Cities of Hope and Despair: Shattered expectations in Dattani' s 'Seven steps Around the Fire'

Abstract

The present paper aims at the portrayal of shattered expectations of the marginalised class. Dattani is a man of fine intellect who prefers to highlight the plight of the oppressed ones. His plays tackle the plays that generally discuss the tabooed subjects efficiently. Dattani’s plays deal with the lives of urban class. The cities of hope turn out to be the disastrous places where the victims only suffer in the hands of the established and powerful people of the society. The paper also intends to portray the arbitrary nature of the oppressor. The plays project the power in full strength over a common man. The target of the paper is to depict the silent social voices that often do their best in the deterioration of the lives of those who come under the scrutiny of the privileged class. The paper however aims at the basic human instinct that hopes for betterment but gets nothing more than humiliation. Dattani shows that education has not improved the basic nature of a man, who has to choose between barbarism and humanity; however he chooses the first one.