Concept of the 'Ideal Woman': A Critical Study Through The Female Characters of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's The Forest of Enchantments

Abstract

In Indian mythology there have been several female characters, who
have played prominent roles. They were women who had sacrificed
greatly to be idealized. An ideal woman is the one who is a perfect
daughter, following her parents' wishes; a perfect wife, obeying and
following her husband; a perfect mother, looking after her children.
Throughout her life she hardly questions the oppression she suffered.
She is the upholder of “culture” and its preservation is her duty and
makes sure that her daughter and daughter-in-law learn it from her. In
the great epic, Ramayana, we come across several women characters
who are considered as ideal woman, good, meek, long suffering and
bearing everything silently. However, in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's
“The Forest of Enchantment” we see Sita in a different light and also
other sides of an ideal woman. Although she suffers throughout the
novel but she has a voice and firmly puts her thoughts. The novelist
successfully brings new meaning to the concept of an ideal woman.