‘Against the Order of Nature’: Queering Nature in Mahesh Dattani’s Bravely Fought the Queen

Section 377 of IPC deals with ‘unnatural offences’ – which mainly includes any voluntary carnal intercourse ‘against the order of nature’ with any man, woman or animal. The section, however, does not define ‘natural’ or ‘unnatural’. There has always been an ongoing relationship between sex and nature which is prevalent at various levels – social, institutional, political and ethical. At the same time there is also basic concept of ecofeminism that holds that there is a relationship between the oppression of women and the degeneration of nature. Taking into account the discourses on sexuality, queer theory and ecofeminism, I aim to examine Mahesh Dattani’s play Bravely Faught the Queen. The paper intends to build a connection between the queer theory and ecofeminism and through that connection looks at the play at two levels. The first level is that of performance. At this level, there is a constant effort to conform to the social construction of natural and normal. At the second level, we see the literal ‘construction’ of nature in the form of bonsai. The plots of indirect oppression and strapping of women and queers in the name of ‘normativity’ and ethics and the degeneration and binding of nature in the name of beautification in the form of bonsai. The paper questions the very notion of normal and natural, and therefore, it also questions the ‘ethical behaviour’ that is based mainly on the notion of natural.