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Feminism In Palace Of Illusions

1814 Words8 Pages

This paper explores the idea of feminism represented by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. The paper uses method of dialogism and second wave of feminism to critically examine palace of illusions.
Walking back to the 1600 B.C and the longest poems of all time Mahabharata which consists of 1,00,000 versus of shlokas. Mahabharata itself means 'Great India '. The title first selected by the writer of Mahabharata, ved vyasa was 'Jaya ' which means 'victory '.Mahabharata an Indian mythological epic is the most adopted modern fiction.
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni chose Draupadi a strong willed and determined character from Mahabharata as 'Sutradhar ' in her novel the palace of illusions. Draupadi is the daughter of King Draupad of Panchaal and wife …show more content…

For centuries women all over the world have been forced to be in a marginalised position. Divakaruni 's motive in palace of illusions is to represent a 'feminist ' perspective of the great epic Mahabharata. Divakaruni has given Draupadi an interrogative voice in the novel. She has used dialogic method to reveal and expose the male biases and prejudices. Her interrogation is at two levels; first, at an individual level with which she exposes other people’s bias towards her. At the second level, she interrogates and questions others. Her interrogation makes people conscious of their prejudices because of which she is discouraged to ask questions. She is discouraged to think beyond the …show more content…

Feminists have long been calling upon women to talk about their sexuality, to come out of the shackles of dominating men who have oppressed woman’s sexuality and their desires for too long. In Palace of Illusions, Draupadi is neither shameful of her desires nor for her sexuality. Her body was in control of her husbands but not her mind. Even characters like Dhai Ma discusses about her sexual desires even if it was within the feminine space. By making her women characters speak about their sexual desires, Divakaruni delimits the boundaries of sexual desires set by men. Divakaruni’s Draupadi writes herself and her body and reveals her own sexual desires and fantasies. She reveals her love towards Arjun and her

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