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@article{208077,
        author = {Ramesh Kumar Singh and Prof. Dr. Ashok Kumar},
        title = {Women as Both Victims and Perpetrators of Patriarchal Structures in Mahesh Dattani’s Bravely Fought the Queen},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2026},
        volume = {13},
        number = {4},
        pages = {274-279},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=208077},
        abstract = {Mahesh Dattani’s Bravely Fought the Queen (1991) is a powerful exploration of gender, sexuality, marriage, family, violence, and the oppressive structures underlying the apparently respectable Indian middle-class household. While much criticism of the play has concentrated on the victimization of women under patriarchy, Dattani’s representation of women is more complex than a simple victim-versus-oppressor binary. The female characters particularly Dolly and Alka are victims of patriarchal authority, but they also participate, consciously or unconsciously, in the reproduction of the same structures that constrain them. This paradox constitutes one of the most significant dimensions of Dattani’s dramatic treatment of gender. Dolly’s relationship with her husband Jiten demonstrates the devastating consequences of patriarchal marriage, while Alka’s position reveals the psychological and social consequences of being measured according to masculine expectations of femininity, domesticity, and sexual conformity. The present paper examines how patriarchal ideology becomes internalized by women and subsequently operates through their behaviour, relationships, attitudes, and expectations. The women in the play are not simply passive victims; they are also products and, at times, unwitting agents of a patriarchal system. Their participation does not absolve patriarchal authority but demonstrates its ideological strength: a system becomes most powerful when its values are internalized by those whom it oppresses.},
        keywords = {Patriarchy, Victimization, Complicity, Domestic-violence, Internalized Patriarchy, Female Agency, Indian drama, Gender Roles},
        month = {September},
        }