Representation of Violence and Resistance to Patriarchy in The Fire and the Rain: A Feminist Study

Abstract

Art in general is a representation and reflection of life and people who one can and may meet in life. In this sense art and literature for that matter,are representation of life. Dramatic art in particular is much more representational in that it not only narrates or suggests what and how people act and behave but it actually embodies and enacts their modes and pattern of actions. So a play is already a representation of one or other kind of reality. The issue of representation becomes a contested field when it relates to representation of one group of humanity by another group. A sizeable bulk of literature is composed by the male writers for the male readers or consumer, with a male bias and predilection. In this case, representation of women in a play already suffers the possibility of misrepresentation. The same is true of the representation of female in Girish Karnad’s play The Fire and the Rain, based on an episode in the Hindu scripture. But that representation is not necessarily the personal projection of the playwright. Rather, in basing his play on the mythical episode, the modern writer has held the patriarchal treatment of women up to ridicule and has questioned the rationality, humanity and authenticity of such imposition of patriarchal values upon women. Thus, though the playwright is male, and he wrote the play for a patriarchal audience, he has criticized the male domination on women.