Author: Kritika Tandon
Author Affiliation: Theatre and Performance Studies, School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Abstract: This paper tries to understand how the female subject, when isolated from her milieu, is a role whose entry is blocked from a collective. This collective could be called a theatrical play in itself within the scope of everyday existence in the world. The role that is cut out from an enclosed group may create disturbances by creating a new narrative for itself. This narrative then forms a new mode of existence. For the purpose of such a proposition, three women are taken as case studies – Olympe de Gouges from France, Pandita Ramabai from India and Valerie Solanas from the U.S.A. Here, the act of articulating a fresh mode of existence itself leads to the creation of a new subjectivity. This is further elaborated through presuming a sense of theatre for the specific characters to act out their performative gestures.
Keywords: performativity, role, gender codes, women rights.