"In a cage all the day…": Women's Woes in Bankimchandra's Novels

On June 14, 2023, the first-year students of the Department of English, Loreto College presented a creative dramatic endeavour based on the literary works of Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay. The presentation was entitled "In a cage all the day…": Women's Woes in Bankimchandra's Novels. The students dressed up as characters from Bankimchandra’s texts and voiced the grievances of the nineteenth-century Bengali woman living in a perpetual state of bondage. The performances authentically captured the claustrophobic realities of the time and the characters’ efforts to liberate themselves from their caged existence. The event concluded with an imaginative representation of the author defending his creative choices. The students successfully brought to life the range of female characters in Bankimchandra’s oeuvre – characters who are limited by the patriarchal code but also memorably transgressive, capable of far more than what society had to offer.