In the sphere of classical literature, Phedre (Jean Racine) and The Little Clay Cart (Shudraka) are two dramas that bring vivid characters and strong themes to the stage and focus on the concepts of love, power, and injustice. These plays explore inner drama alongside the possibilities and outcomes of individuals’ life directions on the theme of injustice and its connection to both characters in the play, Phèdre and Charudutta. The role of their decisions on themselves and also on others is well outlined in the play (De Pourcq & Levie, 2018).
We come to Phèdre, the creation of Jean Racine, a tragedy of the ancient times and the Greek period, with its central character being stricken with her stepson’s love. Phèdre’s emotional anguish, as she is forced to endure an overpowering passion, ultimately becomes the catalyst of a sequence of unfortunate occurrences that end with mischief and misfortune. Phèdre’s announcement that she is besotted with Hippolytus, although Wise Society and morality advise against it, causes everything to begin quickly unravelling until there is nothing left (Lapeyrouse-Cherry, 2019). Many of her actions are an outcome of a complicated combination of feelings, the degree of which ranges from deep regret, fear and hope to find some redemption. Phèdre’s inability to control her emotions and actions leads to the propagation of false accusations and the tragic death of Hippolytus.
While her intentions might seem honourable in her pursuit of truth and secrecy, her actions inadvertently contribute to the perpetuation of injustice within the play. Her confession of love, driven by a desire for honesty, sets off a chain of events that result in the unjust treatment of Hippolytus (De Pourcq & Levie, 2018). This demonstrates the complexity of her character, as the negative consequences of her actions overshadow her noble intentions. Phèdre’s story serves as a cautionary tale about the potential for well-meaning actions to uphold and even exacerbate existing injustices.
In comparison, however, the Little Clay Cart, an Indian Sanskrit play by Shudraka, narrates the love story of a moral but penniless merchant – Charudatta – and a virtuous courtesan named Vasantasena. The idea of social injustice, in particular as it intersects with the character of Charudatta, who, despite being morally upright, is treated unjustly by the bad characters, takes a central stage in the play (Lapeyrouse-Cherry, 2019). His trip throughout the play is characterized by him being a person who likes being a justice devotee, even in the moments when he is at his wits’ end. His action of taking the side of Damayantii and refusing to succumb to ultimatums results in Vasantasena’s arrest and nearly leads to his death. However, differently from Phèdre, Charudatta’s actions do not fortify the injustice he finds himself in; he just lives with the consequences of the corrupt and unjust world where he is a member. He seemed to be the ideal and the right person who could survive the injustice that existed in society, especially when the unjust acts were visible and even challenged. He was vindicated at last because he spoke the truth.
Charudatta and Phèdre are the characters of central importance in their particular plays. The humble decisions and actions of these characters change the story and reflect the injustice. With her interior anguish and subsequent wrong decisions, Phèdre unintentionally spreads jealous, gossip and fatalities among innocent people. Her characters, who are looking for a combination of internal waning and outer forces, emphasize the fact of how complicated human feelings may be. Moreover, virtue can accidentally cause quite unexpected imbalance (Fox, 2020)
However, the small clay pot – the Charudatta story – counteracts this by showing how the victory of justice and truth vanquishes sacrilege. With his being the embodiment of hope and integrity that show in his firmly established principles, he is an example of how, even against a world that seems unjust, a person still has principles that will help him win in the long run(Levay et al., 2019).
In conclusion, both the plays Phédre and The Little Clay Cart shed light on the fundamental factors of injustice and what makes one person the hero and another the villain of their life story. Love, power, and virtue, with the help of Phèdre and Charudatta, characters in the play Oedipus Rex by Jean Racine and Vicardaguna by Shudraka, reflect the prominent themes and concerns of the playwright with justice as the intersection. Phèdre’s doomed fall reminds us of how extreme emotions and the degree of our compromises with reality and falsehoods can cause destruction. Rather than that, Charudatta’s story illustrates the fact of indestructibility of integrity. It also speaks volumes about the chance that people tumble down dramatically but may still become rocks again. The plays form a rich tapestry, presenting numerous glimpses at injustice as a multifarious phenomenon and the everlasting battle of right over power despite all the problems human beings always face.
References
Lapeyrouse-Cherry, J. M. (2019). Composing the Gulf Coast: Narratives of Environmental Toxicity, Racial Injustice, and Carbon Energy across Modalities (Doctoral dissertation, University of Minnesota).
Fox, C. C. (2020). Christophe’s Ghost: The Making and Unmaking of Tragedy in Post-revolutionary Haiti (Doctoral dissertation, Yale University).
But, E. (2021). Eutrapelia: Humorous texts in Hellenistic poetry. The Ohio State University.
Levay, M., Bratton, F., Krzakowski, C., Keese, A., Corser, S., Livingstone, C., … & O’Hanlon, K. (2019). XIV Modern Literature. The Year’s Work in English Studies, 98(1), 858–1020.
De Pourcq, M., & Levie, S. (Eds.). (2018). European Literary History: An Introduction. Routledge.
write