Psychoanalytical Study of Women Characters as New Women in Shashi Deshpande’s A Matter of Time

Abstract

The concept of ‘New Woman’, a feminist ideal, emerged in the late 19th Century is one of the most explored themes in men and women writing. The phrase “New Woman” has been defined differently in different contexts, by men and women writers. Men writers tend to depict ‘new woman’ as the one who goes against the traditional norms and ethics to fulfill her desires following western culture and never minds her family and values, on the other hand women writers present her as progressive and conscious of her rights to contribute greatly for general welfare, playing a supportive role in the society and family. This is the significant shift that women writers focus in their writings through their realistic representation of new womanhood traumatised by socio-cultural constructs. The impetus for this study is drawn from the centrality of psychological trauma and internal anguish faced by the three generations of women characters - Kalyani, Sumi and Aru - in Shashi Deshpande’s novel, A Matter of Time, set in coterminous patriarchal Indian society. Facing the repression in the male dominated, tradition bound society, they resist the wrongs within the culturally determined space and gain their identity. The study concludes that the essence of ‘New Womanhood’ does not ascribe autonomy and individuation of woman through radicalism, rebellion or opposition of action; but expression of agency through self-actualization, as Deshpande’s repressed characters show in A Matter of Time. The research methods applied in the study shall be textual and discourse analysis along with psychoanalytic feminism.