• Milton Sarkar

Perspectives on Gynocentrism and the Urban Middle Class in Silence! The Court Is In Session Milton Sarkar Assistant Professor Department of English, APC College, Kolkata. drmiltonsarkar@gmail.com an abstract This article seeks to explore how Vijay Tendulkar’s Silence! The Court Is In Session, a landmark in modern Indian dramaturgy, zeroes in on Gynocentrism and at the same time takes on the contemporary urban middle class. Patriarchy demands that a man shall be free, adventurous and daring one and woman a meek one, trafficking in the trodden path of conventionality and coursed in the reigning patriarchal ideology. Society takes serious offence in Benare’s free and frank behaviour. Patriarchy tries to keep up its prerogatives in every step. In the name of mock-trial each and every member of the society needles Benare. The innocuous latch that shuts Benare at the end of second act is symbolic of this social convention which traps her. It is not that they direct their shafts to Benare alone. Each and every one lashes the whip against the other. The violence of the troupe to which Benare has been subjected is a result of their own failure and helplessness in life. The sadistic behavior towards Benare gives these failed personalities immense pleasure. Professional failure in the case of Sukhatme, Karnik and Ponkshe and marital failure in the case of Mr. and Mrs. Kashikar make them ruthless towards Benare. The inner consciousness about their own failure makes them torture Benare. The play lets loose the innate savagery of the urban middle class. Silence is a powerful dramatic statement of the violence that humans are capable of when actuated by envy, lust and revenge. Keywords: Modern Indian Dramaturgy, Vijay Tendulkar, Silence! The Court Is In Session, Gynocentrism, Urban Middle Class.

Keywords: Modern Indian Dramaturgy, Vijay Tendulkar, Silence! The Court Is In Session, Gynocentrism, Urban Middle Class.

"Perspectives on Gynocentrism and the Urban Middle Class in Silence! The Court Is In Session", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 6, page no.529-535, June 2019, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1907962.pdf

"Perspectives on Gynocentrism and the Urban Middle Class in Silence! The Court Is In Session", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 6, page no. pp529-535, June 2019, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1907962.pdf