What is Wife

Societies present gender norms as “natural” to enforce an uneven power hierarchy. This “naturalness” often generates a desire within the gendered body to conform to their assigned identity within particular spaces. This chapter aims to explore gender identity and relations within the domestic space of home in South Asian context through an examination of Vijay Tendulkar's play Kamala, translated by Priya Adarkar. To this end, the study benefits from Nivedita Menon's Seeing Like a Feminist. More specifically, the chapter focuses on the characters Kamala, Kamalabai, and Sarita to analyze the protections offered to the “good” women but denied to the “bad/fallen” ones. It is hoped that the analysis highlights the different workings of gendered identity and roles within particular spatial settings.