Do you think this play is a critique on the patriarchal system of

Do you think this play is a critique on the patriarchal system of society?

How does the play ridicule the concept that the son must be the shadow of his father?

Is it correct to say that the play reveals the abuse of the habit of depending on their elders and imitating their ways of life?

Ans.

Difference in Attitude

The play Where There is a Will – is a bitter attack on the concept of patriarchal system of society in which it is considered as a healthy tradition that the sons must follow their fathers and should adopt the same ways of life. But the difficulty is created when the new generation is not prepared to adopt these ways, they have their own aspirations, wish to live their life in their own ways and implement their own projects which their elders do not like. Naturally this difference of attitude creates a confrontation and generally this is known as the generation gap. This central theme is in this play since the very beginning. The play opens with Ajit talking to some of his friend regarding his new projects and claims that as the Joint Managing Director of the company he has the right to take decisions but his father Hasmukh wishes that he should go on with the business as it is now because he fears in implementing anything new. When the son complains that his father does not listen to him, Hasmukh expresses his disbelief on these projects, “Do you blame me for not listening to him? If I implemented any of his crackpot schemes, I won’t be around to listen to anybody.” He suspects that in this way he will become a bankrupt. He thinks that in this way, Ajit is spoiling his own future and is worried to think what will happen with him when he would die. The son is so much tired of the old methods and his father detesting the new projects that once he expresses his anger in very hot words, “Anything I do is wrong for you !… Nothing I do will ever seem intelligent to you, you are prejudiced” and the father feels that anyhow he must train his son which, for him, is to make him follow his own ways. He says, “I will retire one day. either from the company or from this world. What will become of you then?”

Tradition generation after generation

The basic feeling behind this confusion of Hasmukh regarding his son has been explicitly expressed in his soliloquy. He remembers that he had learnt enough from his father who was a very hard worker and started his own industry when he came to the city. They used to work hard till late in the night and always dreamt of becoming a millionaire. Whatever he is, he has become himself and it is the result of the hard training by his father. He wishes to give the same training to his son but has miserably failed. Although Ajit realizes that all this idea of his father is nothing but mere folly, but he is unable to change him. However, at a later stage, Kiran expresses it quite clearly. In the later part of the play, Kiran tells about her own family life. She is reminded of the days of her childhood when her father came home badly drunk and beat and abused his mother. After her marriage, she also had to face almost the same situation herself. She tells Sonal. “I learnt my lesson from watching my mother tolerating father when he came home everyday with bottles of rum wrapped in newspapers.” Almost the same was the behaviour of Hasmukh with his family. He wanted to dominate everybody like his father had done earlier. She complains about her brothers, “My brothers. They have turned out to be like their father, going home with bottles of rum… Beating up their wives.” Not only this, she has herself started behaving like his mother and tolerates everything silently. She says, “And I too am like my mother. I married a drunkard and I listened to his swearing. And I too have learnt to suffer silently.” So we see that this patriarchal system is not confined to some particular family or person but is prevalent over the whole family. But the new generation like Ajit and Kiran have now come out to stand against it and are opposing it heroically.

Dependence on elders is sin

The dramatist has directly hit this weakness through Kiran’s comments on the character of Hasmukh. During the working days in the office of Hasmukh, she has very well realized that Hasmukh is completely overpowered by the influence of his father and in a way, he is exactly a shadow. This is why, he wishes that his son should also do the same but is profoundly disappointed to see the apathy of Ajit to his advice. Kiran clearly comments before Sonal, “He was just like his father, wasn’t he?” He never disagreed with his father and she asks. “Did he ever do anything at all without consulting his father first ?” and the final statement is very enlightening “Hasmukh Mehta was living in his father’s shadow.” Whatever he did was planned for him by his father and Sonal also says. “At times he even sounded like his father.” Kiran tells that even in office. he depended on her for everything. He wanted to rule everyday. “because his father had ruled over his family. And so, he didn’t know any better.” She is happy that at last Ajit has broken this myth and is coming out of this narrowness. She remarks, “At least he is free of his father’s belief…. That is enough to prove that Ajit has won and Hasmukh has lost.” In this way, the play is an attack on patriarchal system of society.