<p>This qualitative study examines the psychological collapse of Maya, the protagonist of Anita Desai&rsquo;s <em>Cry, the Peacock</em> (1963), through Freudian psychoanalytic and feminist lenses. Interpreting Lady Maya&rsquo;s descent into madness as the result of patriarchal emotional neglect, an unresolved Oedipal fixation, and the emergence of Thanatos (death-wish), this analysis explores how Anita Desai presents madness not as individual pathology but as a systemic response to the emotional deprivation experienced by women in marriage. Through close textual analysis of Maya&rsquo;s interior monologues, visions, and her alienation from her husband, this paper contends that Maya&rsquo;s psychosis is both a personal tragedy and a metaphorical act of rebellion against societal neglect. The findings affirm that <em>Cry, the Peacock</em> offers one of the earliest and most incisive critiques of patriarchal emotional violence in modern Indian English literature.</p>