Existential Crisis of Female Protagonist in Chitra Banerjee’s The Palace of Illusions

Abstract

The turmoil of existential crisis continues to shape literature since time immemorial. With the advancement of technology, this turmoil transitioned but continues to remain intact. Existential crisis may be an outcome of the trauma of migration, racism, technology, cultural assimilation, or isolation (i.e. alienation). Regardless of the reason, the central cause of existential crisis is the encounter of an individual with meaninglessness in the journey of existence and the quest inherited to make her/his identity significant. As characterized by Psychology, Identity is the set of beliefs and the traits of personality that construct a person. However, the inquiry in regards to self-identity or the search for it continues to evolve. The search for identity might be either constructive or destructive. This paper centers upon how Draupadi encounters existential crisis in the patriarchal hegemonic society and her quest for establishing her identity that helped to redefine her role by overcoming socio-cultural constraints. The paper also tries to parallelize the similarities between Banerjee's Draupadi to that of contemporary women who quest against the shackles of conventionality and customs to redefine their roles and to make her existence felt.