Abstract 137. Kazi Ashraf Uddin
Voicing Draupadi: (Re)Constructing the Female Archetype
Carl Jung’s notion of “collective unconscious” has to be perceived through the structured combined concept of “archetype” and “instinct’. The meaning of myths and legends is similarly constructed. However, myths and legends, popularly conceived as stories and narratives, very often (exceptions include cases like Psyche myth) lack author(itie)s and if author(iz)ed, does not change in perspective. Roland Barthes’ post-structuralist declaration of the “death of an author” is hardly applied (though some mythological stories have been re-written by Canadian “Canongate Myth Series”) in deconstructing or de-centering the viewpoint of the meaning of myth thus rendering voice to the mythical characters. Apart from the anonymous narrative of myths, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s The Palace of Illusions (2008) occupies a pivotal position in giving Draupadi (the semi-mythical Damsel and wives of Pancha Pandavas) a subjective voice. Draupadi speaks for herself in first person narrative in this myth-based fiction. Either Draupadi’s first person narrative or Divakaruni’s authoring the novel can be deemed as an instance of “Écriture féminine”, an attempt of representation of the female voice. While writing for Draupadi, Divakaruni creates a feminine point-of-view, unveils her emotional entanglements and rationalizes her justifications. Through subjectivity, this novel also revises the categories of female archetypes regarding the protagonist Draupadi. Draupadi’s character is scrutinized in the light of archetypal rubrics such as “damsel in distress”, “temptress” (another version of “femme fatale”) and “unfaithful”. This paper attempts a critical reading of Divakaruni’s novel to investigate how unconscious incorporation of myth turns out to be conscious representation, an attempt to the deconstruction of female archetype. In doing so, this paper asks, alluding to Gayatri Spivak, if Draupadi can speak for herself even by dissenting the already-constructed narrative.
Voicing Draupadi: (Re)Constructing the Female Archetype
Carl Jung’s notion of “collective unconscious” has to be perceived through the structured combined concept of “archetype” and “instinct’. The meaning of myths and legends is similarly constructed. However, myths and legends, popularly conceived as stories and narratives, very often (exceptions include cases like Psyche myth) lack author(itie)s and if author(iz)ed, does not change in perspective. Roland Barthes’ post-structuralist declaration of the “death of an author” is hardly applied (though some mythological stories have been re-written by Canadian “Canongate Myth Series”) in deconstructing or de-centering the viewpoint of the meaning of myth thus rendering voice to the mythical characters. Apart from the anonymous narrative of myths, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s The Palace of Illusions (2008) occupies a pivotal position in giving Draupadi (the semi-mythical Damsel and wives of Pancha Pandavas) a subjective voice. Draupadi speaks for herself in first person narrative in this myth-based fiction. Either Draupadi’s first person narrative or Divakaruni’s authoring the novel can be deemed as an instance of “Écriture féminine”, an attempt of representation of the female voice. While writing for Draupadi, Divakaruni creates a feminine point-of-view, unveils her emotional entanglements and rationalizes her justifications. Through subjectivity, this novel also revises the categories of female archetypes regarding the protagonist Draupadi. Draupadi’s character is scrutinized in the light of archetypal rubrics such as “damsel in distress”, “temptress” (another version of “femme fatale”) and “unfaithful”. This paper attempts a critical reading of Divakaruni’s novel to investigate how unconscious incorporation of myth turns out to be conscious representation, an attempt to the deconstruction of female archetype. In doing so, this paper asks, alluding to Gayatri Spivak, if Draupadi can speak for herself even by dissenting the already-constructed narrative.
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