Angels Never at Peace, Always in Conflict: Image of Indian (New) Women in Fiction

Abstract

Tennyson affirms the biological heterogeneity of the sexes in his poem “The Princess”. He dramatizes the harsh and relentless oppression of women in the poem. The anti-feminist ideology2 of this poem matches Indian man’s psyche and it has troubled the Indian women in every strata of life.

Women always have seen in the Indian community merely an object and commodity. They are not heard in society, if heard, then ignored, if not ignored, attempts are made to manipulate them. If patriarchy fails to manipulate them, they are viciously exploited, tormented, alienated and abused.

Age old stereotypes have been kept alive by patriarchy to treat women subservient to men since ages and men deployed older generation women to preserve and strengthen stereotypes. Woman becomes a woman’s enemy. This double edged exploitation creates hurdle in their emancipation and liberation. If they succeed and attain liberation from suppression, their liberation will result in a kind of alienation because society bluntly refuses to accept them in their new incarnation and punish them by kicking out from the community.