Decanonizing Cultural Myths: A Reading of Sanjukta Dasgupta's Lakshmi Unbound: A Soliloquy

Abstract

Myths have always been used as coercive apparatuses to reinforce order and to naturalize gender stereotypes in the phallocentric discourse eliminating and subsiding women's voice as "other". Many feminist critics seek to dismantle those institutionalized practices through revising, reimagining and reinterpreting mythological interpretations This paper portrays the deconstructive strain in Sanjukta Dasgupta's poem "Lakshmi Unbound: A Soliloquy" unmasking the institutionalization of the pure image of a household lady by patriarchal methodolatry and critiques the attribution of meaning through mythical representation by mainstream culture to impose a passive role upon women restricting in the domestic space. This paper also brings to light the commodification of women's body as a space for control, discipline by the male gaze by treating as a secondary figure to the primacy of the male and demythologizes the myth of the angel in the house.

Keywords

• deconstruction
• demythologization
• commodification