Benare

Character Analysis

The play’s protagonist, Leela Benare is an unmarried teacher in her early thirties and a member of the
cast of the Living Courtroom. Benare has been carrying on an affair with Professor Damle, another
member of the cast; after she became pregnant, however, he cut her off. Benare has also recently been
fired from her job, as her superiors view unmarried motherhood as sinful and worried she would
somehow pass on her immorality to her students. Now, pregnant and unemployed, Benare is committed
to figuring out a way to make a life for herself and her unborn child. She’s asked some of her courtroom
collaborators, Ponkshe and Rokde, to marry her and help her raise her child, but has been rejected. She
understands the stigma both she and her child will face if it is born without a father and worries about
how to move forward. The stress Benare is under in her personal life comes to the surface when
Kashikar jokingly charges her with infanticide during an improvised mock trial. Over the course of this
trial Benare’s real troubles are brought to light, and her collaborators and ostensible friends take the
opportunity to insult what they see as her loose, immoral, progressive lifestyle. At the end of the play,
although her castmates collect themselves and try to tell her that her prosecution was just a game,
Benare has been totally emotionally broken.

Act One Quotes

SAMANT. […] I mean to say, I’m not in the habit of walking so fast. You do set a very lively pace, very
lively.

BENARE. Not always. But today, how I walked! Let’s leave everyone behind, I thought, and go
somewhere far, far away— with you!

SAMANT [in confusion]. With me?

BENARE. Yes, I like you very much.

SAMANT [terribly shy and embarrassed]. Tut-tut. Ha ha! I’m hardly…

BENARE. You're very nice indeed. And shall I tell you something? You are a very pure and good person. I
like you.

Samant
Character Analysis

Raghunath Bhikaji Samant is a local villager who helps the members of the Living Courtroom find the
meeting hall and set up. He remains in the room throughout their improvised trial, even serving as a
witness and delivering a made-up piece of evidence. Samant often acts as an audience surrogate,
allowing other characters to explain the workings of the court or the relationships between each of
them. Samant is kind if clueless; early in the play Benare attempts to hit on him and he fails to
understand her advances. Samant, unlike many of the other characters, thinks Benare seems kind and
competent, and does not judge her for being in her thirties and unmarried, or for having a job and
earning her own independent income. Samant is also the only character to show Benare any kindness,
defending her in the context of the trial, and leaving her a small gift of a cloth parrot in the play’s final
scene.

Samant Quotes in Silence! The Court is in Session

The Silence! The Court is in Session quotes below are all either spoken by Samant or refer to Samant. For
each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by
its own dot and icon, like this one: Performance and Self Expression Theme Icon). Note: all page
numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Oxford University Press edition of Silence!
The Court is in Session published in 1996.

Act One Quotes

SAMANT. […] I mean to say, I’m not in the habit of walking so fast. You do set a very lively pace, very
lively.

BENARE. Not always. But today, how I walked! Let’s leave everyone behind, I thought, and go
somewhere far, far away— with you!

SAMANT [in confusion]. With me?

BENARE. Yes, I like you very much.

SAMANT [terribly shy and embarrassed]. Tut-tut. Ha ha! I’m hardly…

BENARE. You're very nice indeed. And shall I tell you something? You are a very pure and good person. I
like you.
Sukhatme

Character Analysis

A central member of the Living Courtroom, in which he typically plays the lawyer for the prosecution.
However, since both Damle and Rawte are absent on this particular day, he also acts as the lawyer for
the defense. Sukhatme also works as a lawyer outside of the troop, although his practice is not
successful. He enjoys having power in the fictional Living Courtroom, which he does not have in life.

Act One Quotes

Our feet tread on upon unknown

And dangerous pathways evermore.

Wave after blinded wave is shattered

Stormily upon the shore.

Light glows alive again. Again

It mingles with the dark of night.

Our earthen hands burn out, and then

Again in flames they are alight.

Everything is fully known,

And everything is clear to see.

And the wound that’s born to bleed

Bleeds on for ever, faithfully,

There is a battle sometimes, where

Defeat is destined as the end.

Some experiences are meant

To taste, then just to waste and spend

Ponkshe

Character Analysis
A failed academic who works as a clerk and is a member of the Living Courtroom. Gopal N.Ponkshe is
insecure about his professional status but tries to elevate himself by insulting and degrading those
around him. Ponkshe is unmarried, and a few days before the events of the play, Benare asked him if he
would marry her and raise her unborn child. Ponkshe saw Benare’s request as an insult, a sign that she
doesn’t respect him and believes he doesn’t respect himself. Of course, Benare likely asked out of
desperation and because she hoped he would have empathy for her situation. Ponkshe is the only
member of the cast, aside from Benare, who knows Damle is the father of her child. He reveals this as a
witness during the mock trial.

Mr. Kashikar

Character Analysis

The husband of Mrs. Kashikar and a central member of the Living Courtroom, in which he plays the
judge. Kashikar is a social worker in his real life and takes great pride in his job and the status it affords
him. He and his wife have no children but have taken on Rokde as a ward and unpaid servant. Kashikar is
intensely critical of Rokde as well as his wife, Mrs. Kashikir, abusing her essentially every time she
speaks. He is also critical of his fellow players and intensely skeptical of the women’s independence
movement in India, using Benare’s trial as a way to criticize working women generally, and, in his mind,
the breakdown of society because of women who refuse to marry and engage in behaviors he sees as
immoral.

Act One Quotes

BENARE. But Samant, ‘spreading enlightenment is also one of the Prime Objectives behind our
programme’. So our chairman Kashikar will tell you. Kashikar can’t take a step without a Prime
Objective! Besides him, there’s Mrs Hand-that- Rocks-the-Cradle. I mean Mrs Kashikar. What an
excellent housewife the poor woman is! A real Hand-that-Rocks-the- Cradle type! But what’s the use?
Mr Prime Objective is tied up with uplifting the masses. And poor Hand-that-Rocks-the- Cradle has no
cradle to rock!

SAMANT. You mean they have no—[He rocks an imaginary baby in his arms.]

BENARE. Right. You seem to be very bright, too! Mr Kashikar and the Hand-that-Rocks-the-Cradle, in
order that nothing should happen to either of them in their bare, bare house—and that they shouldn’t
die of boredom!—gave shelter to a young boy. They educated him. Made him toil away. Made a slave
out of him. His name’s Balu—Balu Rokde. Who else? . . . Well, we have an Expert on the Law. He’s such
an authority on the subject, even a desperate client won't go anywhere near him! He just sits alone in
the barristers’ room at court, swatting flies with legal precedents! And in his tenement, he sits alone
killing houseflies! But for today’s mock trial, he’s a very great barrister. You'll see the wonders he
performs! And there’s a‘Hmm! with us! [Puts an imaginary pipe in her mouth.] Hmm! Sci-en-tist! Inter-
failed!

SAMANT. Oh, it does sound good fun!

BENARE. And we have an Intellectual too. That means someone who prides himself on his booklearning.
But when there’s a real- life problem, away he runs! Hides his head. He’s not here today. Won't be
coming, either. He wouldn’t dare!

Mrs. Kashikar

Character Analysis

The wife of Mr. Kashikar and a supporting member of the Living Courtroom. Although critical like her
husband, Mrs, Kashikar has to endure near constant verbal abuse from Kashikar, who publically mocks
and chastises her for essentially everything she does or says. Benare and others gossip that Mrs.
Kashikar desperately wanted children but was unable to conceive, and so her and Kashikar’s ward,
Rokde, acts as a kind of surrogate child, although he doubles as their servant, and Mrs. Kashikar seems
to take out much of her aggression on him.

Balu Rokde

Character Analysis

Balu Rodke is a young man who lives with Mr. Kashikar and Mrs. Kashikar. The couple paid for Rokde’s
education and serve as a kind of foster family. Rokde is indebted to them, acting as their unpaid servant.
Rokde is also one of the lowest status members of the cast, a fact which is well aware; he is frequently
ordered around not only by the Kashikars, but by other members of the troop. Before the events of the
play, Benare approached Rokde asking him to marry her and to help her raise her unborn child. Rokde
refused—out of fear that he’d be publically shamed, and out of fear of Mrs. Kashikar, who controls
much of his life and behavior.

Karnik

Character Analysis

A professional actor and member of the Living Courtroom. Although he joins in with Sukhatme, Mr.
Kashikar, and Ponkshe in tormenting Benare, he seems to have less of a personal, emotional stake in the
outcome of the trial, perhaps because he is less conservative politically than Kashikar or Sukhatme, who
see the trial as a referendum on independent women.

Act Two Quotes

I think he’s gone there, inside. I'll do it myself. [At a bound, goes and fetches the dictionary. Placing his
hand on it] I, Raghunath Bhikaji Samant, do hereby swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth. True enough for the trial, I mean. Of course, what’s true for the trial is quite false really.
But I'm just taking the oath for practice. [His hand is stall on the dictionary.) You see, I don’t want the sin
of falsehood. [In apologetic tones] I'm quite religious . . . The oath’s over. Now. [Enters the witness-box
again.] Go on. [This is to Sukhatme; then, to Mrs Kashikar] You see? I'm not frightened. I just get
confused because I’m new to all this. [To Sukhatme] Well, you may go on.

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Professor Damle

Character Analysis

A member of the Living Courtroom in his spare time and an academic professionally. Damle has a wife
and five children, however he nonetheless began an affair with Benare that has resulted in her
pregnancy. Benare later complains that, although he is an intellectual, Damle was only ever interested in
her body and not her mind. When she revealed her pregnancy to him he refused to help her, concerned
only with preserving his own family and future. Damle is not in attendance on the day of the trial, likely
to avoid an additional confrontation with Benare

Act One Quotes

Oh I’ve got a sweetheart

Who carries all my books,

He plays in my doll house,

And says he likes my looks.

I’ll tell you a secret—

He wants to marry me.

But Mummy says, I’m too little

To have such thoughts as these.

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Silence! The Court is in Session Characters

Benare

The play’s protagonist, Leela Benare is an unmarried teacher in her early thirties and a member of the
cast of the Living Courtroom. Benare has been carrying on an affair with Professor Damle… (read full
character analysis)
Samant

Raghunath Bhikaji Samant is a local villager who helps the members of the Living Courtroom find the
meeting hall and set up. He remains in the room throughout their improvised trial, even serving as a…
(read full character analysis)

Sukhatme

A central member of the Living Courtroom, in which he typically plays the lawyer for the prosecution.
However, since both Damle and Rawte are absent on this particular day, he also acts as the… (read full
character analysis)

Ponkshe

A failed academic who works as a clerk and is a member of the Living Courtroom. Gopal N.Ponkshe is
insecure about his professional status but tries to elevate himself by insulting and degrading those…
(read full character analysis)

Mr. Kashikar

The husband of Mrs. Kashikar and a central member of the Living Courtroom, in which he plays the
judge. Kashikar is a social worker in his real life and takes great pride in his… (read full character analysis)

Get the entire Silence! The Court is in Session LitChart as a printable PDF.

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Mrs. Kashikar

The wife of Mr. Kashikar and a supporting member of the Living Courtroom. Although critical like her
husband, Mrs, Kashikar has to endure near constant verbal abuse from Kashikar, who publically mocks
and chastises… (read full character analysis)

Balu Rokde

Balu Rodke is a young man who lives with Mr. Kashikar and Mrs. Kashikar. The couple paid for Rokde’s
education and serve as a kind of foster family. Rokde is indebted to them, acting… (read full character
analysis)

Karnik

A professional actor and member of the Living Courtroom. Although he joins in with Sukhatme, Mr.
Kashikar, and Ponkshe in tormenting Benare, he seems to have less of a personal, emotional… (read full
character analysis)

Professor Damle
A member of the Living Courtroom in his spare time and an academic professionally. Damle has a wife
and five children, however he nonetheless began an affair with Benare that has resulted in her
pregnancy… (read full character analysis)

Minor Characters

Rawte

A member of the Living Courtroom who is sick on the day of this particular trial.

Nanasaheb Shinde

The Mumbai-based Chairman of the Education Society. He also has an interest in social work. Based on a
conversation Mr. Kashikar claims to have overheard, Nanasaheb is likely the man who decided to fire
Benare, on account of the perceived immorality of her unmarried motherhood.

Benare’s Uncle

As a young girl Benare fell in love with her uncle, as he was kinder to her than her parents. Her uncle and
mother opposed the relationship, however, and, feeling betrayed, Benare attempted suicide.

Servant

A servant who appears briefly at the beginning of the play to help load in props for the Living
Courtroom.