Spectators of Violence: A Critical Study of Manjula Padmanabhan’s Lights Out

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Ruby Kumari

Spectators of Violence: A Critical Study of Manjula Padmanabhan’s Lights Out

Authors: Ruby Kumari

Unique Paper ID: 175536
Volume: 11
Issue: 11
PageNo: 3339-3344

Keywords: Exploration Violence Spectator Apathy Dynamics Power Hierarchy

Abstract:
Manjula Padmanabhan’s Lights Out is a compelling exploration of violence, spectatorship, and societal apathy. Based on a real-life incident, the play exposes the disturbing indifference of urban elites toward acts of brutality occurring in their immediate surroundings. This article critically examines Lights Out through the lens of violence and spectatorship, analyzing how the characters’ passive responses to a horrifying event mirror broader social attitudes toward violence, power, and gender dynamics. The article focuses about Padmanabhan’s dramatic techniques, character portrayals, and the ethical dilemmas posed by witnessing violence without intervention. The paper aims to explore the playwright's projection of violence in her selected plays. In Padmanabhan’s plays, the different types of violence the characters come across in the selected plays are projected. And the dramatists projects the clear impression on gender inequality and a dominant appeal for realizing the emotions of human in the world where both men and women hardly finds themselves to be free, independent and resistant thought out the play. It interrogates how the play forces both its characters and its audience to confront their complicity in systemic violence by positioning them as spectators rather than agents of change. Again the article explores the play’s commentary on gendered violence, power hierarchies, and the alienation of the privileged class from social realities. By situating Lights Out within contemporary discussions on violence and by drawing parallels with real-world instances of bystander apathy, this study underscores the enduring relevance of Padmanabhan’s work. The analysis ultimately highlights the play’s role as a critical socio-political text that challenges audiences to reflect on their ethical responsibilities as witnesses to violence in both fiction and reality.

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Cite This Article

ISSN: 2349-6002
Volume: 11
Issue: 11
PageNo: 3339-3344

Spectators of Violence: A Critical Study of Manjula Padmanabhan’s Lights Out

Available:https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=175536

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