comedies were less interested in reforming society than making the most of its faults.

1.1.5 Sentimental Comedies

During mid 18th century the Restoration drama lost its favor and Domestic tragedies and Sentimental comedies took over. The Sentimental comedies showed good, middle class people. These plays handled the plots of the age old fairy tales’ in which the themes were based on poetic justice, where good is rewarded and bad is punished. In these plays, the emphasis was given on the virtues of women and the certain norms of behaviour they had to follow to fit in the society. Though these plays did not place emphasis on patriarchal values, they reflected the percolated essence of it through the presentations of the woman characters. As the middle class is always more prone to be fit in social norms and always afraid of the society, these sentimental comedies reflect this thinking through the themes and the plot of the plays. They emphasized more of pathos than light hearted humor. The drama had become not only a popular source of mere entertainment, but also it emphasized and reinforced a middle class conception of how women should behave. The 18th century also ushered in the middle-class or domestic drama, which treated the problems of ordinary people.

The 19th century brought a new genre called melodrama in the field of drama. It aimed at producing excitement and mere entertainment. The melodrama also brought realistic themes along with exciting entertainment. Slowly it moved to the realities of contemporary life. The drama faced many influences from other countries such as France, Russia, and Germany mainly because of trade, political and cultural influences and grew accordingly. Because of the changing scene, the society too was changed from all aspects. The education, the working conditions, the industrialization and the urbanization had inculcated the new values and concepts of moralities among people. Yet women were not given much liberty to indulge in the outer world other than the home and children. Because of the leaflets and magazines the knowledge could reach at the every

1.1 The European dramatic tradition of theatre with reference to women characters 11 corner of the society. The women were aware of the happenings outside, but they were never expected to give their opinions on the outside happenings.

Then the drama passed through the Victorian period. During that period, poetry and novels were ﬂourished much more than drama. The Victorian age became noteworthy because of the Edwardian dramatists such as George Bernard Shaw, and J. M. Synge. During the same period, the Norwegian playwright, Henrik Ibsen was introduced in English literature through the translations by William Archer. He brought realism in plays. The problems of middle class society at all levels and their frank manifestations attracted the people. It was for the ﬁrst time the middle class people could relate to the stories in the plays. As Shaw describes:

Ibsen, a Norwegian playwright of European celebrity, attracted one section of the English people so strongly that they hailed him as the greatest living dramatic poet and moral teacher, whilst another section was so revolted by his works that they described him in terms which they themselves admitted to be, by the necessities of the case, all but obscene (Shaw/ 1913: 14).

It was the beginning of Modern, Realistic, Social and Problem plays. They truly inﬂuenced the British drama of that time. George Bernard Shaw debated the important political and social issues, like marriage, class, “the morality of armaments and war" in his words and the rights of women. Soltis Jolanta commented on her essay-

The role of women did not change for centuries. All religions and political systems pictured women as mothers and wives, gentle, weak and not so smart (Soltis Jolanta, 2013: 01).

Towards the end of the 19th century, attitudes towards women had begun to change and their position in society improved in several ways- in law, in education and in employment.

1.1.6 Modern Drama

1.1 The European dramatic tradition of theatre with reference to women characters 12 real life. During 20th century drama emerged as a powerful literary form. Till then the Victorian poets and the playwrights too were unaware of the fact that drama is an inﬂuential literary strength. New trends were introduced in drama and the new dramatists took efforts to make drama lifelike and realistic. The authors concentrated their attention on the problems of modern life. The new social problems arising in the new set up of values wanted a solution and drama was the ﬁtting medium in which justice could be done in solving the social and economic problems of the times. A drama received a new outlook. Recounting the emergence of drama as a powerful force, J. W. Marriot comments in his book The Modern Drama as

1.1.7 Modern Drama

The Victorian era came to close in 1900. The dawn of the 20th century witnessed the emergence of new values in every field. This period is known as the modern age. It is governed by realism. Realism as defined by Merriam-Webster, it is a style of art or literature that shows or describes people and things as they are in real life. During 20th century drama emerged as a powerful literary form. Till then the Victorian poets and the playwrights too were unaware of the fact that drama is an influential literary strength. New trends were introduced in drama and the new dramatists took efforts to make drama lifelike and realistic. The authors concentrated their attention on the problems of modern life. The new social problems arising in the new set up of values wanted a solution and drama was the fitting medium in which justice could be done in solving the social and economic problems of the times. A drama received a new outlook. Recounting the emergence of drama as a powerful force, J. W. Marriot comments in his book The Modern Drama as

There has been a gradual disappearance of the ancient prejudices against theatre going, a welcome relaxation of the censorship, a steady rise in standards of judgement, due to the spread of education, an increasing margin of leisure in the life of the ordinary man and woman, a deepening conviction that a certain amount of recreation is the natural right of every human being and the remarkable competence in the theatre for amusement (Mundra J.N., 2012: 493).

The intention behind writing the plays was to interpret life in general.

The 20th century drama witnessed the new trends and current viewpoints of the modern period. Realism is the most signiﬁcant feature of modern drama.

1.1 The European dramatic tradition of theatre with reference to women characters 13 The playwrights handled the day to day problems of the common and ordinary people in a very realistic manner. They intended to show life, the life of the real people rather than the stories of fantasy and imagination. It was Henrik Ibsen, the Norwegian dramatist, who popularised realism in modern drama. He dealt with the problems of real life in a realistic manner. The playwrights such as Jones, Pinero, Galsworthy and George Bernard Shaw followed Ibsen in their writing plays. It was a totally new trend to depict reality along with its ugly and repulsive elements. The overlooked problems such as marriage, justice, law, capitalism, education and disparity among the people of various strata caught attention of the playwrights and subsequently the audience. The playwrights sought reformation in the society through these means. Dr. R.C. Gupta in his book The Problem Play states-

Problem plays became a powerful and effective medium of social criticism and generally vindicated the rights of individuals to shape his life and destiny, unfettered by the prejudices and conventions of society. It dramatised the conﬂict of ideas and social attitudes and upheld the principles of equality, freedom and justice. The problem play was a new experiment in form and technique and dispensed with the conventional devices and expedients of the theatre.’(Mundra J.N., 2012:494).

The modern playwrights were full of thought provoking ideas and wanted to propagate them to reach out to the people in the society. These plays were also called as play of ideas.

There was another stream during this period. The modern dramatists like J. M. Barrie preferred to write plays which took the readers in the world of fantasy and supernatural imagination. In order to make the readers and audience fantasize over the imaginative truth and to provide them an escape from the drab and the dull realities of life he wrote plays such as Peter Pan, A Kiss for Cinderella and Dear Brutus. It was in a way a reaction to the realistic plays. Poetic plays, historical plays followed by the Irish movement which too was a reaction to the stark realism on the stage. Impressionism and expressionism were sub branches of modern drama.

The problem playwrights such as John Galsworthy dealt with the disparity in the law for the rich and for the poor in The Silver Box. He presents conﬂicts between capital and labour in his The Strife. Many of his plays are the criticism of the prevailing situations, evils, prejudices and the various institutions like education, industry war and law in his plays. He popularized the concept of

1.1 The European dramatic tradition of theatre with reference to women characters 14 problem play. We, the readers, ﬁnd the world of his plays like that of our own world ﬁlled with the same everyday problems and our own inabilities. The peculiarity of Galsworthy is that he writes his plays that deal with the problems of life. He compels the audience to go through the experience without any authorial interference. We see his humanitarian attitude in solving the problems in his plays. On the contrary, George Bernard Shaw, the playwright of ideas, had particularly thought to project to the public in the society. Bernard Shaw was always considered as a playwright as he saw the things as they are. He talked about them, presented them in drama the way he judged them keeping unbiased mind.

A common criticism of Shaw’s drama is that he depends too much upon stage directions, and the words are a verbose and undramatic vehicle. In fact, every speech is alive with it in its proper sense and upon examination it can be seen that Shaw is fully an actor’s writer. An early and a later play will prove he did not lose his propensity for sensing the body behind the voice.’ (Styan, 1979:100).

Unlike Galsworthy, he was outspoken and more aggressive in presenting the ideas through plays. He fearlessly set forth his ideas in his dramas and hoped to convert the nation to his way of thinking. He himself has said, ‘I write plays with the deliberate object of converting the nation to my opinion’. In every play, Shaw presents the life stirring ideas. The Widower’s Houses deals with the slum landlordism; Mrs. Warren’s Profession on the lives of prostitutes and brothels; Candida offers his views on marriage and Man and Superman on life force and husband hunting. He also deals with the themes on present day education in Misalliance, love and war in Arms and the Man and in Apple Cart he throws light on monarchy and democracy.

Shaw propounded a philosophy of multidimensional approach and all round aspects so as to revolutionize one of the epoch’s popular theories and principles i.e. theory of life force. As a matter of fact, his life force theory occupies a central status and position in his philosophy. Despite all the pertinent virtues and inherent qualities, this philosophy also enlightens various aspects of life like love, romance, sex, war, conjugal relation, parent, child relation, crime and punishment, religion, woman polities, view of marriage, economic and such other contemporary issues. In Man and Superman Shaw focuses on the eternal pursuit of women for a suitable man who may provide her children all comforts and luxuries of life. Shaw is against the traditional view of man pursuing woman.

1.1 The European dramatic tradition of theatre with reference to women characters 15 He discloses in his play Man and Superman that it is the woman who huntsman and ﬁnally catches him in her cobweb of beauty and love.

Shaw’s characters are rational and intellectual. He revolutionized the whole concept of drama and made it a medium of discussion and reform rather than only entertainment. Their drama became a social criticism. Bernard Shaw was one of the ﬁrst to see women as human beings and not just an accessory to men. Women in Bernard Shaw’s plays start changing and discovering different worlds through intellectual evolution (Brander Matthews, 1912: 342).

He was much inﬂuenced by Henrik Ibsen’s drama. He was a revolutionist and forcefully conveyed his views through his plays. He was never meek or submissive while presenting his themes. On the contrary, he ﬁred his opinions as though through a gun and in a way compelled the audience to act. He wanted transformation like Henrik Ibsen. Soltis Jolanta rightly comments-

Shaw’s drama was very intellectual and used the theatre as a social force to inﬂuence and change the existing social systems and structures. A woman emerged in Shaw’s plays are strong and independent and educated, bold and assertive. They do not rely on men, but learn from them. The New Women were inducted into the early and middle plays of Shaw. They eschewed their traditional roles of dutiful daughters and submissive wives and seized the role of the protagonist. They set a new trend by challenging male authority and attempting to remake the world created by men." (Soltis Jolanta, 2013: 02).

Shaw believed in what he portrayed in his plays. The Life Force concept of George Bernard Shaw contains the central idea that life is a vital force or impulse that strives to attain self-realization. Creative Evolution is the manner in which the life force strives to reach this perfect state of contemplation as it continually creates something better and greater beyond the life forms already developed. The Superman is a symbol of the superior race of men that will evolve in the future. He believed in the strength of women. According to him the one who is stronger in power or in intellect is superior irrespective of gender differences. Shaw’s biographical aspects convince his thoughts as his mother was stronger than his father. She took care of her children and her husband. Shaw always looked at his mother respectfully. Among these English writers the translations from Danish of Henrik Ibsen’s plays made a positive stir. Him as the father of Modern Realism and Social Problem play, was well received by the audience because of his sensitivity to the women’s questions about their own existence, then a recent development and a growing movement Henrik Ibsen of Norway

1.1 The European dramatic tradition of theatre with reference to women characters 16 brought to a climax the realistic movement of the 19th century. His themes, characters, plots show that he is one of the founders of modernism in the theatre. With his influence the drama in England was revived towards the end of the nineteenth century. It strengthened the realistic movement which led to the close analysis of character and subtle plot construction. The advent of the twentieth century fell under the sway of Ibsen’s treatment of technical methods in the field of British drama. He was the first one who discussed the problem of women in society.

In notes made for A Doll’s House in 1878, Ibsen himself wrote-

A woman cannot be herself in contemporary society; it is an exclusively male dominated society, with laws drafted by men and with counsel and judges who judge feminine conduct from the male point of view (https://neoenglish.wordpress.com/2010/11/06/ibsen-and-feminism).

In the introduction of his plays Henrik Ibsen states-

Women have been denied the opportunity for self- fulﬁllment. These women of the modern age, mistreated as daughters, as sisters, as wives not educated in accordance with their talents, debarred from following their real mission, deprived of their inheritance, embittered in mind- these are the ones who supply the mothers for the next generation (Shaw G.B. 1913:64).

It has demonstrated through the discussion the place of woman in the society and the attitude of men and society to look at them since the Greek mythology to the present day. They present great insights of individual and social psyche. Also, they provide the reality, how women were not allowed to have the opportunities of life by their own choice, respecting their self esteem.All these views would be used as the guiding principles to analyse the women characters in the plays, selected for the present study.

1.1 The European dramatic tradition of theatre with reference to women characters 17 1.2 A Short History of Marathi Drama in the Context of Women Images

A Short Historical Account of Marathi Drama

Marathi drama is an innate part of Marathi culture. The playwrights are the spoke persons of the events and happenings that take place in and around society. Based in Maharashtra, the Marathi plays had many influences such as, the Sanskrit plays, Yakshagana, the traditional dance drama of rural Karnataka and the Bengali theatre. As the playwrights of Marathi Theatre, were English educated, they had influence of the Western dramatists like Goldsmith, Sheridan, Moliere, Shakespeare and Henrik Ibsen on them. The performances in theatre began in the middle of the 19th century and reached its peak during 1950 to 70s. The two decades 1920-30 and 1930-40, witnessed transformation in drama and the theatre. The social, political, cultural and also the literary fields were the cause of this transition directly or sometimes indirectly. The pre-independence era dealt solely with the fight against the British and the issues related to the independence of India. The issues reflected the everyday routine of the common man and the current problems of his life. The theatre movement in Maharashtra began in the latter half of the 19th century and it is worth recording systematically its historical phase-wise development.

1.2.1 Marathi Drama in 1840 -1965

Initially the plays dealt with religious and moral stories. The intention behind the performances of these plays was didactic. It meant to teach the audience how to live and think. In the late 19th century, there was a transition in the presentation of the drama. The situation was drastically changing because of social and political changes. There were gloom and restlessness in the atmosphere because of the second world war. Due to these reasons the economic system had collapsed and it caused a drop of the virtues and qualities of intrinsic worth. Naturally, there were repercussions on every ﬁeld and drama was also affected by widespread scepticism. People had lost interest in the old traditional stories and their themes. New trends like cinema and radio were introduced and the common people got exposed to a new type of entertainment. The Marathi theatre was going through transition. It was trying to represent the new

1.2 A Short History of Marathi Drama in the Context of Women Images 18 character of the contemporary society. S N Banahatti states in his essay Natya vangmay va tyacha Vikas (Dramatic literature and its Growth)-

A conclusion can be drawn that dramatic field gets nutritional values through society. The more the social life has grandeur and magnificence the more varied and glorious is its dramatic presentation. During the Maratha regime, when the atmosphere was full of bravery and political competency and there were glorious days for poetry and literature in general, surprisingly, drama was not included in it. And contrary to this, in the time, when the Maratha rule ended and the valour of Marathas had extinguished; surprisingly drama not only flourished during the British rule but also widened in every direction’. (Referred and translated from Kulkarni A. A/ Banahatti S.N./1990:49, 50).

Vishnu Anant Bhave was the first person who wrote the first Marathi drama in the year 1843. As the drama was in its formative years, he started writing Apologues (mythical stories) based on sacred religious books. Gradually Farce became popular in which serious subjects were satirically ridiculed for entertainment purpose and also for correcting the flaws. Seeta Swayanwar was the first experiment of Marathi drama by Mr. Bhave. It was based on Sanskrit mythology but was presented in folk form. The objectives of the presentations of the play were educating the audience along with an entertainment. The plays were generally derived from mythology. The period from 1800 to 1860 was similar to the Restoration period in English literature. People had become deprived of the ancient values and did not have anything new to follow. There was cultural confusion. At that time, the traditional ways of entertainment were Tamashas, Kirtans and the dance of the female dancers meant to amuse the chief of the community and his followers. The women dancers did not have prestige. They were looked down upon the higher class people. The days have changed when the King of Sangli promoted dramatically. The new forms of drama such as ‘Bookish dramas’, (translations of English plays into Marathi), musical operas and also the social plays became popular. There was a tradition to translate the Sanskrit plays into Marathi. With new experiments there was a rise of drama in the year 1860. This is considered to be the beginning of Marathi drama. This period was the Renaissance period in Marathi literature. This was the time when the Bombay University was established. English language was introduced in the schools and also the newspapers were published. With the wider context of these changes, a new class of intelligent people became aware of the age old traditional values and the ideal principles of the past. As a result, for its revival,

1.2 A Short History of Marathi Drama in the Context of Women Images 19 in the ﬁeld of drama, the Sanskrit plays were translated. Mr. Tatya Godbole was the ﬁrst translator of Sanskrit plays.

In the year 1880, Marathi drama witnessed a revolution when Anna Kirloskar performed the musical play Shakuntal in Pune. He beautifully combined the religious stories along with beautiful scenes and sceneries, melodious songs and music and brought Marathi drama to a new height. In the next 20 years from 1880 to 1900, there was tremendous growth and development of drama in Maharashtra. This is considered as a major period in the journey of Marathi Drama. It was the period of development and improvement in every respect. It was in this period, the branch of social drama reached its peak. From 1947 to 1954 was an era of W. W. Shirwadkar. He wrote Kounteya, the religious play in which he tried to search the meaning of a new, modern society. Shanta Gokhale states-

The origins of Marathi play were in folk forms like the Bhagwat Melas, which were performed in the temple precincts. From available descriptions we know that even Bhave’s plays performed in the Sangli court retained many features of a folk performance (Gokhale Shanta, http://www.india-seminar.com/2008/588/588_shanta_gokhale.htm).

Bhave’s persistent efforts to present a play in the professional theatre came true with the production of Gopichand. This was the first Marathi play to be performed on the proscenium stage, the first to be ticketed and the first to cater to a linguistically mixed audience.

1.2.2 Era of social drama

During the year 1883 to 1920, the Marathi social drama became more popular. Govind Ballal Deval is considered as the father of the social plays in Marathi theatre. Sangeet Sharada was the first play in which the contemporary social problem of marriage of young girls to aged husbands was discussed. He set the vision of writing on social themes for the playwrights of the next generation. Durga (1886), Zunzarrao (1890). An adapted version of Shakespeare’s Othello, Falgunrao, Sanshay Kallol (1893). Based partly on Molière’s Sganarelle, are his noteworthy plays. After he Shripad Krishna Kolhtakar became an influential figure in the field of drama. His plays and themes had similarity with the works by Moliere whose plays were full of fantasy and imagination.

1.2 A Short History of Marathi Drama in the Context of Women Images 20 Krisnaji Prabhakar Khadilkar brought an element of vigour and strength into Marathi theatre. He wrote Keechakwadha, (The Assassination of Kichak the demon), the ﬁrst political play in Marathi. It was basically a mythical play having social and contemporary relevance. As it was during the pre-independence era, the play was an instrument in arousing public sentiments against the atrocities of Lord Curzon. His plays, like Sangeet Manapmaan, Vidyaharan, Bhaubandaki and Satwapariksha are still extremely popular. After him, Ram Ganesh Gadkari mesmerised the audience with his dazzling language and fantastic imagination. Shanta Gokhale comments on the transition of drama as-

The Marathi theatre moved from general open air performances to enclosed court performances, to exclusive open air performances, to enclosed, exclusive indoor performances. For patrons it moved from a collectively paying public in the temple precincts to a single royal patron to a more numerous aristocratic patronage to an even more numerous individually paying patronage. Thematically, it moved from mythology that belonged to everybody, to sangeet nataks about warrior heroes. But since music continued to be a vital attraction, the Sangeet Natak continued to cater to a heterogeneous audience." (Gokhale Shanta, http://www.india- seminar.com/2008/588/588_shanta_gokhale.htm).

The history of Marathi drama tells that gradually the themes of the plays changed. In the pre-independence era, the playwrights like V. D. Sawarkar commented on socio-political issues and made the audience aware of the reality through his plays. B.V. Warerkar (Mama) started writing plays in 1914 and continued till 1960. His plays aimed at creating social awareness. His play Bhoomikanya Seeta (1950), unraveled the psychological complexities of Seeta. It threw light on the male female relationship and feminist approach. He advocated for women’s empowerment, speciﬁcally in the case of Seeta. This character in the play, called Seeta is socially aware and is shocked to see Rama asking her take an oath to prove her chastity just to satisfy the careless remarks of the people in his kingdom. She has her own opinion and has a strong determination to express it. She says she would be letting down the womankind for all time if she did what Ram asked her to do. She comments on the rule of men over women. Disgusted and disillusioned, she asks Mother Earth to take her back into her womb. This, she announces, is her protest against the eternal humiliation of women by men. Through plays like Udati Pakhare (The Flying Birds), he dealt with the social problem of Dwibharya; having two wives at a time. He wrote a number of plays having social issues. Hach mulacha bap (He is the Bridegroom’s Father, 1918), a social drama about the dowry problem, was staged during the

1.2 A Short History of Marathi Drama in the Context of Women Images 21 heyday of the romantic Sangit Natak (musicals). Sanyashyacha Sansar (Life of a Recluse, 1919) brought naturalness to costumes; Turungachya darat (At the Prison Door, 1923) was the first one-act play, with a running time of three hours; through Satteche Gulam (Slaves of Power, 1927), Sonyacha Kalas (Golden Spire, 1932), the focus shifted for the first time from the middle to the lower-middle class. Udti pakhare (Flying Birds, 1941) and Saraswat (Devotee of Learning, 1942) were introspective plays in nature. Jivashivachi bhet (Union of Creator and Created, 1950) was one of the first Marathi plays with a completely rural backdrop; Bhumikanya Sita (Sita the Earth’s Daughter, 1958) interpreted the original myth through feminist angle. Singapuratun (From Singapore, 1944) and Apurva Bangal (Uncommon Bengal, 1953) had a fervently political background; Dwarkecha Raja (the King of Dwarka’, 1952) was based on international post- war philosophy. They all were new experiments on the stage in their content and presentations. Keen social consciousness, realism in theme and sets, simplicity of dialogue, and empathy for the exploited and the downtrodden were the salient characteristics of his writings. There are many noteworthy references of one of his plays named, Satteche Gulam (Slaves of Power). With Mama Warerkar, this era came to an end. V. B. Deshpande asserts that Satteche Gulam could be the best example to explain how the social situation gives birth to a play. Mama Warerkar, himself has commented on this play -

This play was a milestone of the new modern trend of changing Marathi Drama, from both the point of views, one from the direction point of view and another the setting (Deshpande V. B, 2008:24).

The social mind and its intricacies became the central themes of the plays of that time. The Indian culture of drama got inﬂuenced by the western culture of drama. It was inevitable to have changed in the writing and presentation of drama. It became more reality oriented. Inspired by the new sensibilities in the world theatre, a few dramatists like Anant Kanekar, Shreedhar Vartak and K. N. Kale started a theatre group called Natya- Manwantar. They had studied the western drama and western theatre. They rejected the tradition of historical and religious elements of drama. Instead, they focused on social themes. They experimented presenting the play, having only one act instead of traditional, established three acts. The element of music and setting were more realistic. They had Henrik Ibsen as their model while doing these experiments. In the initial stage, they borrowed Bargson’s play Gwantlet which was translated as Andhalyanchi Shala (Blind School) by Vartak. That was the ﬁrst ever Marathi

1.2 A Short History of Marathi Drama in the Context of Women Images 22 play in which a female actor participated. It introduced realistic and naturalistic sets, background music and lighting to create an atmosphere on the stage. The theme of the play was the self esteem of a woman. Elaborately it discusses the social disparity where man and woman are treated differently, when it comes to the issue of marriage. It questions, if a man has a moral blot to his character, why should a woman accept him as her husband? Why can she not reject him? Contrary to this, if in case a woman’s life has any stain, man would reject her out rightly as a wife. This type of an ideology was too controversial to digest to the Marathi audience. He showed through the play that the basic instincts always win. The Marathi audience could relate to the experience in the play and more speciﬁcally, they reﬂect on the asymmetrical treatment of men and women in the society.

This Natya-Manwantar group came to an end within four years due to ideological differences among the members. M.G Ranganekar founded another group called Natyaniketan that got inﬂuenced by Ibsen and his themes such as the social illness, hypocrisy, a place of woman in the society, the self esteem of a woman, etc. Ranganekar also followed the techniques of modern drama in all respects and he wrote plays in which the common man was his protagonist. He portrayed the issues pertaining to Marathi middle class men and women. His plays Vahini (Sister in Law), Kulwadhu (the Bride) became tremendously popular in those days. He brought forward the problems of working young women in Ashirwad (The Blessings) and Kulawadhu The play Ashirwad supported the education for girls and at the same time dealt with a query if education should become an obstacle for marriage and getting along with the husband. The hidden thought was to criticise society that always preferred girls to have knowledge strictly pertaining to wifely duties and they should not be superior to their husbands in academics. Kulawadhu discusses the problems of a female artist who shows the courage to cross the threshold of a home which was considered arrogant for a married woman in that period. Thus the playwrights made the audience aware of the changing values, a woman having an individual status and the oppressive system of patriarchy in a family. The post independent period witnessed the play moving towards more realistic themes.

The decade between 1933 to 1943 was special as Pralhad Keshav Atre wrote new plays based on new themes. His experimentation in Sashtang Namaskar and Gharabaher (Out of the House), were more than successful. The theme of

1.2 A Short History of Marathi Drama in the Context of Women Images 23 Gharabaher (Out of the House) was about an unfortunate woman. She decides to leave her home getting tired and frustrated with the torture and suffering of the people of her own family. Gharabaher, is obviously an adaptation of A Doll’s House by Ibsen, where a woman, Nora chooses to go out of her house to seek her own position in the society. The social plays did not only present a social realistic story, but also raised questions about the self and society. The plays Sansar Udyacha and Gharabaher raised the questions on the marriage institution. They focused on the issue, whether it is necessary to have this system and also why marriage is essential for a man and a woman to live together? These social issues were the unarticulated questions in the minds of the common man. It was obviously the inﬂuence of Henrik Ibsen’s plays. The themes of the plays reﬂect the restructuring social values.

Equality of the genders and freedom of women was the new thoughts which were conveyed through the modern plays. The plays perceived the problems of women as the problems of family and society and criticised the traditions and conventions which supported the patriarchal way of oppressing women. During the period of 1920 to 1950, the Marathi plays and playwrights were much inﬂuenced by the western dramatists like Moliere, Bergson, Jonson and Henrik Ibsen. The Marathi theatre changed drastically at that time. During this time, Bernard Shaw introduced Henrik Ibsen to the world through his book, containing critical essays on Ibsen’s plays titled as Quintessence of Ibsenism. The plays such as Ghosts, Doll’s House, Wild Duck, Master Builder and An Enemy of the People intensely inﬂuenced the Marathi playwrights.

1.2.3 New trends in drama with reference to modern dramatists in general and Vijay Tendulkar in particular

During the decade of 1955 to 65, the off-mainstream theatre pushed the mainstream towards new forms, new themes and new acting styles. Marathi drama opened new avenues with Vijay Tendulkar, Vasant Kanetkar, Mahesh Elkunchwar, Satish Alekar and P. L. Deshpande.

After 1950, new experiments were done in Maratahi drama, on stage setting, structure and the content. Sashachi Shinge (Horns of a Rabbit) by Madhav Manohar violated many traditions of drama as a try out. New experiments were done to present the moods of the characters through the music at the background

1.2 A Short History of Marathi Drama in the Context of Women Images 24 and parallel actions were shown on the stage in two different rooms. Gradually machines and technology became a part of Marathi theatre. It was easier to show the psychological upheavals of the characters using new techniques. Initially, it was not very easy for the audience to accept those changes.

During the period of 1040 to 1050, K. Narayan Kale, Anant Kanekar, Vartak and Vasudeorao Bhole were the critics, authors and scholars of Marathi drama. On the background of transition in every respect, after independence, the dramatists like V. V. Shirwadkar, P. L. Deshpande and Vijay Tendulkar marked their own identity in the ﬁeld of modern drama. V. V. Shirwadkar was inﬂuenced by Moliere’s and Gadkari’s plays. He said-

I always found play in the person, the situation around and in the conﬂicts, more than the entanglements of the situations.’ (Deshpande V. B, 2002: 147).

It was the peculiarity of his writing. He tried his best to reach to the heart of the character in his story. Zasichi Rani (Queen of Zansi), Natasamrat (The emperor of Dramatics) Dusara Peshwa (Peshawa, the Second) and Kaunteya were some of his well known plays. He wrote on various subjects with varied imagination.

Prof. Vasant Kanetkar

There is always sociological significance when we study literature of any particular author. Vasant Kanetkar mentions about him that when he started his writing career, the writings of N. S. Phadke and V. S. Khandekar influenced his thoughts and ignited him to write in a different style. It was challenging for him to establish himself as an author. He followed not the recognized path of writing novels but chose the philosophical, existential writing, which was similar to Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. He began his career as a dramatist with his Wedyache Ghar (A House of a Mad). He did new experiments in his Aurangzeb, by creating illusionary characters as in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. The play had striking characters, effective dialogues and curious theme. Based on psyche. It revealed the inner thoughts of the characters. Another significant play Prema Tujha Rang Kasa? (‘What is your colour, Oh Love?’) brought a comedy, which showed the variety of shades of love in the family of a common middleclass people. This play also conveys the feelings of life in general and love in particular to which all his audience gets related to.

1.2 A Short History of Marathi Drama in the Context of Women Images 25 Vasant Kanetkar is a kind of an author who creatively thought of new ideas and new themes. Kanetkar found the novel Beghar (without Home) written by Mrs. Shanta Nisal. Taking its characters, plot and conﬂict as the base and foundation, he reproduced another new play Pankhana Odh Pawalanchi (Fascination of Wings for the Feet). He says-

The conﬂict which was missing in the original novel is brought forth in this play; and it is the conﬂict of a modern woman who is pulled from both the sides as the tug of war in her life’ ( referred and translated / Deshpande V. B, 2002:256).

He wanted to convey through this play that though getting an education was a routine for a modern girl in the modern middle class society, the same society did not accept the educated woman soaring up in her career outside the frame of her home. Therefore, it became more difficult for a woman to get confined within the so called frame of a house, defined by ‘men’ in spite of being educated, competent and capable. This is a universal problem for all such women, despite the limitations of time and place. Later the same script was used to convey this theme in the film Umbaratha (A Threshold) directed by Mr. Jabbar Patel.

P. L. Deshpande

In the latter half of the 20th century, the name, P. L. Deshpande that cannot be overlooked in the field of Marathi Literature. Besides a dramatist, he tried his pen successfully on travelogues, character sketches, witty and comic writing and also many other forms of literatures. After the first presentation of his play Tuka Mhane Ata.., he wrote Ammaldar (The Government Inspector). That play reflects the early post independence era. The play brought him real popularity as a comic playwright and a comic stage artist. He was keen on conveying the moral values and principles through his writings as in Bhagyawan (The Lucky One). The modern way of presentation of the characters is seen in this play. The protagonist of the play is not any important person, but a simple man called Shidba, who sells old newspapers. But the poverty and scarcity of money do not disturb him to commit any immoral deed. Thus P. L. Deshpande brings this character as a torch holder in the corrupt society around. Shidba against the backdrop of the rich people stands out prominently as a real hero. His Sundar Mi Honar... ( I will be beautiful someday.. ) conveys the modern conflict in a family where there is a huge breach in the thinking of a baron who is holding tight

1.2 A Short History of Marathi Drama in the Context of Women Images 26 his age old values and traditions. He was not ready to change as per the time. Whereas his children are the products of modern society. They cannot accept the compulsion of their father, especially when they are adults and have the capacity to think and decide on their own. For his children the palace like house is just like a prison and they are thinking to escape from this prison. P.L. Deshpande’s plays are always brainstorming and giving some new and rational thought to the audience. Even the plot of Ti Fulrani, which is based on Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, a romance in ﬁve acts and further from My fair Lady, the opera presented by Allen J Learner and Fredrik Love, does not seem to be borrowed from something alien, but the characters, the setting, the values and the story are perfectly Indian in their matter and manners as well.

Chintaman T. Khanolkar

After the post independence period the Marathi theatre was changing rapidly with the new experimentations. The playwrights were experimenting in writing, in presenting new themes in new ways. Khanolkar carried out several experiments in Marathi Theatre. Khanolkar’s play Ek Shunya Bajiraos is considered a modern Marathi classic, unique in form and content. In this play Khanolkar attempted to harness the resources of Medieval Marathi dramatic forms. His Ajab Nyay Wartulacha was an adaptation of Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle. V. B. Deshpande criticizes Khanolkar as-

The number of his plays is substantially large. But it lacks the qualitative graph. There were some reasons behind it. He wrote with tremendous speed and may be for this very reason he did not pay much attention to the aesthetic of the play. Secondly, he never paid attention to the corrections and rewriting of the scripts. In spite of these facts his plays, though unsuccessful, were always in the discussions. The subjects, characters, poetic language and connotative meanings made a tremendous impact on the minds of the readers and the spectators (Deshpande V. B, 2002: 410).

In the post independence era in Maharashtra, the literary environment changed and became more reality oriented. All other literary forms too changed since 1935. But in the literary form of drama, it started reﬂecting only after independent period, during 1955. This period witnessed various streams in presentation and performance of drama. It was accepting the neo literary trend and at the same time the drama followed the old trends of folk literary elements. The

1.2 A Short History of Marathi Drama in the Context of Women Images 27 Marathi drama got inﬂuenced by the changes that took place in European drama. The postmodern drama is seen bifurcated into two streams. Some playwrights followed the traditional frames to present new issues, while some followed realism and naturalism in settings and themes.

Vijay Tendulkar

In the post independence era, a new generation of playwrights came into being. Vijay Tendulkar is one who marked his specialty in the field of drama. He is considered the first playwright to take Marathi drama beyond Maharashtra. He began his career as a playwright when the Marathi theatre was in the declining stage. Initially, he followed the basic style of the stalwarts like Warerkar, Rangnekar, P. K. Atre and the like. But soon he established his own style. It is obvious that he had a totally different viewpoint to look at the world and that was reflected in his plays. He portrayed the human relationships and its complexities in a detailed and intricate manner. He dealt with the problems in the society. Lakshmi Subramanyam writes-

Of all the major male dramatists of the seventies, Tendulkar’s insight into frictions and the ﬁssures of modern sensibility with its hidden layer of violence is conveyed with remarkable sensitivity (Lakshmi Subramanyam, 2002:18,19).

He never tried to show the solutions to them, yet made the readers and the audience restless. Anant. Kulkarni comments-

Tendulkar put his mark by creating controversial plays like Gidhade, Ghashiram Kotwal, Sakharam Binder and the likes. At a time, he was presenting an intense and horrible experience of life. A unique compound of love, hatred, lust and perversity is found in his characters (Kulkarni Anant/ 1998: 91).

He established his own theory and presentation of drama. His plays were centred on the middle class man. Through his characters he tries to search the reﬂections of the middle class consciousness. They are so common that we meet such people every day around us. Tendulkar tries to search the reason behind the attitude of these people and the cause that makes them violent. He also examines the circumstances that made them lonely and alone. This may be said to be the specialty of his writing. In fact the way common man thinks is not something new to literature, yet the perspective with which Tendulkar wrote

1.2 A Short History of Marathi Drama in the Context of Women Images 28 was something which was never experienced by the then audience. His writing is multidimensional and the scholars had the challenge to interpret the deeper thought written by Tendulkar. V. B. Deshpande ﬁnds him more a humanitarian than the socialist. It is very true in his case that as other playwrights during those times, Tendulkar followed the philosophy of Sartre, Camus who inﬂuenced the playwrights during that time. He was known for his violent language and his experimental presentations. Tendulkar was keen to solve the puzzles of human mind and relationships through his plays.

Through his plays, he tried to search the meaning of common middle class man’s existence. We can relate to the way of thinking of the characters. In fact the subjects and themes of the play rotate around a man, his mind, his relationships and his loneliness. These topics were in no way strange or new to literature. On the contrary, presentation of man’s experiences is literature. In spite of that Tendulkar’s stands apart in his style and presentation. He wrote on these subjects with various dimensions. The presentation of man’s experience as an allegedly universal experience is one of the many ways in which women’s voices and roles have been pushed to the margins of drama.

His journey begins with his plays such as Shreemant, Chmnicha Ghar Hota Menacha, Kawlyanchi Shala. The plays like Gidhade, Silence! The Court is in Session.. revealed the true colour and psyche of the society in general. For the ﬁrst time in Marathi play, the subjects like violence in a man - woman relationship, the place of woman in society were discussed and that too very boldly and shockingly. His plays made people check their ideas of morality. He borrowed some unfamiliar, non Indian techniques and themes in his plays. He followed the play within a play, the technique in his Silence ! The Court is in Session ... His Sakharam Binder was too bold for the audience to accept it as a play. The boisterous, rowdy and overexcited language, the tension among the relationships of the characters were appalling, shocking and at the same time fascinating. Tendulkar followed a modern technique through his plays. His protagonists maintain the communication with the audience right from the beginning of the play and they get stuck and immovable to the happenings in the play till the end. His other plays such as Kanyadaan, Ek Hatti Mulgi, Dambadwip cha Mukabala proved his distinctive and unique character as a playwright.

This compact history of Marathi Theatre will help to explore the issues of the women protagonists and the social psyche of the selected plays by Tendulkar.

1.2 A Short History of Marathi Drama in the Context of Women Images 29