The Interdependency of Foucauldian Concepts of Power and Knowledge in Shakespeare’s The Tempest

Shakespeare’s The Tempest is an outstanding theatrical microcosm representing the unavoidably overwhelming Foucauldian power relations in all human civilizations and their intricate interdependency of such power relations with the possession of knowledge and construction of reality. The fictional wo...

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Main Author: Saeid Benoud
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Kurdistan 2022-03-01
Series:Critical Literary Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://cls.uok.ac.ir/article_61737.html
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author Saeid Benoud
author_facet Saeid Benoud
author_sort Saeid Benoud
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description Shakespeare’s The Tempest is an outstanding theatrical microcosm representing the unavoidably overwhelming Foucauldian power relations in all human civilizations and their intricate interdependency of such power relations with the possession of knowledge and construction of reality. The fictional world of The Tempest is thoroughly endowed with the mechanisms of an intense web of power struggles and domination fixations which typically have been, are, and will be characteristic of any human society throughout history. For the sustenance of such a complex texture of power structures and for the manipulation of the overall balance to the advantage of a specific minority, the pivotal function of a constructed reality is as substantial in the story as the real life. Prospero, the central character, successfully manages to subdue all other dangerous, power-thirsty rivals by making use of his superior knowledge enabling him to shape the subjectivities/beliefs of other characters by different means including language and masquerades in an induced world of realities on the island. Shakespeare’s text can well be drawn on to reveal the stealthy workings of different social, cultural and especially moral institutions in recruiting subjects to their malignant power/knowledge network and duping the individuals with the desired notions produced constantly by the institutional apparatuses leading to the construction of an exploitive ‘truth.’
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spelling doaj.art-a6927db8f09644f09f76182d9d0419ed2022-12-21T22:09:53ZengUniversity of KurdistanCritical Literary Studies2676-699X2716-99282022-03-011222724410.34785/J014.2019.914The Interdependency of Foucauldian Concepts of Power and Knowledge in Shakespeare’s The TempestSaeid Benoud0Academic Staff Member, Shahr-e-Rey Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shahr-e-Rey, IranShakespeare’s The Tempest is an outstanding theatrical microcosm representing the unavoidably overwhelming Foucauldian power relations in all human civilizations and their intricate interdependency of such power relations with the possession of knowledge and construction of reality. The fictional world of The Tempest is thoroughly endowed with the mechanisms of an intense web of power struggles and domination fixations which typically have been, are, and will be characteristic of any human society throughout history. For the sustenance of such a complex texture of power structures and for the manipulation of the overall balance to the advantage of a specific minority, the pivotal function of a constructed reality is as substantial in the story as the real life. Prospero, the central character, successfully manages to subdue all other dangerous, power-thirsty rivals by making use of his superior knowledge enabling him to shape the subjectivities/beliefs of other characters by different means including language and masquerades in an induced world of realities on the island. Shakespeare’s text can well be drawn on to reveal the stealthy workings of different social, cultural and especially moral institutions in recruiting subjects to their malignant power/knowledge network and duping the individuals with the desired notions produced constantly by the institutional apparatuses leading to the construction of an exploitive ‘truth.’https://cls.uok.ac.ir/article_61737.htmlpower/knowledgepanopticonlanguagevisibilitysubjugation
spellingShingle Saeid Benoud
The Interdependency of Foucauldian Concepts of Power and Knowledge in Shakespeare’s The Tempest
Critical Literary Studies
power/knowledge
panopticon
language
visibility
subjugation
title The Interdependency of Foucauldian Concepts of Power and Knowledge in Shakespeare’s The Tempest
title_full The Interdependency of Foucauldian Concepts of Power and Knowledge in Shakespeare’s The Tempest
title_fullStr The Interdependency of Foucauldian Concepts of Power and Knowledge in Shakespeare’s The Tempest
title_full_unstemmed The Interdependency of Foucauldian Concepts of Power and Knowledge in Shakespeare’s The Tempest
title_short The Interdependency of Foucauldian Concepts of Power and Knowledge in Shakespeare’s The Tempest
title_sort interdependency of foucauldian concepts of power and knowledge in shakespeare s the tempest
topic power/knowledge
panopticon
language
visibility
subjugation
url https://cls.uok.ac.ir/article_61737.html
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