Vijay Tendulkar’s "Silence ! The Court is in Session": Benare as a Woman Trapped and Helplessly Victimized in the Cage of Selfishness, Hypocrisy, and Lust of the Middle-class Men Folk

Introduction

Miss Benare , one of the finest creation of Vijay Tendulkar , is without the least shade of doubt the central figure around which action and movements in Silence ! The Court is in session (Marati Title: Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe) is built. She is, in fact, definitely radiating through the entire play and impregnating all the other characters with her strong hold personality. Structurally and psychologically she is the unity of the play. Read More Drama With the towering personality of a successful teacher and an economically independent woman, as Miss Benare is, finds a blunt criticism and sexual harassment in the hands of middle class and hypocrite male folk. Though at the transit point she is trapped, her wrangling in the formulated phrase earns much sympathy and triumphantly declares a heroic fortitude.

Qui auroit detendu en lui tout imaginaire 

(Imaginary is not simply the opposite of real ) 

In the play we find two distinctive halves of dramatic personal in a state of collison with accepted norms . Before a theatrical performance they begin 'a harmless game ' of mock trail. Miss Benare will be on trail. The accusation of infanticide against Benare is based party on conjecture, partly on hearsay. Read More Drama But rehearsal of mock trail becomes a real trail. It becomes a ' mouse trap ' for Benare. The hypocritical middle class men like Kashikar , Sukhatme , Ponkshe and Karnik with their worthless middle class sentiments take much fun of destitute , brutalized and humiliated Benare who is in fact a pregnant woman fathered by an absent culprit Prof Damle . In the prison house of hypocrisy and selfishness and male domination Benare is in agonized cry Karnik adds: ' The crime itself is imaginary ' Samant reads a portion of a popular novel, a drawing parallel to Benare's real life story. Benare denies: “It is all lie." But she is in full tears what begins a time-pass, ends in hard reality.

Benare's final saying - her monologues

A teacher by profession, a village girl by root Benare is cheerful and jolly even at the age of 34. Benare's independence and liveliness is concluded with a sense of disgust with her companions and the city. She wants to go far away with an unknown person. She has her will of her own. There is a hidden desire to escape from her unknown persons. As the mock trail becomes a real trial, the atmosphere of the place becomes gloomy and tense. While Benare is satirizing the false pride and pretensions of the middleclass men folk, represented by her elderly colleagues. Perhaps, Benare has in mind a particular person who has wronged her and fled away like a coward. Her annoyance regarding the so called guardian of the society is severe. As an independent woman she needs the full control over her personal or private life. Her personal action can never be put into judgment by the male chauvinism. Though her view is unorthodox view of individual, and slightly feminist's view, her social conduct or having a baby in her womb without a rightful father puts her in the dock and becomes the target of male aggressors.

 But, finally, Benare speaks of her self and the dead silence is broken by her self assertive triumphant voice. The cry of her speech is that in spite of everything. Read More Drama She cannot fall out of love with life. As her life is denying love, marriage, child and happiness, she bursts into the following words: “Life is very dreadful thing. Life must be hanged.

     ' Na Jevana Jevanamarhati ' . Life is not worthy of life.

       Hold an inquiry against life - sack it from its job ''

She is in search of purity and beauty which is infact an integrated essence of love of life. She has drunk ' the life to the less ' but unfortunately so gets the bitter cup of it too.

                    The end of the play records nursery rhymes in Benare's mouth. The rhyme itself contains a parallel to Benare's story. Here the sparrow laments the loss of her nest which the crow has forcefully stolen, how the crow shrugs off the responsibility and looks indifferent. The patriarchal society and their voices are the proverbial crow to Benare. Benare only searches after her peaceful nest, ' a room of one's own '. Benare sings the nursery rhymes where the parrot has lost her nest alike her:

            '' Oh my dear friend, what shall I say?

               Someone has stolen my nest away”

Conclusion

Ibsen’s play A Doll's House ends with the heroine leaving her home, her husband, and even her children to go and face an uncertain future in a world about which she knows next to nothing. It has been Nora's violent protest against the masculine supremacy in a society and the dramatist's final design of his point of view. Read More Drama Benare in Tendulkar's Silence ! The Court is in session does nothing so serious but mutely repudiates the existing social values and masculine supremacy. Indeed through Benare, Tendulkar inspects the values of feminine self in a male - dominated society, particularly in India.

Benare: A Victim of Male Hypocrisy and Lust
Key Points:

1. Benare is a young, innocent woman who is trapped in a loveless marriage.
2. She is seduced by a middle-aged man, Narayan Kamble, who promises to marry her.
3. When Kamble abandons her, Benare is left pregnant and alone.
4. She is subjected to a trial by the men in her community, who are more interested in punishing her for her sexual transgression than in helping her.
5. Benare is eventually acquitted, but she is left broken and traumatized.
6. Benare is a sympathetic character who is easy to root for. She is kind, compassionate, and intelligent.
7. Benare is also a victim of her own naivety. She is too trusting and believes that Kamble will keep his promise to marry her.
8. Benare's story is a cautionary tale about the dangers of trusting men and the importance of being independent.
9. Benare's story is also a powerful indictment of the patriarchal society that victimizes women.

  Ardhendu De