Silence of Bystanders as the Accomplice of Domestic Violence: Dirty Butterfly and Born Bad by Debbie Tucker Green

Abstract

Debbie tucker green, one of the most remarkable playwrights on the twenty-first century British stage, deals with the role of the silence of bystanders in perpetuating domestic violence and abuse and aggravating the suffering of victims in her debut plays, dirty butterfly and born bad, based on the triangle of victim, perpetrator, and bystander. In both plays, tucker green puts more focus on the unresponsive attitudes of bystanders towards the sufferings of victims succumbing to the repeated intimate partner violence and parental sexual abuse than the persecution of perpetrators. Bystanders do nothing to intervene in domestic violence and ease the pains of victims. On the contrary, they collude with perpetrators, condoning the persecution through their silence, indifferent demeanors, tendencies to blame victims and deny the truth, and lack of empathy. The ramification of their silence is the perpetuation of violence and abuse. In this regard, the current study aims to delineate how bystanders play a pivotal role in normalizing and perpetuating domestic violence and abuse, aggravate the sufferings of victims, and act as the accomplices of perpetrators through their deafening silence in dirty butterfly and born bad.