A Reading of the ‘Insignificant Other’ in the Oriental Texts of the Romantics

Abstract

Romantic Age in history is noted for its path-breaking developments and radical theories. The most prominent among them has been the imperial conquest of the East and its further representation as the “Other” in well-known works such as those of Byron, Beckford, Dacre, and other writers. In the projection of the ‘insignificant other’, the already pre-existing ‘insignificant other’ of the so-called civilized society i.e. women have been further projected as weak, dependent, slave- like, and merely as objects of passion and desire. The derogatory depiction of women has either been as objects of desire as in the case of the Arab woman or as docile and pious as the Indian woman existing merely to meet the demands of the ‘significant other’. The present paper is an attempt to explore some prominent oriental narratives as canvasses of the bleak, dark, and lonely world of the female -insignificant other and as subtle connotations of colonial patriarchal voices.