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Paper short abstract

The paper focuses on survival, capitalist extraction and gendered exploitation in Rabindranath Tagore's play "Red Oleanders" (1925), highlighting its folk resonances, where Nandini's character symbolises indigenous cultural imagination and ecofeminist resistance against capitalist ecological damage.

Paper long abstract

The intersection of ecology and gender in contemporary scholarship reveals complex layers of oppression and extraction by capitalist and patriarchal structures, establishing that ecological devastation and gendered exploitation are intertwined. Taking this ethos forward, the paper will critically analyse Rabindranath Tagore's play "Red Oleanders" (1925), which laments the loss of spiritual harmony and highlights emotional aridity in a mechanised capitalist society. The play is a powerful protest against gendered oppression, unchecked exploitation of natural resources to satisfy human greed, and a critique of human estrangement in a materialistic society. The paper argues that the protagonist, Nandini, embodies folk aesthetics in the play and emerges as a powerful symbol of gendered resistance against capitalist extraction and ecological degradation. Her non-normative portrayal of femininity presents a much-needed hope for humans to reconnect with nature, with which they are intrinsically entangled. The character of Nandini echoes Tagore's love and reverence for nature as well as the influence of folk narratives on his dramatic sensibility. Through an ecofeminist reading of "Red Oleanders" in the light of the current climate crisis, the paper situates itself at the critical juncture where indigenous theatrical tradition, ecological thought, and gendered resistance intersect. Drawing on Postcolonial and Ecofeminist theories, the paper will argue that Nandini's figure symbolises a convergence of feminist resilience, ecological entanglements, and folk imaginaries. The paper aims to contribute to contemporary ecofeminist scholarship, extend the discourse on the intersection of theatre and ecology, and comment on alternative modes of coexistence against ecological inequalities and capitalist tendencies.