Objectifying Women: A Comparative Feminist Study of Mere Paas Tum Ho (2019) and A Doll’s House (1923)

Abstract

Aim of the Study: This paper explores the status of women in the patriarchal Pakistani and English societies as created by Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar and Henrick Ibsen in their respective plays Mere Paas Tum Ho (MPTH) and A Doll’s House respectively.

Methodology: The research is qualitative and analytical in nature. The study analyzes discourse of the plays’ main characters, Shahwar and Helmer, by selecting such dialogues and phrases which refer to physical objects instead of human being. The selected population includes the female characters in Pakistani and British literary works. Using the Judgmental Sampling the Researchers selected two dramas. The primary source of the data collected for this study is drama itself. The researchers selected two primary sources in data. The secondary data includes, journals, articles, websites and dramas. Further, the study has used Textual Analysis as a research method for the data analysis.

Findings: Male protagonists of both the plays undermine the power of women who want to grow independently and indiscriminately. By applying theory of objectification, this qualitative study finds that the objectified and commodified women face challenges in their personal, social and marital lives. The study also shows that the works share the common literary effort to highlight women’s exploitation in multiple societies.

Conclusion: This study adds to the existing feministic interpretation of A Doll’s House by comparing it with the Pakistani screen play and categorizing the selected characters as “objectifiers” and objects. Though, the paper analyses the plays from feminist perspective, it differentiates the research by taking the plays’ interpretation beyond the understanding of the text as the mere feminist voice in favor of women’s’ rights.