Of Tamed Swallows or Granite Doves: Redeeming the Female Body in Sarah Daniel’s Masterpieces

Abstract

In patriarchy, women are often subjected to multiple marginalities. They are not only relegated to a ‘second class’ existence but are also robbed of their right to control their bodies and voice their stories. The present article attempts to re-read Sarah Daniels’s 1983 play Masterpieces with a view to seeing and showing how patriarchy frustrates all female attempts at self-actualization by interpreting them as symptomatic of different incurable and inbred “feminine” abnormalities — ranging from physical sickness to spiritual corruption. Efforts will also be made to highlight how the female protagonists of Daniels’s play break free from the shackles of ‘normative’ femininity and ultimately become able to articulate their long-silenced tales of forbidden and disruptive dreams and desires.