"Torture" "Punishment" "Discipline"

Shakespeare (1564-1616) is a great poet and dramatist in British Renaissance and an outstanding master in humanist literature in Europe Renaissance. Ben Jonson calls him"the soul of the era"; Marx calls him one of"the greatest dramatic geniuses of mankind". Shakespeare holds the great banner of humanism in all his creations. He affirms life, praises life, advocates human's rights of pursuing a happy life, opposes all forms of feudal shackles. In order to understand Shakespeare's literary characters in an initial way and deepen the understanding of his thoughts'profoundness, this paper is going to explain Shakespeare's thoughts on freedom from the perspective of Foucault's theory of power.This thesis is composed of five parts. Chapter 1 introduces Shakespeare and his literary achievements, then surveys the studies on Titus Andronicus, The Taming of the Shrew and Hamlet, and at last presents the writing intention and innovation of the thesis.In Chapter 2, Foucault's three forms of penal system will be introduced. In Discipline and Punish, Foucault shows the historical shift of penal system from"Torture", to"Punishment", then to"Discipline"."Torture"a body torment;"Punishment"a soul deterrence,"Discipline"a training both over the body and the soul. Foucault points out that this shift naturally has not upgraded human's rights of freedom, but has suppressed human in a more delicate and insidious way.Chapter 3 describes the specific embodiment of"Torture","Punishment","Discipline"in Titus Andronicus, The Taming of the Shrew and Hamlet respectively, and details each protagonist's resistance as follows: Titus'violent revenge to the corporal torture; Katharina's single disobedience to the psychological punishment and Hamlet's unbreakable struggle to the mental and physical discipline.Chapter 4 explores Shakespeare's thoughts on freedom. Seemingly, the penal system is getting more humanistic and civilized by abandoning the barbarous torture and laying out reasonable laws. However, when the main penalty is imprisonment and modification, human's rights of freedom are deprived of secretly. By creating classic works and vivid characters, Shakespeare discloses the nature of the penal system that restrains human's rights of freedom, and calls people to take an active part in fighting against it.The last chapter will review and summarize the whole thesis, point out the limitations of the research and provide suggestions for further study.