Disempowering and silencing the women: A Critique of Patriarchal Gaze and Power Game in Vijoy Tendulkar’s Silence! The Court is in Session

Abstract

The play Silence! The Court is in Session by Vijay Tendulkar, poses a critique against the power game of patriarchy towards the marginalised (specifically woman race) to terminate the power structure authenticated by patriarchal values, institutions and judicial system. The play explores the terrible condition of women of middle class family in Indian context by presenting Benare as a central figure with her bitter experience gathered through her trial episode in court which is directed by the patriarchy norms and disciplines. Tendulkar shows how women in our society are tortured, suffered, marginalised and exploited. This paper aims to map out the exploitation, subjugation of women by patriarchal gaze and inequal power game in Tendulkar’s Silence! The Court is in Session.