An Understanding of How Gender Ideology Shapes Human Identity in the Selected Plays of Mahesh Dattani

Authors

  • Dr. Beena Agarwal Associate Professor, Department of English, D.S. College, Aligarh

Keywords:

Gender-centric, human sensibility, marginality, social paradigms, gender ideology

Abstract

In Indian theatre, dramatists like Tagore, Tendulkar, Karnad and Dattani have made literary endeavours to explore how pernicious has been the effect of gender conditioning on the human psyche. The contemporary playwright, Mahesh Dattani has attempted to reveal with great sensitivity the impact that gender stereotypes tend to have not only on the psyche of a man or a woman but also that of Eunuchs to exemplify how gender, which is nothing but a social construct could mar human life and cripple individuals in the process. His plays thus provide a realistic depiction of the struggles of such individuals who struggle to register their will and voice, in their endeavour of self-preservation and survival. However, human sensibility and human resistance are above any gender-centric approach. The present paper aims to examine selected plays of Dattani to highlight the sublimity of human will that strives to overcome the oppressive systems of gender ideologies.

Author Biography

Dr. Beena Agarwal, Associate Professor, Department of English, D.S. College, Aligarh

Dr Beena Agarwal is a Professor and Head of the Department at DS College, Aligarh. She has more than thirty-five years of teaching experience and has produced about a dozen books. A prolific researcher. Dr Agarwal has the credit of publishing over fifty research articles in national and international journals.

References

Dattani, Mahesh. Collected Plays, Volume One and Volume Two, Delhi: Penguin Books, 2006.

Roy, Elizabeth, “Freak Mirrors and Grotesque Images”, The Hindu, 15 March 2002.

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Published

01.10.2021

How to Cite

Beena Agarwal. (2021). An Understanding of How Gender Ideology Shapes Human Identity in the Selected Plays of Mahesh Dattani. Journal of Teaching and Research in English Literature, 12(4), 26–31. Retrieved from https://journals.eltai.in/index.php/jtrel/article/view/17

Issue

Vol. 12 No. 4 (2021): October

Section

Research Articles

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