Use of symbols in Bravely Fought The Queen - CU English Honours Notes
How does Dattani use symbols to enhance the dramatic impact of Bravely Fought the Queen?
Symbol is a powerful
means of communication in literary work. Mahesh Dattani excels in art and craft
of symbolic exuberances and imagery. The play Bravely Fought the
Queen is moulded by craft of imagery or symbolism. The play replete with
rich symbols, imagery, rhythm, sound etc.
The title itself is
symbolic. The Queen in the title of the play refers to the legendary warrior
queen Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi. Alka, the much trodden-upon younger
daughter-in-law in the Trivedi family, dreamily identifies with the Rani of
Jhansi and longs to put on the costume of the Queen at the masquerade ball
being planned. She attempts to rebel against the claustrophobic atmosphere in
her home where she is virtually a prisoner. She has been tricked into marriage
with a closet homosexual (her sister’s brother-in-law) by her brother (who has
been his partner). She has already been thrown out of the house once due to the
machinations of her mother-in-law and is in peril of a repetition now. At the
end, she bravely fights back.
The bonsai Lalitha brings as a gift for Dolly becomes a central symbol in the play. The bonsai represents a cruel miniaturization of a free spirit. As Lalitha explains innocently and gleefully to Dolly, it involves minimizing the amount of earth that the plant has to grow in, pruning its stem and branches and regularly snipping its roots so that its growth becomes stunted. The dwarfed plant is an artificial creation of human will. It may appear beautiful to some but it is a deformed plant. The symbol begs for a comparison with the situation of women in the Indian scenario – also under grown and stunted in terms of the development of their independent identities. Lalitha points out that the plant gets habituated to its changed ethos and accepts it and moulds itself to it. This is the sad situation of women socially conditioned by their men folk over the ages.
In Act I and in Act III
Dolly has Naina Devi’s thumri playing. The symbolism of Naina Devi’s bold
decision to sing love songs usually the preserve of tawaifs is central to the
play. Dolly tells Lalitha that she married into royalty but still chose to sing
like a tawaif. She would surely have been marginalized by society but the
wonderful thing is that her husband supported her. Together, they faced all the
social ostracism and reproofs that came their way until finally she came to be
celebrated as the queen of thumri.
The title of the third
and final act, “Free for All” is very symbolic and suggestive. There is a free
flow of emotions and passion, anger and hatred, blaming and counter blaming.
The women express, assert, and move freely in this act. Dattani presents a kind
of familial court in which contention and counter contention takes place till the
truth is revealed. The Trivedi brothers are dismissed as scheming and gay,
violent and unfaithful. The dramatist disproves the idea of varied spaces for
man and woman showing them human beings equal in all respects.
Thus symbolism plays a crucial role in Bravely Fought the Queen to bring home the entire gamut of meaning and implications to the audience.
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