Feminism: All for the Sake of Beauty and Love in Rabindrahath Tagore's Chitra

Rabindranath Tagore’s Chitra is an enthralling love story that dwells on the concept of feminism, specifically during the olden days. Chitra, the main character of the play, was deprived of living a normal life as a woman and was forced to grow up as a man due to her father’s insistance. Although Chitra was born a woman, she was raised by her father to be a man because he wanted a son. He taught and imparted her with different skills a man should normally possess. That is why when she grew older, she was considered to be one of the best when it comes to riding, hunting and fighting, she was both feared and respected by the people of her kingdom. However, even if she had accomplished all of these triumphs in her life, deep down she felt like she was missing something, a part of herself. As she explained, “I know no feminine wiles for winning hearts.” meaning that she feels like she lacks the traits of woman, which is her true nature. Nevertheless, we will observe later how she is the very embodiment of feminism, an embodiment of empowered women.

At this moment we see how Chitra was robbed of her own freedom, not only as a human but as a woman as well. She was not able to live the life she was supposed to live just because her father wanted a son instead of a daughter, and this is a proof on how people in ancient times view women as the inferior sex. During the earliest centuries, men from all over the world believe that having a son was lucky, especially for those in the royalty. It’s because they want someone of their own descendance to inherit the throne, to become the heir of the kingdom and this would not be possible if they were to be born a daughter. Which is probably why Chitra’s father, the King, could not accept the fact ...

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...determination by not giving up even if she was faced with defeat or rejection, a proof on how she is the image of resilient women.

Subsequently, Chitra returns to the place where Arjuna resides and as soon as he sees her, he was amazed as to how beautiful she is and immediately approached her to strike up a conversation. When Chitra was asked by him what she was looking for she modestly replies that she is seeking the man of her dreams, a man of the royal house of Kurus named Arjuna. Surpirised, Arjuna admits to her that he is the man who she’s searching for and she reminds him of the vow of celibacy he took, to which he says that he will no longer assert to his vows of chastity for her. Chitra, who was supposed to be delighted by his reply, finds herself awfully unhappy for he is not really falling in love with the real her so she goes back to Madana and Vasanta.