Exploring Criminological Perspectives in Anita Desai’s Cry, The Peacock

Abstract

The present paper seeks to explore the criminological perspectives of the central character, Maya, in Anita Desai’s Cry, The Peacock. The character of Maya, who is a neurotic woman and a victim of loneliness during her four-year long marital relationship and who ultimately chooses the option of killing her husband, Gautama, is analyzed in the light of criminological theories pertaining to crime and motivation, such as Eysenck’s Biosocial Theory of Crime, Freudian Psychoanalytic Theory, and occasionally Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. The present paper aims to unveil the hidden criminal tendencies and the cause and extent of psychological consequences of Maya’s oppressed state of mind.