Female Stereotypes and the Sustenance of Patriarchy: A Study into Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s Parineeta

Abstract

This study into Parineta unveils the miserable conditions of women and girls in early twentieth century Bengali society. The condition of females was pathetic because the society was highly based on dowry system and patriarchy. This study aims to show the stereotypical representation of female characters. Lalita, the heroine of the novel, is an orphan girl and she is obliged to marry at the age of thirteen. She is deprived of her fundamental rights, her identity and submerges her identity in Shekhar, an agent of patriarchy. Most of the female characters in the novel are represented as child bearing machine, innocent, submissive, and emotional. This study shows how women are obliged to surrender before patriarchy and how Sarat Chandra’s project of female independence remained unfinished. This study aims at exposing Sarat Chandra’s ambivalence in treating female characters.