Red Oleanders (1923)
Rabindranath Tagore (Nobel Prize Laureate)
Bengali
This is the story of Nandini, a beautiful
woman who appears at a time of the
oppression of humanity by greed and
power. The antagonist in the story is the
King, who represents enormous authority
but barricades himself behind an iron
curtain. He transforms a town in to a fort
and the humans into digging machines who
grope in the dark searching for gold.
In this soulless mining town, people forget
the beauty of nature, the green meadows,
the dazzling sunshine, the tenderness and
love between humans. Nandini arrives to
salvage
humanity
trapped
behind
mechanized tyranny. She eventually frees
the oppressed souls who are toiling and
underground, but at a great sacrifice. The
story ends in an unexpected climax after Tagore knits an intricate network of sequences
that ultimately becomes a parable.
Red Oleanders (Raktakarabi) is one of the more than sixty plays, dance dramas and
dramatic sketches by Asia’s first Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. The play, written in
1923-24, was begun during a visit to Shillong, Assam, and inspired by the image of a red
oleander plant crushed by pieces of discarded iron that Tagore had come across while
walking. A short time later, an oleander branch with a single red flower protruded through
the debris, as if, he noted, “created from the blood of its cruelly pierced breast.”
Questions to Consider while Annotating
1) In what ways is Tagore’s play relevant to the specific reality of India in
1923? In what ways is it Universal?
2) To what effect does the author use images of Nature vs. Industry in the
play?
3) The play has a distinct “us vs. them” feel throughout. Who are the “us”
and who are the “them” and how does Tagore direct our sympathies
towards one or the other?
4) In what ways is this a play about Capitalism, Nature vs, Industry, Love,
Profit vs, Humanity? And how does the play relate to your own life in the
21st Century?