Quest Journals

Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Science

Research Paper

A Feminist Study of Kamala Das’s poem “The Old Playhouse”

Abstract
The objective of the paper is to showcase the feminist approach in the poem “The Old Playhouse” by Kamala
Das. The poem represents the speaker who voices out the oppression and psychological perceptions of a woman
in the patriarchal society, gender stereotyping as well as the longing for personal space and creativity which is
brought forth by the self-expression of the speaker itself. Das shows the demands of intellectual space for a
woman to pursue her dreams in life and the objectification of a woman who were caged as a private property of
a man strictly bounded to the four corners of the house whose inner desires to fly and nurture are overlooked in
the male dominated society. The poem serves as the voice of the unheard inner emotions of the woman who
becomes the victim of silent oppression in the patriarchal society.
Keywords: Patriarchal society, stereotyping, woman, gender and oppression.

Received 28 Jan, 2021; Revised: 10 Feb, 2021; Accepted 12 Feb, 2021 © The author(s) 2021. Published with
open access at www.questjournals.org

I. INTRODUCTION
Kamala Das (1934-2009) was an Indian poet, novelist and a short story writer of the Post Independent
era. The poem deals with the themes of silent oppression of a woman, overlooking of a woman, oppression
faced in the patriarchal society, male dominance, self-expression, gender stereotyping and others. The poem
“The Old Playhouse” is structured with the feminist perspectives on the patriarchal society. The speaker
addresses the suffering faced under the male dominated society and connects her mental psyche to the old
playhouse which is abandoned and left to isolation. The paper will explore the notion of gender construction in
the society and the roles portrayed to a particular gender especially of a woman. The study of this paper will
enhance the impact of oppression on the mental consciousness of a woman who faces the feeling of isolation,
detachment and a complete sense of abandonment.
The poem “The old Playhouse” addresses the speaker’s oppression in the patriarchal society where the
speaker compares a woman to a bird “swallow” who is being planned to be “tame” by her lover. The word
“tame” in the poem is a bold expression of captivity and control which the speaker voices out to highlight the
lover to be dominated while caging her “nature, the urge to fly, and the endless/Pathways of the sky”. The lines
are in suggestive of the superiority of a man and overlooking of a woman’s desire to pursue her dreams.
However, Das has highlighted the critique of psychoanalysis. Das made a contrasting comparison to
establish the female persona construction in the society to that of the male persona. The speaker in the poem
suggests that she came to her husband’s marital house “not to gather knowledge/ Of yet another man that I came
to you” which is an implication of a general perception about woman’s sexuality which the feminist such as
Cixous argues that woman’s sexuality is suppressed and constructed by man in the patriarchal society. The
speaker tries to deconstruct the femininity construction by man through a confession that she came “to learn/
What I was, and by learning, to grow, but every/ Lesson you gave was about yourself” which clearly indicates
that she came in a quest for self-identity and growth as an individual but her husband taught her about himself
which Cixous states that man reinforces only himself in the patriarchal society about “that same self-admiring,
self-stimulating , self-congratulatory phallocentrism”(pp. 879).
Furthermore, the speaker in the poem echoes the gender stereotyping in the society. Beauvoir talked
about the differences between gender and sex which both the sexes performs in the society of gender roles. The
poem depicts the gender role of a woman where the speaker emphasize that she was called a “wife” and “taught
to break saccharine into your tea and/ To offer at the right moment the vitamins”. It clearly represents that

*Corresponding Author: Monush R Marak 25 | Page

femininity is constructed and defined to the household chores and cater the needs of her husband interests which
Beauvoir had tried to establish the distinction about the gender and sex.
In addition to this, Das evinces the decapitation of a woman in the patriarchal society. In the poem, the
speaker is silently oppressed where she hides her emotions over “your monstrous ego” letting her feel like she
ate a “magic loaf” and became a “dwarf” which is suggestive of her feeling of being insignificant and unwanted
in the marital house.The speaker highlights that she becomes silenced towards her husband’s “Questions I
mumbled incoherent replies” which represents that man holds a dominion over woman to shut their mouth or
decapitate them from speaking.
Furthermore, the speaker throws light upon the objectification of a woman in the patriarchal society.
She is bounded to the four walls of the house and left isolated and completely detached from the communication
with the external world and the speaker shows that “Your room is/ Always lit by artificial lights, your windows
always/ shut” shows woman as a property of a man caged inside his patriarchal space which Beauvoir argues
that the rise of capitalism and private property had made men to treat women as objects and material property.
The speaker also mentions upon the demand of intellectual and creative space in the patriarchal society. It is a
reflection of the unheard feeling of the inner psyche of a woman who feels abandoned at her marital house
where there are “No more singing, no more dance, my mind is an old/ Playhouse with all its lights put out”. The
lines are in suggestive of the complete detachment to art and creativity as she is caged and isolated without any
light in her room which Virginia Woolf argued that a woman needs a space for her creativity and a room to
write and the speaker as well in the poem seeks for personal space and a freedom to develop her creative forces.
Thus in conclusion, we can say that the poem can be studied from the feminist perspective. The
confessional tone in the poem heightens the bold self-expression of the poet and her vocal against the oppression
faced in the patriarchal society.The poem emphasizes on the gender roles and identity and tries to breakaway
from the construct and dissociates the role of gender from sex. Hence, “The Old Playhouse” serves as an
expression of one’s individuality, self and role in the society and a quest for self-identity.

WORKS CITED
[1]. Das, Kamala. The Old Playhouse and other poems, Madras: Orient Longman Ltd.,1973.
[2]. Ezekiel, Nissim. “A Note on kamala Das”. Contemporary Poets of the English Language, edited by Rosalie Murphy. London: St.
James Press, 1970.
[3]. Cixous, Helene. The Laugh of the Medusa,vol.1,no.4, Summer 1976, pp. 875-893, www.jstor.org/stable/3173239.
[4]. Rajimwale, Dr. Sharad. “Feminism”. Contemporary Literary Criticism, New Delhi, 1975.

*Corresponding Author: Monush R Marak 26 | Page