Aa Manushyan Nee Thanne (You Are That Man): A Retelling of the Biblical Story of King David

Abstract

Reimagining mythical themes is a way to place the social as mythical. Aa Manushyan Nee Thanne (You Are That Man) by C. J. Thomas narrates the love story of King David and Bethsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite resulting in breaking the sixth and seventh of the Ten Commandments in the Hebrew Bible. The play written in the genre of a classical tragedy gives the writer ample scope for vocalizing his take on the commandments laid down by social institutions like religion which stand in the way of the expression of the spontaneous feelings of an individual. The paper here attempts to analyse the theme and characterisation of the play to understand the dynamics of making classical characters express the modernist angst. It also tries to look at the Biblical notions of sin and redemption. The attempt here is to bring out the prophetic voice of a master craftsman on moral and ethical problems facing contemporary society.