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VOL. 12, ISSUE 1 (2026)
The workings of patriarchal conservatism within the mental space of woman with reference to Tagore's Noukadubi
Authors
Tanaya Mandal
Abstract
My dissertation, ' The workings of patriarchal
conservatism within the mental space of women with reference to Tagore's
Noukadubi' intends to show how women become instrumental in carrying forward
the patriarchal notions about marriage and husband. During Tagore's contemporary
time, most of the marriages were arranged by the families of the prospective
bride and groom. Very few bride and groom get any chance to meet as well as
know each other before the marriage yet it was expected of a wife to obey, love
and respect a person whom she hardly knows. According to patriarchy, the moment
a person is assigned with the role of a husband, he becomes qualified to be
worshipped by his wife. The tag of husband enables the person to achieve
divinity. All the vices and virtues and also the various aspects of his
psychological and physical characteristic features are overlooked. The women
were so taken into by this patriarchal notion that for them the term husband
becomes a visible reality. As a result, they were bound to be emotionally
faithful not towards the person but towards the term husband. That is why in
the novel when Kamala learns that Ramesh is not her actual husband, she can
completely withdraw herself from the growing bond of love and attachment between
her and Ramesh and when she finds out her real husband, she very quickly,
without having a second thought about her previous relation with Ramesh,
surrenders herself to her original husband. I intend to explain my argument
further with the help of Monique Wittig's concept of gender as metaphysics of
substance and Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory. Sarat Chandra's Swami will
also be referred to in my dissertation.
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Pages:134-136
How to cite this article:
Tanaya Mandal "The workings of patriarchal conservatism within the mental space of woman with reference to Tagore's Noukadubi". International Journal of English Research, Vol 12, Issue 1, 2026, Pages 134-136
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