Poile
Sengupta’s Alipha : A Feminist Study
Rekha, Ph.D. Research Scholar,
Dr. Beena Agarwal (Supervisor), Associate Professor, Head of the
Deptt. of English, D.S. College, Aligarh, Dr. Bhimrao
Ambedkar University, Agra
Feminist perspective is a woman-centered theory that
provides strategy for change to establish political,
economical, social and personal equality of the gender in
the society. Feminism is a way to raise a voice of women
against the violence dominated by patriarchy. In the words
of Maggie Humm, -
The Fundamental goal of Feminist
perspective is ‘to understand women’s oppression in terms
of race, gender, class, and sexual preference and how to
change it.
In Indian society women are subjugated and
oppressed in different forms to establish the patriarchal
norms. They are treated as a weaker section of the society.
Women are considered to be puppets in the hands of men and
are used only for sexual pleasure. Under the influence of
Feminism movement, Women have got equal opportunities for
educational and vocational growth equal to men in the
society. Through feminism, the writers try to eradicate the
evil of gender inequality which is prevalent in the society.
Gender discrimination is the main root to create violence
towards women.
Today male domination is prevalent everywhere
in the society which is responsible for deprivation of women
of their rights. Poile Sengupta, the
emerging dramatist of Indian soil, in her plays presents the
diverse images of female oppression in society. Her female
centric plays were published under the tittle ‘Women Centre
Stage: The Dramatist and the Play’ by Routledge Publishers
in 2010. In ‘Alipha’
through the female personage, Poile Sengupta has tried to
find out the evils of society that are women facing today.
The play, Alipha is a
powerful play to depict a realistic picture of India where
women are subjugated. They are always treated as a second
citizen. In this regard, Sarah Moore Grimke, an American
abolitionist, rightly observes, -
“Man has subjugated woman to his will,
used her as a means to promote his selfish gratification,
to minister to his sensual pleasure, to be instrumental in
promoting his comfort, but never has he desired to elevate
her to that rank she was created to fill.”
Through the play, Alipha the main
purpose of Poile Sengupta is to highlight the issues like
gang rape, exploitation, violence, political power, and
physical torture that are responsible for the sufferings of
women in society. The playwright wants to explore how woman
is bound to make consistently struggle to maintain her
identity in the dominated society. As a playwright, she is
possessing deep insight into the female consciousness in her
plays. Her plays reveal various social issues regarding
female’s subjugation in a contemporary Indian society. Her
plays are centered around women’s subjugation,
discrimination, domestic violence, patriarchy, political
power and female atrocities. The female characters of the
plays belong to the middle class family and victim of male
domination.
The play, Alipha is one of
the play opens for discussion on the various forms of
violence that is inflicted on female body. This is a
one-hour play written in 2001 by Poile Sengupta and firstly
performed on 12 Sep 2001. In this play, Poile Sengupta
reveals a parallel story of a social activist and a
politician. The play revolves around two characters, Man and
Woman who survive under nameless identity.
In this play, woman’s story travels in two
phases whereas man’s in a single evening. He recalls his
past days. The whole plot of this play touches a small town
politics and immense efforts of social activist. Both
characters, ‘Man’ and ‘Woman’ lead their role
independently.The play begins with the statement of Woman, a
social activist who reveals her story to her Friend, Asma
who never appears on the stage. Woman discusses her life
story in two phases. She says that when she was a little
girl, she recalls an incident related to her aunty how she
involves with a politician’s son in a sexual relationship
and she was locked in another room. She doesn’t know why she
is locked up? This incident has a negative effect on her. In
this statement Poile Sengupta has used questionnaire method
to highlight the inner feelings of girl. Gradually she grows
towards adulthood and happy also getting all the facilities
of life such as school fees and other necessary things. But
she does not know how her aunty provides these facilities to
make her life comfortable.Turing point of her life begins
when her aunty dies. She was the only person who was taking
care of her after the death of her parents.
After the death of her aunty, the Woman drapes
herself in white saree. This is the symbol of adolescence.
Thus begins the second phase of her life. She becomes bold enough to take
the responsibility of her own like independently. After
attaining her adulthood, she joins an Anganwadi centre to
teach children and to continue her study because she has
become helpless to fulfill her financial needs. She also
discloses the identity of postman who is her own uncle, her
father’s older brother. Postman is a close friend of
politician, who contributes in making life lustful and
frivolous. Further woman gets an opportunity to teach adults
where she faces several problems. Thus Woman, social
activist reveals pathetic condition of her life how she
faces problems like poverty, agony, suffering,
discrimination and illiteracy in the society. Poile Sengupta
projects the character of woman as the spokesman of female
suffering that is imposed on female self.
Connecting the misery of all women with her own
sorrow, the Woman narrates to her friend, Asma,-
How unhappy these women are! What a
miserable life they lead. It’s not just the poverty.
That’s bad enough. It’s also the rules that they have to
Follow.....because they are women. So many rules. Keeps
your legs closed.....keep your mouth shut. Don’t dress up
too much because a man will get attracted to you. Don’t
make demands because the man might get angry with you.
Don’t wear scent. Don’s let the Jasmine dangle in your
hair. Don’t swing your hips like a prostitute. Don’t
smile. Don’t laugh. (WCS.233)
In this statement, Poile Sengupta tries to
convince that woman has no choice of her own and she has to
design all her dreams within the framework of the directions
given by men. It is an evidence of female subjugation both
at physical and mental level. It exposes the irony of the
patriarchal system of the society where women are born to
follow the norms of patriarchy. The subordination of women
is well defined in this statement.The real truth of our
society is that inspite of being educated and empowered,
woman is suppressed and subjugated in the hands of male
partners. In this regard, Social activist presents her
statement to highlight the atrocities being inflicted on
female body.
...For the women...aa... is their
husbands pinching their arm...aaa... is a slap across the
face...ee...is when he picks up a stick...eee...is when he
hits her with the stick...00...is when he pushes her out
of the house...000...is... I can’t go on Asma... It’s a
tale of unending horror... unrelieved darkness... blinding
darkness. (WCS.234)
In this observation, Poile Sengupta has tried
to connect the imagery of domestic violence with teaching
alphabets. The alphabets are used to describe the pathetic
condition of women how they suffer in the family.
Further, in the play, Alipha the Woman,
Social activist reveals another incident to Asma to reveal
the position of women who become victim of men’s nefarious
designs. When a woman worker of trade Union steals the rice
and foods from the Aganwadi centre, Devi, student of Social
activist, protests against this illegal activity of an
unknown woman. But this culprit woman gets support from her
boyfriend, Babu who is a close friend of politician.
Due to the feeling of revenge, the situation
becomes more complicated. At the end, Devi was gang-raped by
Babu and his Friends. In this way, Devi has to lose her life
for raising her voice against the truth. It is the
distinction of Poile Sengupta that she dramatizes the idea
of gang rape and sexual harassment on the stage to expose
the wickedness hidden in the mental spectrum of patriarchal
society. This sexual assault creates the emotions of pity
and fear in social activist. In this regard, the Woman
writes, -
“Asma... she’s dying. Devi is dying...
they raped her... two of them... and then whipped her with
a bicycle chain... I don’t know how she managed to get
here...” (WCS.239)
To take revenge against cruel crime, the Social
Activist raises her voice against those criminals who raped
and tortured Devi. In her statement, she says to her friend,
Asma, -
I will not let them go... I will not
rest till they are hanged for what they did. I will take
revenge. I swear it. (WCS.239)
In this narration, Poile Sengupta has tried to
show her female consciousness and women empowerment. Poile
Sengupta depicts a realistic picture of the society where
women are exploited due to the power hidden in the designs
of politicians.
Politician supports his friend, Babu to kill
Devi. In this opposition, Woman activist wants to take
revenge on the entire patriarchal system of society which is
responsible to establish this type situation towards
females. Due to being helpless, social activist wants to
help from politician’s father. She wants justice for Devi.
But in patriarchal society, it is not easy for women to
stand up against injustice. Despite being empowered and
educated, woman is defeated under the norms of society. The
identical chain of torture persists in the life of Devi who
also becomes a victim of the evil designs of political
activist, who uses women to impose their identity on others.
Politician determines to take revenge for the insult of him.
He goes to her home to search of her. Finally he kills the
woman to maintain his image in the society. It shows a
hypocritical picture of the society. It is an illustration
of the extreme of insecurity buried in male consciousness.
Later Politician brings a diary from her table
that discloses the truth of his life how he spent his nine
years to fulfill his sexual desires. He reads the diary
continuously and finds that this literary woman is none
other but to whom he paid school fees. He was sexually
involved with her aunty. After reading the diary, he has
been out of control to take right decision for the last
three days. Finally, he decides to burn the diary because
Politician wants to hide his crime. Regarding this, he
states, -
“I have to make sure nothing can be
traced to me... I’am sure nobody saw me go to the house
and nobody saw me return... tomorrow... I will go to the
factory and get them to open it... I will attend her
funeral and make a heart-rending speech... I will praise
her work and pray for her soul.” (WCS.241)
Realistic picture of the society is well
exposed in this narration. Here, Poile Sengupta throws the
light on the hidden crime of the society where the criminal
moves around free and woman goes through with internal pain
that is given by male atrocities. By paying a huge amount,
male domination succeeds to make his practices over woman in
the society.
In Alipha,
Poile Sengupta has challenged the established norms of
patriarchal society. Further she has tried to expose the
hypocratic image of the politician who considers women as
weak, obstacle, temptress and object of sexual pleasure.
Poile Sengupta rejecting the fear of guilt and shame reveals
on the stage that Men survive with their own insecurities
and therefore, a man fails to expose the real picture of his
action and intention in front of a woman. In other words, it
justifies that the inflection on female body is the sign of
insecurity hidden in male consciousness. In this power
structure woman is suppressed because she is not permitted
to take an upperhand in the social structure.
Through the play, ‘Alipha’ Poile
Sengupta has tried to present the pathetic condition of
women in this social structure where women suffer a lot just
because of their female identity. Here dramatist focuses on
the issue of gender discrimination. The male culprit is free
to move around but the female suffers as if she has
committed the crime. She feels ashamed to reveal her
pathetic situation in the society. In this play, Poile
Sengupta presents the Woman as Social Activist but in
reality the Woman is highlighted as a victim of male
domination. It is an irony of the position of woman in
society. It also denotes that the mechanism of activism of
woman is a strategy to take revenge for all the sins done to
her.
However, on the other hand, Politician is
presented as a symbol of patriarchal power. In the play, Alipha Politician
prefers to live a lustful life. He himself admits such
nature when he expresses his sexual desires towards women.
He doesn’t care if he is exiled of college or has no respect
at home. He says, “If
rape is inevitable lie back and... enjoy it... so that’s
what I did... I decided I would enjoy myself in exile...”
(WCS.219). In this statement, Poile Sengupta has
tried to highlight the lustful behavior of Man, a
politician. Inspite of being a Politician, he gives
preference for sexual pleasure. He has no aim to use his
life to do the right thing. In his collegiate life, he
expresses his feelings towards women.To quote, -
Yes alright... there were those
episodes in college... But it was all done with consent. I
was just bloody unlucky with that lecturer woman... I
merely put my hand down the front of her blouse... it was
a bet... that’s all. (WCS.223)
This statement exposes the real image of the
youth of our society. Playwright throws the light on the
traditions of male domination that are responsible to create
the pathetic situation of women in society.
The role of power is dramatized in a pervasive
manner in Sengupta’s play ‘Alipha’ from the
beginning to the end. Male domination runs as power
structure on every page of the play. This power structure of
the society operates at different levels such as domestic,
social and political. Poile Sengupta has well expressed her
views regarding the power of male dominated society. Through
the statement of Politician, Poile Sengupta clearly writes,
-
Finally, the world was at my
command... the men in the palm of my hand. They were like
human dice... I could set them up... I could throw them
down... I could do what I bloody like with them.
(WCS.235).
This statement shows the power of patriarchy
where an institution or society is created to consider the
women inferior and weak to men in different frames of
subordination. Being educated and empowered these women are
considered to be caretaker of home, nurturer of their
children and obey the orders of their husband. They have no
choice of their own to carve out the designs of their life.
However due to the immense efforts of the great
social reformers and thinkers, today women are independent,
literate and able to take right decision towards their
rights in the society. Education is used as a tool for women
to bring a reduction in inequalities and improve their
status in the family as well as in the society. Such an
affirmation of female autonomy and female awaking will help
in reducing the burden on women inculcate freedom and power.
In this regard, Amitava Ghosh rightly remarks, “Today a woman writing
is a woman fighting. For truth, for honesty, freedom, even
if not for equality.” (Ghosh). In the play, ‘Alipha’ Poile
Sengupta also highlights the problems of adult education.
The efforts of social activist are clearly exposed when she
tries to teach adult women. Through the teaching alphabet,
Social activist creates the power of words among illiterate
women. Poile Sengupta accepts that women empowerment through
education can reduce the sufferings of women.
In Alipha,
Poile Sengupta tries to present her female characters
powerful as well as courageous to fight for their rights
against the patriarchy. In her plays, Playwright has tried
to highlight every aspect of exploitation and oppression
regarding women. She not only exposes the pathetic condition
of female but also tries an attempt to create awareness in
the women to construct their rights, and position in social
structure of patriarchy. She highlights that women
exploitation is a universal phenomena that is prevalent
every field of the society. Woman is not weak by nature. The
playwright says that woman is subjugated but not passive.
She can take revenge against injustice. Sengupta has tried
to expose a tool of women empowerment that she retains her
humanity and human quality and therefore, she can resist her
victims. In Alipha,
Poile Sengupta talks about the nexus of political power and
patriarchy. In this play, playwright celebrates education as
a tool of women empowerment to resist against a social
injustice towards women.
However, this play, Alipha portrays
the realistic picture of the Indian society where women are
not secure in the patriarchal system of the society.
Thus, in Alipha
Poile Sengupta has established to highlight several
social issues of the society such as illiteracy, women’s
subjugation, Domestic violence, corruption, crime, and
exploitation that are prevalent in the modern society.
Works Cited
Ghosh,Amitav,
“Amitav Ghosh & the 2001 Commonwealth Writer’s Prize:
Tracking the Controversy” 18 March 2001, Amitavghosh.com
online,20 march 2001.
Humm, Maggie, ‘The Dictionary of
Feminist Theory’ (Columbus, USA: Ohio State UP, 1990)
X.
Kamble, R.P.
“Exploration of Women Concerns in the Selected Plays of
Poile Sengupta and Anupama Chandrashekhar: A Study in
Comparison”, June, 2021.
M. Grimke, Sarah,
“Letters on the Equality of the Sexes and the Condition of
Women” 1836 rept. (New York: Source Book Press, 1970) 10.
Sengupta, Poile,
‘Women Centre Stage: The Dramatist and the Play, Rutledge,
New Delhi, 2010.