Punishment by Rabindanath Tagore
October 31, 2010 by Iqra
Being in a joint family house and living with people who are exactly the opposite of you can be quite annoying, but sacrificing yourself for peace in a household is a very courageuos thing to do. Chandara faced a cruel punishment to the eyes of the world but within her family she was respected a lot for what she had done. Taking the blame for killing the “borabau” of the house was a situation no one was going to take upon themselves, but when both her husband and brother-in-law realized their mistakes, they had a guilt which did not have a value for at the end of the story.
When the “chotabau” of her house said “to hell with him” , referring to her husband, she had no value of his guilt because he was a coward to not even save her in the first place and take the blame on him. Chandim was described as very neat and effortless in grace for doing something but instead of saving his wife who was innocent and perfect for him in everyway, he saved his brother who was completely opposite of him and was guilt for the murder.
The setting of this story is village where there is usually farmers and uneducated people. It is really rare that a person like Chandara would be able to survive being honest to her family or the people in her area. Uneducated people might symbolize innorance or uncivilized people. In this case the head of the household would rather save his brother then his own family that could have started.
This is an image I found on google that I thought would relate to the punishment scene of Chandara.
