Social realism in the selected plays of P K Atre and John Galsworthy - a comparative study

Abstract

The basic tenet of drama as a literary form is its performance. The social realism is considered as the most important literary value in the study of selected plays of the two playwrights, P. K. Atre and John Galsworthy. The study is the comparison of the dramatic works of these two playwrights. The English plays of John Galsworthy and the Marathi plays of P. K. Atre are compared here. John Galsworthy belonged to England and his mothertongue is English, he wrote his plays in English whereas Atre born in Maharashtra and as his mothertongue is Marathi, he wrote his plays in Marathi. These playwrights are the symbols of the new resurgence in their own areas and have made bold innovations, fruitful experiments and have given a new direction, which goes in the history of English and Indian drama as a significant mark of achievement. The plays of these writers are not entertaining but they are thought provoking. They share contemporary social and national life. newline There are some similarities and some differences in them. Atre shows lust, greed and sufferings of women in the lives of the contemporary people by using the contemporary setting and language. John Galsworthy uses the injustice and caste prejudice and welds it with the contemporary reality. Both the playwrights are prolific writers because they have produced novels, short stories, adaptions, essays and plays. Both have made a significant contribution to the English and Marathi drama. Their plays are not based on the value of entertainment but they provoke the audience to think. They are contemporary writers and both of them share the contemporary social and national concerns of their own nations.