Evan Nierman – A Life of Punishment

Hedda is a woman of wealth. She does not work and any house chore that a wife would do is, instead, carried out by the maid, Berta. The multiple rooms and the tasteful decor furnishing the home, set at the beginning of Act I, implies Hedda lives a life of affluence and wealth.  Chandara is a low ranking part of the Caste System in Bengal, therefore Chandara is guaranteed a life of poverty with no ability to escape.   Although the two come from distinctly different backgrounds, Hedda, the protagonist from Henrik Ibsen’s play, Hedda Gabler, and Chandara, the wife of Chidam in Rabindranath Tagore’s short story, Punishment, are destined for the same fate, death. More specifically, both wives choose to meet their maker. But why do they choose death? And do both women choose for the same reason? Yes. Both women feel imprisoned in their daily lives. Both women choose death, because to them, death seems more liberating than life.   When speaking to Judge Brack, Hedda states, “I mean, for me, It’s liberation for me to know that in this world an act of such courage, done in full, free will, is possible. Something bathed in a bright shaft of sudden beauty”(834).   In context, the ‘act of such courage’ Hedda is referring to is suicide.  Liberation is the act of setting someone free or released, from imprisonment. Hedda is attending to the idea that it is liberating to have the free will to decide to live or to die.  On the surface, Hedda’s choices are far less complicated. She has the choice of either shooting herself and committing suicide or not shoot herself and commit to living.  It is important to note that Hedda mentions that it is liberating to know that such an act is possible. not necessarily liberating to end life.   Chandara, on the other hand, is granted a much more complicated scenario. She can either accept the blame of Radha’s death, which her husband assures her to do or deny responsibility and go against Chidam’s request. But to be in disagreement with Chidam leads to domestic abuse. The text states, “Chidam glared at his wife and said, ‘If I ever hear that you’ve been to the Ghat on your own, I’ll break every bone in your body.’ ‘The bones will mend again,’ said Chandara, starting to leave. Chadic sprang at her, grabbed her by the hair, dragged her back to the room and locked her in… He even once or twice wondered if it would be better if she were dead”(896). When it comes to living in a house under such detrimental conditions, maybe death is more liberating than life.