Dr Nikita Agarwal, Assistant Professor, Vivekanand Gramodyog, Mahavidyala, Dibiyanpur, Auraiya, (UP)

Nothing has changed yet: women were submissive, they are submissive, and they are expected to be submissive in future also. In every age and country, women are bound to stereotype patriarchal convictions of society, which demand obedience, loyalty and meekness from them at the cost of their freedom, self-respect and life. The patriarchal conception of feminity always supposes women to be angel in the home. A woman in every form as a daughter, sister and wife is considered as the ‘honour’ of the family. If she defies any set up rules of the society, it is taken as a bolt on the family prestige and she is scolded and beaten for this behavior and turned into a submissive woman. William Shakespeare, known for his extra ordinary genius of having deep insight in human behavior, has depicted the real condition of women within a patriarchal system of society. His innocent and obedient women like Juliet, Desdemona and Ophelia etc. meet their tragic end under the dominance of male power. The tragic heroines portrayed in these plays are relevant in present society also. The pathetic stories of these Shakespeare’s heroines are beautifully represented on cinema screen by many renowned filmmakers like Vishal Bhardwaj and Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The present paper sets out to investigate chiefly how the age old system of patriarchy affects an innocent woman’s life in Shakespeare’s popular tragic heroines in Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and Othello and their Indianised cinematic representation in Goliyon Ki Rasleela: Ramleela, Haider and Omkara.

Keywords -Patriarchy, Feminity, Defiance, Submissiveness