Ibsen as Understood in Bangladesh : Ghosts and A Doll’s House seen through the Lenses of Gender

Abstract

Title: “Ibsen as Understood in Bangladesh Ghosts and A Doll’s House seen through the Lenses of Gender” Student: Sabiha Huq Abstract of the thesis: It is already established by the academia that one and the most important issue of all is the gender issue that has introduced Ibsen in other parts of the world. The discussion on Ibsen and Gender has almost become a cliché, as it has been the most vigorously discussed issue through centuries. One of the reasons A Doll’s House has been so successful across the globe is because of its overt discussion about power relationships between men and women. Gender relationship in the west has changed widely during the last century, but in the third world countries, it is still part of the equality debate as a serious socio-political discourse. Staging of Ghosts and A Doll’s House in Bangladesh in such a situation have been important events that have enabled women to express, at least during the shows, their pain and pathos. While A Doll’s House was first introduced in Kolkata by „Little Theatre Group‟, and then by „Bahurupee‟, there was a question regarding women‟s rights. Ghosts was also staged by the latter. In Bangladesh (former East Pakistan) Ibsen was translated for the first time by Abdul Huq in 1966, and the first play he chose to translate was A Doll’s House. After the independence, there was no remarkable Ibsen practice until the 90s when Ibsen was introduced in the public universities as part of European Literature. The play that was mostly studied by students was A Doll’s House. When Khaled Khan introduced Ibsen in on stage in Independent Bangladesh in 1993, he also chose A Doll’s House. What may have inspired all these people to read and work on a particular play by Ibsen is obviously the play‟s worldwide popularity as a play speaking on behalf of women‟s movement. Ibsen himself denied any connection with gender debates; yet, the play‟s overt connection with gender could never be neglected. The same could be said about Ghosts that speak about equality and women‟s freedom of choice. Ibsen existed in the university curriculum, and students read A Doll’s House as a play about women‟s emancipation zealously. In this thesis I explain several departures in the stage productions from the original texts that, I believe, were introduced because of the socio-political needs of the time, which centered on the problem of gender relationships. The interest was apparently socio-cultural development as gender was one of the main underdeveloped sectors in Bangladesh.