LANGUAGE IN INDIA

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Volume 25:11 November 2025
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Trauma and Psychological Self-Destruction: An Overview of Emotional Dependence and Obsession Through the Lens of Psychoanalytic Feminism in K. R. Meera's Novel, The Poison of Love

Arshad C M

Abstract

The paper will examine the novel The Poison of Love by K R Meera. The novel depicts trauma and self-destruction by women as the psychic impact of deep-rooted patriarchy. This article explores psychoanalytic feminist theory- specifically the concept of repression used by Freud, the desire of the Other used by Lacan, and the model of emotional conditioning developed by Chodorow. The analysis reveals how patriarchal ideals of femininity are transformed into self-inflicted trauma in the case of Tulsi and her love towards Madhav. Meera reveals how love has been turned into self-destruction by revealing that essentialist conceptions of womanhood are challenged and that female subjectivity is being redefined as unwhole, performative and resistant within patriarchal culture. Fitting Meera's story into the larger context of trauma and feminist psychoanalysis, this paper discusses the feminine unconscious patterns of cultural indoctrination and the influence of the patriarchal ideology on the female unconscious. Tulsi exhibits the acculturation of the cumulative effects of interpersonal pain whereby the psychic damages accumulated over time thwart identity and force a renegotiation of womanhood. The analysis questions emotional dispositions, love, care, and vulnerability, which is usually naturalized as feminine, but created by patriarchal conditioning in the actual sense. In the Indian case, these gendered imperatives are considered psychic baggage, which drives women into depression, self-alienation, and self-destruction. Using the pathways of femininity that are strong and fragile to her emotional breakdown, the study brings out the critique of the patriarchal emotional economies and her redefinition of trauma as a symptom and resistance.

Keywords:trauma, self-destruction, femininity, patriarchy, psychoanalysis

Introduction

The Poison of Love is a novel published in Malayalam language and later translated into various languages such as English. It is a feminine based novel, which talks of the psychic breakdown of its lead character, Tulsi. Being narrated in a first person, the novel has placed female consciousness in the center of narration framework and provided the reader with first-hand access to the emotional and mental world of Tulsi. This mode of narration does not only promise a clearly female subjectivity but also reveals the differences in it, showing the way in which patriarchal conditioning and suppressed desire combine to create the feminine psyche. Meera creates a multi-layered image of womanhood that provokes trauma, guilt, and resistance by tracing the evolution of Tulsi as a woman who has lost all romanticism in her life and become a victim of psychological self-destruction. This makes the novel an ideal venue to a psychoanalytic feminist reading, where the inner conflict within Tulsi can be studied through the prism of repression, abjection, and search of selfhood within the symbolic order of a patriarchal society.

The old question of feminist essentialism has a direct influence on a psychoanalytic interpretation of The Poison of Love because K.R. Meera destroys the belief in a fixed female essence through her depiction of trauma and mental suicide. Feminist essentialism posits that all women share a common essence, often grounded in biology or shared experience (Stone 135). Simone de Beauvoir and Judith Butler have vehemently criticized this concept. Contrary to the view of an innate or natural femininity, De Beauvoir famously argued that ?one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman,? thereby rejecting the idea of an innate or natural femininity (de Beauvoir 283). Butler also challenges fixed ideas of gender by her theory of gender performativity, asserting that gender is constituted through repeated social acts rather than biological determinants (Butler 25).

In spite of these strong objections, gender essentialist assumptions still remain. Patriarchal structures persist in many societies including in India. For instance, India remains deeply patriarchal, with gender hierarchies shaping both public and private spheres (Kandiyoti 274?290) where women still remain psychologically conditioned to exhibit the qualities of love, nurturing, and hospitality. Patriarchy in India is sustained through social, religious, and familial institutions that legitimize male authority and control over women's bodies and choices (Chakravarti 27) It is apparent that the patriarchal conditioning has a major influence and impact on the development of the female psyche and consciousness. Many women internalise and assimilate to these patterns of dominance and subjugation as routine features of the gender relations. According to India's National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), nearly half of both women and men believe that a husband is justified in physically disciplining his wife under certain circumstances (IIPS & ICF 2021), which reflects the very strong belief in the submissiveness of the woman. Moreover, government time-use data shows that women perform over six hours of unpaid domestic labor daily, compared to just one hour for men (MOSPI 2020).

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Arshad C M
Research Scholar,
Department of English and Other Indian & Foreign Languages,
School of Applied Sciences and Humanities,
Vignan?s Foundation for Science, Technology and Research
Deemed to be University
Vadlamudi, Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh,
Pin: 522213, India.
cmarshad8@gmail.com

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