Metaphor: “The hand that rocks the cradle”
This is the term with which Benare labels Mrs. Kashikar. There is a subtle bit of irony here, and it is tantamount to a put-down since Mrs. Kashikar is childless and has no cradle to rock. Ultimately, the point of this metaphorical, synecdochical reference to Mrs. Kashikar is its inherent implication that her life is meaningless and pointless; after all, what good is a hand intended to rock a cradle if there is no cradle and no child? But it's not that Benare herself censures Mrs. Kashikar: rather, it's that she recognizes Mrs. Kashikar's perceived "weakness" as a woman within the same patriarchal system that condemns her for being unmarried. The tragedy is that Mrs. Kashikar prefers not to see Benare and herself as compatriots but instead focuses her own wrath on the other woman.
Metaphor: Kashikar's View of Unmarried Women
Mr. Kashikar serves as the judge in the mock trial of Benare. However, it is when he temporarily steps down from that role to step into the witness stand that he reveals his deep-seated comfort with the patriarchal status quo of male dominion over women. He encapsulates such patriarchal sentiment in one of the play’s most memorable uses of metaphor, his opinion of women: “A sinful canker on the body of society—that’s my honest opinion of these grown-up unmarried girls" (82). An unmarried woman is thus, in his mind, an unsightly, unhealthy, undesirable creature, one that is equivalent to a blight and a wound on a body.
Metaphors: Benare’s Nihilism
During her long, passionate monologue before her sentence is handed down, Benare opens up every last one of her life's chapters and pages that haven't already been pried open to public scrutiny by others. She tells of an incestuous relationship with an uncle and addresses various other difficulties faced and problems overcome before she reaches a state at which metaphorical language takes over completely, a nihilistic philosophy of life spewing forth in a series of dark metaphors: “Life is a book that goes ripping into pieces. Life is a poisonous snake that bites itself. Life is a betrayal. Life is a fraud. Life is a drug. Life is drudgery. Life is a something that’s nothing—or a nothing that’s something” (87). These metaphors help us understand Benare's rage and despair, and allow us to emphasize with her.
Metaphor: Society as a Soiled Cloth
In his tirade against unmarried women and unwed mothers, Kashikar states, "the whole fabric of society is being soiled these days" (62). This metaphor has us imagining that society is a cloth and these women are dark, unsightly stains on them. They are unwelcome and should be eradicated, he suggests. The virulence of Kashikar's metaphors suggests the power and cruelty of the patriarchy in India.
Metaphor: Benare as a Blot upon a Brow
Yet another cruel metaphor used to describe women is Sukhatme's comment that "the woman who is an accused has made a heinous blot on the sacred brow of motherhood" (84). This time we envision a pure, clear forehead that is then mussed up by a disfiguring mark. It is imagery that smacks of religious blasphemy, further emphasizing the antipathy towards women like Benare.
