[Music] you [Music] good morning let us now begin our discussion of a very important playwright post-independence Vijay Tendulkar and the for spring will be discussing by him is called silence the courtesan session Shaunta the halwa he which is the Marathi title and it's a 1967 production and it's one of the first and little place that became a part of the new Indian drama phenomenon of the 1960s and it's also from the first modern Indian place where the woman the female protagonist of the play becomes the protagonist and the victim of the play and what is also interesting that the play takes the form of a play within a play right so you have an outer play and outer narrative frame I never play that has big enacted inside the play within the larger structure of the framing play and the distinction between the outer play and the inner play is gradually blood and finally collapsed by the end of the play the play itself has a rather a fairly simple plot it's about a young schoolteacher call to Miss Benari who is accused of having committed infanticide and for which the court condemned so-and-so there is a mock trial the play takes of a form of a mock court trial where Miss Benari is being charged with infanticide for which she is punished she shamed and by the end of the play there's actually no distinction between the outer play and the inner play now the outer play is of these different characters you have several characters in the play all of whom are struggling actors so they are actors playing actors playing characters in the inner play right so you have actors playing actors in the play and they're all trying to put up a play right in which they play different characters and they're all struggling actors right and they're all part for a truth that is headed by mr. Kashi girl and they're all struggling to put up a new performance for the city and you have miss Benari who was one of the actors in the play who is also becomes the protagonist of the play within the play there's an inner people the inner play takes the form of a mock court trial where Miss Benari the protagonist of the play is being charged with infanticide the play is you know largely thematically speaking about you know is a condemnation of patriarchal condemnation of women female sexuality and you know initially there's a suggestion that Miss Benari has done something which she should not have done which transgresses social norms which is to kill her unborn child and she's also didn't later charge for having had an affair with and much older married professor professor Dom Lee for which she is also being shamed and stigmatized and punished and the unborn child is mister is a child she has with Professor Dom Lee socha for which she has to be punished so the play really is about the patriarchal regulation and operation of women who are unable to actually be sexual independent sexual agents of in their own nature and what is also a part of Tendulkar's dramatic strategy in the play is to show how Banaras persecutors in the play are actually as powerless as she is so in you know so it seems to be as the editor of the collection of plays but and older right so the main editor of the collected works afternoon car show me upon the pardon who is also very important playwright and director says of Tendulkar's play silence the courtesan session is to say that it is part of Tendulkar's dramatic strategy that binaries immediate prosecutors or persecutors in the plain or as powerless as shears and all the exertions to Carbonari down to size are more they are striving after power than a real exercise of power right so you have mr. and mrs. kashikar you have a very innocent villager who initially comes to watch the performance in the place but then becomes a part of the play within the play summoned then you also have certain other characters you have mrs. kashikar right who is rather you know subservient wife to mr kashikar she's always being ridiculed by her husband and silenced and then you also have another very important characters in the play so you have Sukhatme who is an rather inefficient lawyer right so he wants to be a proficient lawyer but he is struggling to be one you also have mr. and mrs. kashikar adopted son procreate who was unable to attain an independent adult existence someone who's independent of his parents he's always being infantilized treated like a child in the play and you also have another character called Carnac who is you know trying in vain to become a successful actor right and Carnac also seems to be in some sense a autobiographical reflection of widget and record himself in the kinds of understanding that he has of modern theatre what theatre means to him so these are the some of the important characters in the clip and you will notice that as the play proceeds you know miss Benari is initially the center of the attention of all that the male and female characters in the play and because she has been made the protagonist and the victim of the mock court trial in the play you know you'll also notice that that Miss Benari is when when aware of the insecurities of these men and women who act without her fellow actors and they're all in some sense failures and they're all struggling to become what they are trying to become what they want to become in their lives but they are unable to and so Miss Benari is constantly ridiculing them making fun of them as the play proceeds but then as the title of the play itself suggests silence the courts in session the court becomes another oppressive patriarchal institution that gradually silence is Miss Benari so it becomes a one of those institutions that embodies the silencing mechanisms of patriarchy that that forbids women from speaking right from speaking up and so towards the end of the play when Miss ponary actually delivers a long monologue to its I mean about her own plight it's hardly a defense in her case because she's unable to defend herself against a court against these men who will not let her speak so it's a rather unsuccessful self defense which actually becomes more an exploitation of the lost foregone possibilities of life itself possibilities that are no longer available to the woman in question it's rather symbolic of widget and Wilker to actually portray Miss Benari the space of the court where the mock court court trial takes place as a pale as a stone of patriarchy where the woman is trapped right so you look at the opening of act 1 you know there is a description of the space on the stage where you have lights going up on an empty completely empty Hall and there are two doors one one to enter by and want to go to an adjoining room one side of the hall seems to go leftwards into the wings within the hall or a built-in platform one or two old wooden chairs an old box or stool and sundry other things like jumbled together as of an answer in a number room the clock out of order on the wall some worn-out portraits of national leaders a wooden board with the names of donors a picture of the god Ganesha hung on the door the door is closed right there are footsteps outside someone unlocks a door a man's idols in and stands looking fro around as of seeing the hall for the first time this is some month in his hands a lock-and-key a toy pirate made of green a book so you see this is a very innocent uh villager you know somebody who's come to watch the performance summoned entering the space of the theater which then becomes a space of the court where the mock trial takes place and he suggests that Miss Benari enters later on with you know holding her finger one of her fingertips is between her lips she obviously has injured her fingertip which got caught in the door or to the entrance of the theatre and she gets locked inside right and that's what someone says that shut the door and you've had it locked yourself in right so it's symbolic to note that she gets trapped inside and it just gets trapped again towards the end of the second act right so she's unable to actually get out of this space it becomes a chap and through the conversation between Miss Benari and summoned Benari initially seems to be little flirtatious as trying to get someone's attention and but summons is you know not aware of the attentions that he's receiving from miss Bernard he seems or the innocent and later on of course miss Benari exploit someone's innocence to actually ridicule the other characters who are yet to appear on stage so miss Benari is you know a schoolteacher and she begins by talking about how children fall better than adults they do not have the blind pride of thinking that they know everything there's no nonsense she says stuffed in their heads they don't scratch you till you bleed they then run away like cowards please open that window it's become too hot for me so you can you can notice miss Benari comparing children to adults of how children are not prejudiced like adults they are not arrogant they don't think they know everything and they do not she says if they do not attack you they don't attack you and then run away like cowards right so they're not insecure there are in sec you on like adults so the certain innocence - children are certain sincerity that adults luck and then she suggests that she has been charged with some accusation that has completely ruins her reputation as a schoolteacher and she says that she's been slandered and so she's wondering why she's been slandered when she has been a good school teacher she says my children will do anything for me for I'd give the last drop of my blood to teach them that's why people are jealous especially the other teachers in the management but what can they do to me what can they do however hard they try what can they do they're holding an inquiry if you please but my teaching is perfect I have put my whole life into it I have worn myself to a shadow in the in this job just because of one bit of slander what can they do to me throw me out let them I haven't hurt anyone anyone at all if I have hurt anybody it's been myself but that is that the kind of reason for throwing me out who are these people to say that what I can or can't do my life is my own I haven't sold it to anyone for a job my will is my own my wishes are my own I'll do what I like with myself and my life I'll decide and then she certainly unconsciously places her hand on our stomach and she certainly stops seeing someone she falls silent gradually she regains her poise Salman is embarrassed so you can make out that she has something to conceal we don't know as yet what it is but when she places a hand on her stomach and after if you've read the entire play then you will realize that that probably the allegation is true that probably there was a time and she did bear a child and then later we get to know that the child is Professor Tom Reiss child one must also pay attention to Miss Banaras poems and songs and the poems that she writes which suggests our growing knowledge of life of certain aspects of life like love and sexuality and the growing control and prohibitions over a young movements once she comes of age right so one of our English songs that she sings to herself is like this oh I've got a sweetheart who carries all my books he plays my dollhouse and says he likes my looks I'll tell you a secret he wants to marry me but mommy says I'm Doolittle to have such thoughts as these right so mommy says I'm too little to have such thoughts as these right so it's almost suggesting that she is precocious she's too young to know things like love like sexual attraction and then she gradually mentions other other actors and characters who are going to act with her and she begins reticulum them to summoned so she says that so our Chairman that is the head of the drama troupe our Chairman kashikar will tell you gosh sure can't take a step without a prime objective besides him there's mrs. hand that rocks the cradle I mean mrs. kashikar what an excellent housewife the poor woman is a real hand that rocks the cradle' type but what's the use mr. prime objective is tied up with uplifting the masses and poor hand that rocks the cradle has no cradled Rock right so she suggests that mr. that mr. Kirschner is a hypocrite someone who really was an idealistic man who wants to uplift the masses right but mrs. kashikar is someone who you know presents herself as someone who is a domesticated wife and and someone who has pious to be a mother but unfortunately she does not have a child of her own which is why they adopt roguery someone says you mean they have no he rocks an imaginary baby in his arms when re-write you seem to be very bright - mr. cachaça and the handle the hand that rocks the cradle in order that nothing should happen to either of them in their bare bare house and that they shouldn't die of boredom give shelter to a young boy and so miss Bannister suggests the hollowness of marriage the boredom of the manage the lovelessness of their marriage and the fact that neither need any to shelter they need we need to adopt a young boy in order to bring life back to their own marriage into their own lives they educated him made him toil away made a slave out of him his name's Baloo Baloo Oakley who else well we have an expert on the law he's such an authority on the subject even a desperate client wouldn't go anywhere near him he just sits alone in the barristers room at court swatting flies with legal precedence and in his tournament he sits alone killing for house flies but for today's mock trial he's a very great barrister you'll see the wonder he performs and there's a with us hmm scientist inter field right so she first makes fun of bounder okra who is the adoptive son of mr. and mrs. kashikar who wants to project himself as an expert lawyer then you have a scientist and an aspiring scientist who has failed his intermediate so cotton a she says we have an intellectual - that means someone who prides himself on his book learning but when there's a real-life problem our way he runs hides his head he is not here today won't be coming either he wouldn't dare right so he's again he's talking about Carnac so who prides himself on book learning and but he's so bookish that when there's a real-life problem he does not know how to handle it so there's a there's a gap between his you know his theoretical pocus knowledge of the world and his experiences of life and the initial plan is to actually perform a play which is polemic an attack on President Johnson of the American president Johnson for producing atomic weapons and that's the initial idea but then later on they changed the mind to actually to miss Banaras case of infanticide to actually make the play a lot more salacious and gossipy and exciting if you look at some of Miss Benari as other poems and songs so for example she recites a poem of us which again suggests her deep sense of isolation she says our feet tread up unknown and dangerous pathways evermore wave after blinded wave was shattered stormy upon the shore light glows alive again again at mingles with the dark of night our orden hands burn out and then again in flames their alight everything is fully known and everything is clear to see and the wound that's born born to bleed bleeds on forever faithfully there's a battle sometimes who I defeat is destined as the end some experiences are meant to taste then just to waste and spend right so her poem suggests that defeat is eminent that she will be defeated by the end of the play and so initially miss Banaras seems to be someone who was filled with a vitality like she seems to love life she can never compromise in her life she can never grudge her own life and she seems rather happy she seems rather lively but then her liveliness her sense of vitality seems to barely concealed a deep sense of heart now that she has been accused her reputation has been tainted that she's been slandered for having an affair with an older married man and also for having had a child with him for which her whole career as a schoolteacher her reputation as a schoolteacher is being ruined one of the sub themes of the play is also about theatres of the very form and function of theatre itself and this comes through in the dialogues between Carnac who is as I mentioned earlier an autobiographical allusion to Tendulkar himself who you know is constantly making a comment on yet on what what is this phenomenon called modern theatre and of course he has a problem with the way modern theaters practice in the way it takes place within every in within an enclosed intimate space and on a raised platform a raised a proscenium stage so khatma for example you know in his very flamboyant lawyers voice you know makes fun of Carnac and he says one minute mr. Connick should I tell you what's going on through your mind right now this hall you are thinking is ideal for intimate theater in other words for those plays of yours for a tiny audience which go over the heads in any case yes or not on and so Sukhatme is actually ridiculous on ik for the kinds of laser he seems to perform for a rather small and elite audience within an enclosed space on the proscenium arch and so he wonders whether carnac's plays are actually being understood can be understood by the common masses or whether they are actually abstruse and intellectual like him it's so according being the aspiring intellectual although I mean which actually actually ends up being rather pretentious intellectual by the end of the play then miss Benedict continues to actually ridiculous term mrs. kashikar for their pretentious marriage seems rather sentimental you must also know mother professor domine never actually appears on stage professor Dom Lee is never accused were never charged with anything in its miss Benari who has to you know embed the charges the accusations of the other actors of the mock court trial for having transgressed social cords of femininity but miss miss Saddam Lee / professor Tom Lee is never accused of having betrayed Miss Benari and having abandoned her after he gives her his child there are also minor suggestions in the during the mock court trial the for example there are Sukhatme for example ridicules the whole the formality of the court trial he says that well we have the Bible in the bhagavad-gita for the oath-taking I mention it because you want something to read by the way rockery you did Balaam bring along the Bible and the Geeta didn't you or have you forgotten and rory seems to have forgotten the Bible in the bhagavad-gita on which the oath is taken they seem to actually have instead rather new erotic and racy pulp fiction novel by this Marathi writer Surya can't a father figure and someone seems to have a copy of it and he says that his normals are so thrilling this is the 115 of elephants so they claim to almost use that book instead of the Gita and the pocket and the Bible - for the oath-taking right so in some sense this is all so ridiculous s a procedure of oats taking and in some sense is also a parody the very notion of truth itself like what does it mean to say the truth who's to say the truth right truth always obviously in this place seems to lie in the hands of the of those who have power and not those who are powerless so the in fact the whole play in some sense is a parody of the truth of its kind if it's a satire or now on on patriarchy and the kind of truth claims that patriarchy makes in its bid to actually persecute women for the crimes the imaginary or real crimes that they have committed and so what is interesting is that the court has condemned this Benari to infanticide even before she has committed the Act it's like Miss Benari is condemned from the very beginning she's damned either way right so she's it does not have consent it does not matter at all right so the very fact that she fell in love with an older married man and had a child with him is enough sufficient grounds for society and for the court to actually dam her as a news disreputable woman so so she is charged with with infanticide even before she has actually committed the Act and you know it does not matter whether whether she consented to the relationship or not or to the affair not but then she is guilty so she so she's so this is of course a classic instance of the structural oppression of women in patriarchy so irrespective whether they are active agents or not whether they actively participate whether they have they have any consent or not you know they are damned as potentially guilty right in the beginning of act 2 again there is another instance of you knowing whether work or procedure it's being ridiculed right so the initial scene of act 2 goes in the different actors / characters the play of the inner play of the mock trial shearing pawn right and so there is this another funny competition of between the characters and how how quickly the characters can consume bond and how quickly how fast they can spit burn out right and so there's there's this whole competition on on bonds between which which takes up much of the time and miss Benari is in the who at this point the play still has a few lines to say manages to actually make fun of the the dignity of the court so she constantly has these brief comebacks ridiculing the institution of the court and and mr. Garcia who is the judge and when mr. kashikar charges miss Benari with infanticide she says how does infants annually work really I don't like you word at all infanticide infanticide why don't you accuse me instead of snatching public property that has a nice sound about it don't you think sounds like snacking and then mr. mrs. kashikar says I don't think so at all there's nothing wrong with the present charge Benari banking or her hand on the chair order order the dignity of the court must be preserved at all costs can't shut up at home can shut up here imitating a lawyer my lord let the courts family be given a suitable reprimand she's never committed the crime of infanticide or stole any public property except for my lord himself right so she's imitating the lawyer and at the judge and is actually making by reading the entire court proceedings then of course late initially she refutes the charges of the court she says that I could I couldn't even hurt kill a common cockroach why would I kill a newborn child so she - she refuses to accept that she's guilty then later on in the interrogation that occurs between succoth may puncture and miss Benari again they asked her what she does she says puncture says that she's a teacher a school mom and so you gradually notice how the other male characters to play are used up in her voice they assume has been erased force and they only seem to answer for her so when she's asked a question it's not as though she always has the opportunity to answer the questions her voice is always being appropriated by other characters then dong she tells so got me who's asking miss Bernard the questions she tells he's a punk who seems to speak for her saying that she's unmarried and functions as to the public eye she's unmarried and Benari says and to the private eye gosh she could order miss Benari self-control don't forget the value of self-control to Succoth me you may continue I'll just be back then Sukhatme and the lawyer asks mr. function how would you describe your view of the moral conduct of the accused on the whole like that of a normal unmarried woman you should at least take this trial seriously Benari but how should he know what the moral conduct of a normal unmarried woman is like pong say it is different so caught me for example wrong say they accused as a bit too much so caught me a bit too much what does that mean puncture it means it means that on the whole she runs after men too much Benari poor man so that may miss Ben are you committing contempt of court when I read the court has gone into that room so how can contempt of it be committed in this one there's not much point in that remarks caught me then so caught me there's no point in coming to grips with you mr. function Tom Shaye's has slid out of the witness box and is talking to Carnac nobody's at all a serious Punk she returns the witness box mr. pong say can you tell me does the accused have a particularly close relationship with any married or unmarried man when are we interrupting yes with the counsel for the prosecution himself and with the judge to say nothing of pong Shan Bono here or Carnac right so she is obviously making fun of the whole thing she says that she has an intimate relationship with all the men who are present in the mock trial so this mock court trials actually rehearsal for the play the thing that they're going to put up that very night but then the mock trial itself becomes a force like the farce of a trial so the constantly trying to decipher or read miss Banaras behavior right does she embody are there any signs on her of what it means to be a loose promiscuous woman right especially since she's unmarried at her age she's in her early or mid thirties and she's still not married so which is what makes these men suspicious wondering whether she is out to seduce and trick men then they invite Connick the aspiring actor on stage to occupy the witness box then they are getting interrogate Connick asking him how much he knows or what he knows of Miss Benedict and again he talks about the modern play again he makes certain comments on modern plays Sukhatme wants to know what is the description of a mother in the place that Connick performs and the Connick says the life that the new players don't mention them at all there and they're actually about the futility of life on the whole that's all man's life is so in some sense a court through Sukhatme wants garnet to confirm that motherhood is a sacred pure institution right so it's something that all women aspire for and all women as mothers have to honor the rules there are socially sanctioned roles sacred roles as mothers right so they cannot question it they cannot challenge it and of course the court is talking about women who are married and have a child right so it's the court sanctifies I can only sanction the possibility of having a child within marriage thereby sanctifying corroborating the ideal notion of monogamy and motherhood within marriage so got me mr. Connick who is the mother the woman who protects the infant she is born on the one who cruelly strangles it to death which definition do you prefer garlic both are mothers because both have given birth so caught me what would he call motherhood carnac giving birth to a child Sukhatme but even a gives birth to pups carnac then she's a mother of course who denies it who says only humans can mothers and not dogs ben-ari stretching lazily Marie for you Carnac then there there is you know mister mister oakley is done to actually appear on in a witness box and testify against Miss Benari and Baloo locally who was infantilized man somebody who was rather childlike who doesn't have an independent existence away from his adoptive parents mr. and mrs. kashikar is unable to speak he doesn't know what to say and then you notice how the all the male characters are conspiring together to create you know a conspiratorial narrative against that would condemn Miss Benari right so they it's it's the story of patriarchy as it were as they as the gang up together against Miss Benari to confirm their suspicions of her disreputable character and rockery are now he makes it up he says that he went to Professor Tom Lee's house and there he sees Miss Benari and that from this point onwards miss Benari speaks less and less her voice can't be heard she is gradually increasingly silenced until the very end then Sukhatme asks locally what he saw in Tommy's house locally says they were both sitting there what else did you see that's all but I got such a shock sitting then down this room the night falling and Rory's are able to say anything beyond that then it is Salman stone to actually extend a rockery story and to add on to its details right and remember that Samantha's an innocent villager who does not know what's happening he does not realize the seriousness of the mock court trial so even though that the court is being parodied and ridiculed in the process the very distinction between the outer plane and the inner play is completely collapsed the charges of infanticide against Miss Benari become real right even though initially it's supposed to be just a you know a theme for the play in then it later on it actually becomes reality and there is now no going back that misses miss panera has actually been condemned of the offenses that she's committed someone says that I do hereby swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth true enough for that child I mean of course what's true for the child is quite false really but I'm just taking the old for practice again suka suka I'm a delegate summoned asking him how he knows miss Benedict and then someone says that initially someone said that Miss Bernard is a very nice lady that she has a rather favorable impression of Miss Benedict and later on again Sukhatme asks him if he saw Miss Benari with professor Dom day and then summoned extends Roker history again making up details he doesn't realize the seriousness of what he's doing he does not realize that he is now part of the conspiracy to gang up against Miss Ben RA to condemn her to shame her and now he says that here he went to Professor down this place to invite him for a lecture the door was locked not from outside from inside and I'm banged on the door no that's wrong I rang the bell the door opened an unknown man stood before me guess who it was professor Dom Lee I was seeing him for the first time so he'd be unknown to be wouldn't he bong Shi Bravo summoned mrs. kashikar who is giving his evidence beautifully summoned Dom Lee is before me when he saw me he said with annoyed expression yes whom do you want bong che he's describing dumbly to the life some and I answered professor Dom Lee he said he's not at home and he slammed the door shut for a second I stood there stunned I began to think should I go home or press the bend once more because I had an important errand so caught me what somewhat what well let's say something let's suppose that I wanted to arrange and lecture by professor domine so you notice how he's making up the story as he's telling it he does lecture doesn't he I only ask because he's a professor so he must lecture at times so I stood there wondering how I couldn't go back with her arranging the lecture at that moment I heard a vague sound from the room or someone crying crying he has an indistinct sound Frank it was a woman so caught me yes summoned for a moment he stood where he was he means me he I mean I couldn't understand who was you will ask me why I didn't think it was some female member of Professor dominus family well from the way the woman was crying she didn't seem to be a member of his family why because the crying was soft that is it was secretive now why would anyone cry secretively in her own house thinking over all this I stood where I was just then I heard some words mrs. kashikar some words Carnac and function who spoke summoned you're not supposed to ask this gentleman the council he will ask me so caught me who spoke someone the woman of course the one inside mrs. kashikar good heavens tell us to tell us who were she summoned no he will ask me the council will not you so cut me I am asking tell us quick mr. summoned what were the words he heard don't waste time tell us quick mr. Sammon be quick summon the quads were should shred it shall I tell it all so cut me whatever you can remember but tennis summoned if you abandon me in this condition where shall I go so he is looking at a book in his hand he's reading out a line from it if you abandon me in this condition where should I go Banaras dense mrs. car sugar is that really what she said someone how can I tell you to cut me then who or else on earth can someone no no I'm telling you the professor's answer his answer professor darkness so caught me oh I see someone where you should go is entirely your problem I feel great sympathy for you but I can do nothing I must protect my reputation and that she said that's all you can talk about your reputation how heartless Eva he replied nature's heartless so it does not matter whether this event and this illicit relationship actually happened or not the entire player only is an imagination of patriarchy and it's its patriarchy's imagination of what a woman can do which is then being read as transgressive something which is which goes against the social codes of chaste femininity right because the ideals of femininity lie in being a good chaste wife and a good mother right so the entire play really is a play on that I mean is whether it really has doesn't matter it's really a structural problem like the human is is is is potentially guilty for her real or imaginary crimes simply because she is capable of acting upon her own sexual agency about the fact that she there's a possibility that a woman may want to choose her own level not be married to him or probably have a child with him right there is something which is being condemned it's it's being forbidden and so Miss Benari feebly tries to defend herself by saying that it's all a lie a complete lie but then nobody wants to listen to her because she's already always already been condemned with the charge but so she's been condemned even before the child begins and so saman fills up the missing details of the story that has begun that is that that's begun by a rock day and he imagines that miss panara had been jilted and betrayed by Professor Tom Lee who no longer wants to take care of her once he discovers that she has she's burying his child so while he she only worshipped his intellect his mind she claims that he only he was only interested in her body he was only interested in you know in having fun and not taking any responsibility for the act that he's committed and so the entire court is shocked when they get to know that mr. professor Dom Lee is the father of the unborn child which then has to be killed to redeem the woman's reputation and the larger reputation of society itself and by the end of Act two again mrs. Miss Benari is unable to escape from the court because the door has been locked from outside so you see the second moment where she symbolically trapped within this zone of patriarchy again in act 3 there's no deser there's a continuation of the mock court trial and you know you also noticed by now how summons has lost all his innocence he begins by being a very innocent person but by now he's been corrupted in the mock court trial by patriarchy which and whose mechanisms operate through the institution of the court and then again during the the interrogation between of mrs. kashikar and and gosh grand mrs. kashikar both of them disapproved the fact that Miss Benari is unmarried at the age of 34 and so therefore she says that she's not less than 434 I'll give it to you in writing what I say is our society should revive the old custom of child marriage marry off the girls before puberty all this promiscuity will come to a full stop if anyone has ruined our society it's a Gurkha andand okay chef Garvey that's my Frank opinion right so you have the voice of the conservative Orthodox who believe that child marriage should be brought back because they cannot tolerate the possibility of women being unmarried in there well into their thirties and so she thinks that marriage is the only solution to promiscuity again mrs. kashikar goes on to say that at her time whether a girl was knob nosed sallow hunchback or anything she could still get married it's the sly new fashion of women earning that makes everything go wrong right so that's how promiscuity has spread throughout her our society is what she says right so give me many independence financial independence emotional independence and then they become from excuse it's so women should not be given any kind of freedom they should be bound their sexuality should be harnessed and domesticated to serve the interests of the family so again mrs. kashikar like the other characters is trying to closely read miss Banaras embodied behavior right she seems to be too jolly too cheerful right that itself for her is a suspicious sign of her promiscuity right so that she's she doesn't seem to be bound she's not she her behavior is not sure the way should calm ports and carries herself does not suggest that she is a chaste woman what's also important to notice that the other male characters especially Rory and succoth may suggest that at way various points of the third act of the play suggests that Miss Benari tried to seduce them and try to also can whisk and mince them to get married to her so that her child can have a father and so many of the men are in the male characters in the play are secretly desire miss Benari even though they will not openly acknowledge it they all want to have some kind of relationship with Miss Panera so they they want to in some sense they're alert by the possibility who of a woman who is so you know free and bold right so they're completely they're very attracted and drawned woman who is so sexually bold seems to be therefore sexually available to them but at the same time they will not be able to they're not able to associate themselves with her none of them will marry her because they she does not embody the ideal the ideal type of a chaste woman right of a chaste wife so there is this paradoxes this contradiction that operates within patriarchy where all the men in some sense are drawn I mean that's the very reason why they actually have a trial on Miss Banaras alleged infanticide it's because they want to participate in a trial which opens up which dissects miss Banaras life as a source of salacious gossip and desire forbidden desire right so so they all participate in that patriarchal mock trial where they all have a share in dissecting and exposing miss Benari and humiliating her and they seem to derive a certain pleasure out of it but they also have to maintain a certain distance because they don't know they cannot be seen being with someone who is not an ideal woman so at various points a third act Gong XI and rockety suggest that I miss Bernard or try to seduce them and try to you know convince them to get married to her and then boom she discovers that she keeps a bottle of t20 which is a pesticide in Hoppus right so they accuse her of having tried to commit suicide because of her alleged past sexual past so they they think that that the fact that she possesses tick 20 in her power suggests that she has she's guilty you know of having had an illicit affair and for having had a child out of wedlock pong she said as claims that he received a letter from Miss Banaras asking him to meet her I have something to discuss with you come at a quarter past one oh wait a note appears just beyond the school and then miss Benari bong she claims came looking quite guilty then she says mrs. car then he claims that Miss Bennet could not tell him what she wanted to say in public so they go to the family room right and there she opens out the poster take out a handkerchief and out of it rolls us more a small bottle a small bottle of tea 20 and then she a puncture says that she made known her desire to marry me garnet and kasha got shocked they say what Koshka says this appears terribly interesting Sukhatme so cut me true my lord it is and it will be did she tell you she was not in love with you etc function no but she told me she was pregnant Banaras sitting like a block of stone drained of color and totally desolate Carnac are you telling the truth function bong shake what do you think that I'm lying kashikar who was the father continue puncture continue don't stop there sue cut me mister punky pong che miss Benari made me promise never to tell anyone the name of the man who had made a pregnant so if I've kept my word but who was it - chica what will you take - shut up he tells his wife the cat will be out of the bag soon and then later on pong she claims that Miss Benari wanted to get married to him and finally of course boom she suggests that professor darling is actually the father of the child Carnac and rocked he also suggests that Miss Benari took her turns cities in them - convincing Rocketeer for example to marry her right so there are all these allegations these that they place on Miss Benari and so finally towards the end of the play sue caught me of course voices is the voice of the court of legal action of patriarchy suggesting that Miss Benari has slandered the very institution of motherhood by having a child outside marriage and has also slandered the institution of motherhood by killing the child that she the unborn child right so she has no choice but to kill the child but if she kills a child then she is still charged with the offense of having you know a slandered the very institution of motherhood right so she has no choice but to be damned and condemned for what [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] nosy miss Benari agar aapko apne sapphire could can I drop could ii deity 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Piper scanning clear like in apnaa apnaa sofa in a couch in a car concept for defense you may proceed and towards the end missus miss Banaras monologue is not really you know an attempt to defend herself right see she's unable to actually say anything in response to the charges that have been leveled up against her and she just says that she almost seems to me she's must be talking to herself more than addressing the the court right so he she says that I have a lot to say for so many years I haven't said a word chances scheming chances went storms raged to one after the other about my throat and there was a way like death in my heart but each time I shut my lips tight I thought no one will understand no one can understand when great waves of words came and beat against my lips how stupid everyone around me how childish how silly they all seemed even the man I called my own and so on and so forth so she really talks about the meaning of life itself the fact that people take their lives for granted that she was happy for unfortunately you know you realize you like the value of life only after you have escaped suicide in fact she tries to commit suicide and she see she fails but it's only after she feels that she realizes how much it taken life for granted she obviously wants to end her life because of the shame that she's been put through but then she also realizes that that you know she has a way ambiguous relationship to life lately she has a very ambiguous relationship to her own body because her body which has become the embodiment of shame and looseness and and you know promiscuity and all the charges that have been leveled up against her by society is the only thing that she only has right her body is the sign of life right life is a betrayal life as a fraud she says life is a drug life is gradually life is something that's nothing or nothing at something and yet life and the body is all that she has she has nothing else left to live for but to live for herself to live her own life right and that's exactly what the problem is that even though she she tries to feebly defend herself that she has she's entitled to her own private life she's entitled to her own body and yet she cannot she's unable to escape from the social structure that condemns her to a life of shame and and disrepute right so she it's she's really struggling with herself and with her own embodiment that she said that this body's body is a traitor I despise this body and I love it I hate it but it's all you have in the end isn't it it will be there it will be yours where will it go without you and where will you go if you reject it don't be ungrateful it was your body that once bond and gave you a moment so beautiful so blissful so near to heaven have you forgotten it took you high high high above yourself into a place like paradise will you deny it and now it carries within it the witness of that time or tender little bud of what will be the lisping laughing dancing little life my son my whole existence I want my body now for him for him alone so he she only wants to live the only reason for her to live now is for the child for the life that she's carried within her body right so she of course doesn't love the fact that she's she could become a mother but now she realizes that she has no choice but to kill the child she has been compelled to do it right so the very resin deitra for existence seems to be lost now because of the of jockey right and so she is condemned it so she's she's unable to escape the structure of patriarchy which condemns her to a life of shame and yet she has no choice but to embrace it because that's that is all that she has right so towards the end she's completely silenced to even though she there's a long monologue it does not appear as a successful self-defense I mean you saw it but it's really more a tussle a struggle that she has to bear within herself with herself all right so that actually ends our discussion of the silence the coercion session let us just go over the slides just summarize our discussion so the play describes the pent up a chuckle enslavement of woman within the space of court and a mock trial the court symbolizes a space of caged patriarchy with Miss Ben arias trapped twice what begins as a mock trial can no longer be distinguished on the actual play within the play by the end when RA betrays her own crime of bearing an alleged human child outside marriage and falling in love with a married man named professor Dom Lee who never appears on stage despite the fact that he's also responsible miss Banaras songs and forms suggest her own sense of isolation and loneliness she's accused of being sexually promiscuous on and off being a distributable character by the other characters the main characters in the play including sue Cartman pong she wished to have relationship with a bold woman like her but end up distancing themselves from her because she does not conform to the ideal of a chaste wife or woman she is charged with infanticide even before her crime has been determined she's condemned to be punished and shamed because she's desecrated the institution of marriage and motherhood her monologue is hardly a defense against the charges it is more a conversation with herself about the significance of life and her own desire to live to be a reputed schoolteacher she occasionally ridicules the other characters were all struggling and insecure actors but she's progressively silenced and her voices are usurped by other characters including mrs. kashikar who's also a participant and beneficiary of patriarchy even though she's often humiliated and silenced by her own husband even Salman who's initially an innocent villager and watcher gets involved in the conspiratorial meka machinations of patriarchy to trap and victimize a woman for unconventional life miss Bernard claims professor darling loved her for her body while she worshiped her II his until Internet the other characters like bombshells have got me accuse her of trying to seduce them when she wanted a man to love and be a father to her child carnac beliefs she hadn't affair with her uncle when she was young Benari has an ambiguous relationship to her body which is a vehicle for movement and freedom but also condemned to be stigmatized by others thank you you you [Music]