As I was reading “Punishment” by Rabindranath Tagore I realized how similar the story of Chandara was to Hedda in “Hedda Gabler” by Henrick Ibsen. Chandara in “Punishment” was portrayed as a very strong woman who was well kept than Radha. She never seemed to fear anyone including her own husband, even when he threatened to break all the bones in her body if he ever catches her going to the ghat alone, yet she was fearless and responded back telling him that “the bones will mend”. When Chandara’s husband asked her to take blame for Radha’s muder even though it was done by his brother, she accepted it quietly without saying a word, she chose to remain silent about what happened until the end when she was told that her husband would like to see her, but her response was “to hell with him”. Similarly, to Chandara Hedda was described as a well maintained, elegant woman who was also stubborn till the very end of her story. After finding out that Eilert was murdered using one of Hedda’s pistols, the judge made sure Hedda knew that he was doing her a favor by keeping silent. Towards the end, the judge tried to practice his command over her “Oh, we’re going to have some good times together, the two of us” that’s when Hedda took one of her pistols and shot herself. Both were controlled by men and wanted freedom from their lives. Miserable as their life was, they both achieved freedom by death.
I agree with you that we see some important parallels between Hedda and Chandara, particularly the fearlessness and stubbornness you cite here. I would encourage you to think more about the idea that they find “freedom” in death. That sounds nice, but does it really make sense? What kind of freedom could a dead person enjoy?
Please provide page numbers for your quotations!!!