Originally posted by: Elysia
First of all, I think that all analysis is - in the end - based on how we interpret the character of Viraj. Personally, I don't see him as a victim, as a man who doesn't understand what is right and what is wrong -- I do, however, see him as someone who knows when he's done wrong and manipulates people around him to get what he wants. He doesn't regret any of his horrible deeds. He feels no remorse. It doesn't mean that he isn't aware of what's right or wrong. Just that he doesn't care for it, because he desires the end result for himself.
If he felt actual remorse and struggled to repeat the act, then I'd admit that he had actual redeeming qualities. But he hasn't, at any point, shown pure remorse and sheer desire to change. He hasn't shown empathy. He has, however, shown the opposite.
I believe that a mental disease or imbalance isn't enough to justify anyone's treatment of another human being. It's like saying that serial killers should be given another chance to establish their lives in our society because what they did was the consequence or result of their traumatic childhood. Now, according to the system, all serial killers should receive treatment rather than punishment for what they've done because they're all the product of some traumatizing incident from their pasts...
These are, in most cases, excuses. Lame excuses.
We're talking about people who are incapable of empathy. We're talking about people that are labelled "mentally imbalanced" and their reasons for committing the cruel act is given some fancy psychological term. But really, they're just evil.
Cruel people that find some kind of sick pleasure in dominance, violence, in hurting other people -- simply because they allow their minds to roam ominous waters rather than restrict themselves.
It's not that they don't know the difference between right and wrong - it's that they allow their drives, their desires to overpower them.
Let me give an example.
There are Catholic priests who sexually abuse children in Germany. Why? Because they are all mentally imbalanced, psychologically dented? Should they be given treatment and chances and no punishment?
Those Catholic priests abused the children because they permitted themselves to do so. They are priests. Shouldn't they fear God above anything else? How could they not stop in the middle of the act and think: "What the H am I doing?" The thing is that when you allow the drives that lie in any human nature to overpower you, to ignore what's right, to think the extreme and allow yourself explore it - then you will end up an abusive priest or an abusive husband, for that matter.
Viraj might have a disorder. His present self might be a product of his past. But in the end, it doesn't justify anything and doesn't earn him a badge, or a tenth chance -- because his issues shouldn't have the power to ruin another human's life, to change it irrevocably and turn her into a nervous wreck. It shouldn't have the power to control anyone's happiness.
If he should ever recover, which I highly doubt [since his issues are deeply rooted in his persona], then sure. He could make amends. But a woman like Jhanvi, who has suffered from his hand, whom he has ruined - body and soul - shouldn't be expected to return to him, shouldn't be given to him for his happiness or desire's sake. Honestly, if he wants to make amends, he should put aside his own desire in order to see Jhanvi happy and safe from him -- knowing what he's done to her, knowing that he doesn't deserve her.
This all presupposes that Viraj is capable of feeling actual remorse. Which he isn't.
In the end, I believe that one's past doesn't justify one's present self. When he was a child, he was a victim. But now he's a grown man. He's not a victim anymore. He's the attacker, the abuser -- and he became THAT by choice.
I agree that you don't quit on someone when they're ill. But truth be told, you have a right to protect yourself first. You have a right to protect yourself from being destroyed.
Sickness or not, childhood trauma or not -- if my man had done even half the things that Viraj has done to Jhanvi, I would've abandoned him. No questions asked. Not because I'm weak or a quitter, but because I have my self-respect and he has no right to take it from me, to ruin me, to drag me down with him.
Plus, if I didn't love him and wasn't happy with him - then why should I fight for our painful and abusive marriage to work?
Viraj can have himself treated and fight to stay a good man and let Jhanvi have her own happiness somewhere else - that would be his greatest amend of all. And then, I might just forgive him as a viewer.
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