Question- Discuss Tendulkar's humour satire and irony in 'Silence! The Court is in Session.'

Answer - 

Vijay Tendulkar's plays, Silence! The Court is in Session' is replete with humour, satire and irony. It directs its satirical barbs mainly against the urban middle-class. As pointed out by N.S. Dharan, Tendulkar's 'Silence! The Court is in Session' exposes the hypocrisy, selfishness, sham moral standards and the sadism latent in the immediate colleagues of the buoyant but belligerent Benare. In this play, Tendulkar creates humour and satire through characters, dialogues and situations. The atmosphere of the court is not serious at all witnesses pass comments on one another, the judge and the counsel chew pans, and others smoke ciggerates and beedies. Oxford Dictionary is kept in the place of Bhagavad Geeta for oath-taking. Mrs. Kashikar frequently interferes in the court proceedings. These and other frivolous activities and behaviour the purpose of creating laughter and entertainment for the audience.

Mock-element to unmark the follies of society - The play is conceived as a game and the idea that all that is happening on the stage is part mock and part earnest gives the play its 'theatrical' edge. The mock- element pervades through and through what we are witnessing is a mere enactment of what is rehearsal of sorts of nothing more than a mock trial to be staged later in the day. The game sequence lifts the performance somewhat since it offers so much scope for unconstrainal physical movement for fun. Even so, It is, for the part, little more than an inset. But in Shantata the play and its structure revolve wholly round the idea of a game and include the essential ingredient of 'reversal'. Benare who is on the offensive in the beginning finds herself trapped at the close of the play. The harmless door- latch. Which hurts her finger and draws her blood (as she enters the place with Samant) later shuts the group in and in fact, takes on the dimension of a blockade. The claustrophobic atmosphere inside becomes the kind of setting where social makes are stripped off.

When the members of troupe enter the room. We half-anticipate banter and cordiality as among friends. There is banter no doubt, but alongside runs a strong streak of pettiness. Perhaps for them theatre activity has reduced itself to an escape from personal failures! Benare exposes that Sukhatme, in real life, is a lawyer without a brief, here he will be seen exploding to parade his knowledge of the legal process. Sukhatme for his part, riles at Karnik's so called grasp of 'intimate' theatre. Supported by Balu Rokde. He has a dig at the unfortunate Ponkshe. Who has actually failed his Inter Science Exams but professes during the trial to be a scientific genius Ponkshe, in turn, mocks at Rokde for his slavish dependence on the Kashikars. And the group unites to ridicule their absurd gestures of mutual devotion made by the couple and also their childlessness. The whole lot of them tries to crucify Benare but at least in the first half of the play. She is able to out smart them. The name of prof. Damle, who does not turn up hour in the air giving rise to some inexplicable uneasiness.

A Grave Seriousness in the garb of Humour : The members of the dramatic troupe have plenty of time on hand before the performance. So they plan to enact a mock trial to initite the local hand Samant into the intricacies of court procedure and later using him as a replacement. They will have a trial on Benare as it is nothing more than a harmless game. But soon the game begins to take on a serious aspect. They make (Supposedly) mock accusations against Benare that are based partly on conjecture partly on hear say but they carry hidden venom and hurt Benare deeply. Benare is alleged to have seduced every male present in the group and lured him into marriage. Ironically enough, It is the local innocent who drives the last nail on the coffin. In his excitement he reads out a passage from the novel. As if by coincidence the details seeni to fit Benare's case.

Ironical Presentation of Characters: In the first act of the play Miss Benare gives an ironical caricatures of her immediate colleagues. She calls Mr. Kashikar., 'Mr. Prime objective and Mrs. Kashikar, 'Mrs. Hand-that- Rocks-the-cradle' who has no cradles to rock'. By this she implies that the couple have no children. They have adopted Balu Rokde not out of compassion for his poor condition but in order that nothing should happen to either of them in their bare house and that they should not die of boredom! In the name of his adoption the self styled social reformer Kashikar and his wife have made a slave of Rokde. Then we have Benare's sarcastic remark about Sukhatme: "Well we have an expert on the low. He's such an authority on the subject, even a desperate client won't go anywhere near him! He just sits alone in the barrister's room at court swatting flies with legal precedents ! And in his tenement. He sits alone, killing houseflies! But for today's mock trial, he is a very great barrister, " Through this Tendulkar makes light of the briefless lawyers like Sukhatme.

Lighter events for exposing grave hypocrisy : In the second act of the play, Tendulkar beautifully includes the pan-spitting episode in the plot with a view to exposing the hypocrisy of the court that is bent upon exposing the private and personal affairs of Benare's life. It is highly ridiculous that private judge Kashikar himself heads the pan-chewing gang in the court and grants adjournment of the court for this frivolous affair. He himself leaves the judge's chair and goes out to spit to check up the exact time required for spitting pan. Benare rightly asks the prosecutor Sukhat me whether it is a court of low or a spitting contest.

When Benare Intervenes in the court's proceedings by her flippant remarks, judge Kashikar issues her a reprimand. In return for this Benare goes to the judge's seat and issues him a sweet pan causing ripples of laughter in the court. Again when Mrs. Kashikar intervenes to make some comments now and again she imitates the remarks of the judge and says "can not shut up at home, cannot shut up here!

[Imitating a lawver] Milord, let the court's family be give a suitable reprimand. She has never committed the crime of infanticide. Or stolen any public property except for Milord himself!" "This is an example of Tendulkar's huinour arising out dialogue.

Ponkshe who comes to the witness box to depose as the first witness for the prosecution finds the Oxford English Dictionary instead of the Bhagavad Geeta because of the bungling of Balu Rokde, the usherer of the court. So he takes his oath on the Oxford English Dictionary making the accused Miss Benare herself lough aloud. This is an example of Tendulkar creating humar through situation. During his deposition Ponkshe ironically refers to halfway status: "To the public eye, she is unmarried." Benare humorously retorts to him asking him what she is to the private eyes? Such retorts give raise to humour arising out of dialogue.

Balu Rokde in the witness box is a source of great humour: In the third act, Balu Rokde who shakes and shivers to come to the witness box and depose against Miss Benare. He invites the wrath of judge Kashikar who calls him a buffoon after deposing against Miss Benare he challenges her to dare and laugh at him if she can. His nervous behaviour produces a funny situation in the court. The frequent quarrels in the open court between the Kashikars necessitating the intervention of Sukhatme produces a mockery of the court atmosphere. Ponkshe giving out his witness belching smoke out of his pipe, Sukhatme arguing while smoking his beedi, and Mrs. Kashikar asking the prosecutor to hold her knitting while she makes her statement are all light hearted treuesty court procedures producing bone tickling laughter Samant who is totally new to the court procedures contributes richly to general stock of humour in the play. When Sukhatme asks him to narrate what he saw at Prof. Damle's house after Rokde had left, he tells the counsel has mixed up issues. He asks him how he belonging to a remote village could be expected to go prof. Damle's house in Bombay, Merouer, he never knew Damle himself. This creates sense of humour in the court. Instaces like this are littered throughout the play.

Ironical title of the play: The very title of the play itself is highly ironical for there is no silence or discipline in the court, which is going to sit in judgement against miss Benare for her crime of infanticide and unwed motherhood. Even the wife of the judge pokes her nose in all matters and proceedings of the court much to the consternation of her husband. He has to silence her before he silences the accused and others to conduct the trial. Thus, Tendulkar's Silence! The court is in session is a powerful satire of modern society. The characters attack each other and expose their latent sadism and hyporcity. The hollowness of the middle class society is exposed through Benare Damle episode. In the name of social values, moral standards and religion, crash on the accused like a bombarded building. But not one of them raises his voice of protest against Damle who is responsible for the catastrophe of Benare. He is not even summoned as a co-accused in the court. She is facing the trial while he is attending an acedemic seminar! He is like a Nero fidding while Rome is burning!

Middle class individuals having ill-will for one another: The characters in the play are individuals belonging to the middle-class who are not truthful and generous to one another. They have ill will against one another. They are failures in their real life. They are dejected discontented neurotic, sadistic, conspiratoria! and even treacherous. It is not out of genuine love that they have turned to theatre activity but out of the sheer sense of their own failures in real life. To expect them to be refined truthful and generous is perhaps in real life. The expect crying for the moon.

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