Aesthetics of violence: a study of the selected plays of Vijay Tendulkar

Abstract

The present study is an attempt to critically appreciate the aesthetic expression of Tendulkar s central concern with the reality of violence ingrained in human nature, relationships and social, political and cultural structures. His keen observation and searching gaze has explored and depicted its occurrence in different areas of one s life in its varying forms. A careful perusal of his major plays reveals that all human relations are power relationships where one uses force, words gestures or other means to hurt, humiliate or subjugate the vulnerable resulting in physical, sexual, psychological or verbal abuse. Going beyond a mere dramatization of forms of violence, Tendulkar probes deeper into the multiple causes and sources, highlighting mainly biological, psychological, social and economic factors that are responsible for violence in human life and society. Depiction of different forms of violence and its dynamics imparts realism to his plays which is enhanced further by his delineation of attitudes and ways individuals adopt to negotiate this reality of their existence, saving his art from becoming monotonously pessimistic. Though his characters exhibit largely the responses of passive submission, escape, aggression, conformity and humanistic resistance, he doesn t reduce his men and women or their coping mechanisms to any particular theory or philosophy. The theme of violence projecting Tendulkar s vision of life serves as the unifying principle providing an organic unity to different elements, constituting his art of drama. His art of characterization, plot construction, handling of different dimensions and complexities of conflicts, language, gestures, silences, sounds, imagery, lighting, spectacle and music and#9472; all combine and cohere so well with his theme that they engage his audience at different levels of their imaginative, emotional, intellectual and moral being, yielding pleasure peculiar to his theatre.