–How does justice work in the world of “Punishment”? What happens when one tells the truth? What happens when one lies?
–What do we make of Chandara’s choice to take responsibility for the death of her sister-in-law? Do you see her as a hero or as a victim?
–Explain the significance of the details Tagore offers about the marriage between Chandara and Chidam. How do they help us understand the events of the story?
–How do you understand the title of the story?
–As she approaches death, Chandara both says, “to hell with him,” and maintains that she loves her husband. How do you reconcile these two apparently contradictory statements?
How does justice work in the world of “Punishment”? What happens when one tells the truth? What happens when one lies?
The way justice works in the world of “punishment” is by using the confession of the “guilty” also the jurors and eyewitness testimony to declare an event truthful. In this case, someone who is innocent the sister-in-law, was declaring herself guilty for an act she did not commit. The judges were ready to place judgment on her with little investigation done, only listening to her untruthful confessions. lying in a courthouse is deemed a far worse offense in court implying something greater happening to those who are untruthful in a courtroom.
So how does this leave us feeling about the judicial process?
How do you understand the title of the story?
I understand the title of the story, “Punishment”, as summing up what each of the main characters are going through. The four main characters–Chidam, Chandara, Dukhiram, and Radha–all experience punishment in multiple different ways. Chidam and Dukhiram are described as having bad working conditions, and all of them are poor. Radha suffers the extreme punishment of death, even more devastating because of the fact it was at the hands of her own husband. Dukhiram doesn’t get legally punished for his crime because of his brother’s help, but he has to live with the horrible guilt that consumes him from murdering his wife. Chidam witnesses his brother murder his sister-in-law, and tries to help his brother by blaming it on his own wife. Eventually his guilt for doing this to her builds up and he tries to reverse the damage by taking the blame himself. Chandara has been punished in different ways. She got married off as a young child, and is going to be executed at a still very young age because she is taking the blame. Even though she and Chidam respect and love each other to some degree, he threatens to break her bones. She also witnesses her sister-in-law’s death and her dead body falls into her lap, which must be traumatizing. Chidam tells her to tell the police that Radha attacked her first, but Chandara refuses to say that, even though it would probably get her a less serious punishment than execution.
–What do we make of Chandara’s choice to take responsibility for the death of her sister-in-law? Do you see her as a hero or as a victim?
I see her as a victim because of the situation she found herself in. Knowing that your husband would rather choose his brother over you in a heart beat must leave a sour taste in your mouth, and look at him differently. Especially in the living conditions they are in, it is a depressing environment to find yourself in every day, and the icing on the cake to this puzzle is the death of her sister in law. With her death, she lost the only other female figure that can relate to her and her feelings. Because of this, her life basically feels over, as the living conditions in that household got worse, so she would rather end her misery and take the responsibility for the killing, even though she is innocent of it.
How does justice work in the world of “Punishment”? What happens when one tells the truth? What happens when one lies?
In Rabindranath Tagore’s “Punishment”, the consequences of truth and lies are illustrated by society and the biases within these systems. This story centers around the two brothers Dukhirim and Chidam and their wives Radha and Chandra. Throughout the story it demonstrates how truth-telling and lying have consequences, Chidam truth-telling in order to save Dukhiram inadvertently leads to his wife being endangered, highlighting the moral dilemma in these intense situations. Chandara lies and accepts blame for the crime she didn’t commit is an example of a biased society, Rabindranath Tagore critiques the societal structure specifically for women, showing how justice can be distorted by societal biases and they have a tragic outcome.
–How do you understand the title of the story?
The title of the story works on two levels. The very basic idea of punishment is taking responsibility for your actions. This first comes about when the older wife gets murdered and the husband does not want to take responsibility, so he blames his wife, after which her punishment is to be hanged. The second layer of meaning comes from the fact the Chandara is not actually responsible for the death of her sister-in-law but still takes the punishment. This might be her way of punishing the brothers for causing this to happen to her in the first place as her death will cause them to live with the guilt for their whole lives.
But does the brothers’ punishment equal the “punishments” suffered by the two wives???
–What do we make of Chandara’s choice to take responsibility for the death of her sister-in-law? Do you see her as a hero or as a victim?
In the short story, Chandara was told to assume responsibility for the killing of her sister-in-law. The reality was that she was not guilty but in spite of her husband who was willing to send her to her demise, she decided to plead guilty and not stand up for herself. I don’t think she is a hero because she is just covering for her brother-in-law who was actually guilty of murdering his wife. On the other hand, I do see her as a victim due to her brother-in-law’s inability to take responsibility for his actions, she had to suffer the consequences. Furthermore, She played a victim of social expectations forced to take the blame, so her husband’s family honor was not diminished.
Interesting. Is she motivated by a desire to protect the honor of the family?
What do we make of Chandara’s choice to take responsibility for the death of her sister-in-law? Do you see her as a hero or as a victim?
I see Chandara as an victim because of how she was told by her husband to accuse herself of killing her sister because he thought it would be better to blame her rather than his brother. She accepted the blame for her sister in law death in which she was punished for a crime her husband didn’t want to confess. It was a sign of betrayal that the husband didn’t really cared about her in which he manipulated and used her to cover up his crime.
What do we make of Chandara’s choice to take responsibility for the death of her sister-in-law? Do you see her as a hero or as a victim?
Chandara takes the fall for the murder of Radha. The story revolves around the complex dynamics of the relationships within the family, poverty, desperation, and societal expectations. Therefore Chandara decision to take responsibility for the death of Radha is her falling victim to her own circumstances. Real heroes stand up for themselves despite what others may feel. As a result, I see as a victim.
–What do we make of Chandra’s choice to take responsibility for the death of her sister-in-law? Do you see her as a hero or as a victim?
When I think of Chandra I see her as a victim because she received the punishment for a crime she did not commit. Chandra was pressured by her husband to claim that she killed Radha so that her brother-in-law could walk away without facing any consequences. Chandra was manipulated to take the blame for a crime she wasn’t associated with. This shows how she is a victim of her husband’s manipulation and gender power dynamics in Bangladesh. Bangladesh at that time was a traditional country where the husband was on top of the household and not 50/50 like in modern civilization. Due to this Chandra didn’t have a say which led her to be a victim of those traditional family values
What do we make of Chandara’s choice to take responsibility for the death of her sister-in-law? Do you see her as a hero or as a victim?
What I make of Chandara’s choice to take responsibility for the death of her sister-in-law is that she was a victim to a patriarchal society that undervalued women and had their voices silenced. At first she trusted the man she loved (Chidam) to get her out of this mess, but she then realizes that the feeling of love is clearly not mutual because then she would never have been sacrificed to save Dukhiram. She noticed that Chidam sees her as expendable; which he actually stated earlier saying that he could always get another wife but not another brother. I see her decision as a good person being manipulated by people who do not care for her well being; which is why her not listening to Chidam was a form of resistance to show that she will not allow her life to be dictated by someone else ever again.
–Explain the significance of the details Tagore offers about the marriage between Chandara and Chidam. How do they help us understand the events of the story?
As readers of the story we understand that Chidam and Chandara relationship in their marriage is full of voids. Chidam believes that his wife is too keen so she cannot be fully trusted and Chandara believes her husband spends time away unnecessarily making her think he is spending time with a different woman. Due to these things Chidam the husband recognizes that it’s more important to have a brother then a wife that’s how he came up with the idea to pin the blame of the death on Chandara his wife, as he believes woman can always be replaced but a brother cannot. The supporting detail is “If I lose my wife I can get another, but if my brother is hanged, how can I replace him?”.
–As she approaches death, Chandara both says, “to hell with him,” and maintains that she loves her husband. How do you reconcile these two apparently contradictory statements?
I believe that Chandra was trying to test her husband and see if he really did love her and in the end he failed the test. She finds that he cares more about saving face and saving his brother than his own wife. She did truly love Chidam as she goes along with his plan to blame her for the death of his brother’s wife.
As she approaches death, Chandara both says, “to hell with him,” and maintains that she loves her husband. How do you reconcile these two apparently contradictory statements?
They say love and hate are two sides of the same coin. I think she hates the man who sold her out but loves the man he was before, both are aspects of her husband. In loving someone sometimes you can still love a person even though they have done something horrible to you. To do this I think she has separated the action from the person in order to accept the harm done by her husband. This allows her to cope with dealing with the betrayal and emotional dissonance.
Thanks for sharing this thoughtful and nuanced perspective!