In this thesis, I will apply Michel Foucault¡¦s knowledge/power theory to discuss gender politics in two Renaissance plays ¡V Ben Jonson¡¦s Epicoene or The Silent Woman and William Shakespeare¡¦s The Taming of the Shrew. The first chapter aims to delineate Foucault¡¦s discursive discipline and its exertion in Renaissance male-female relations. According Foucault, discourses are functional and regulative: they powerfully frame sciences and knowledges that have effects upon our souls and actions. Thus, ¡¥truth¡¦, or the so-called ¡¥self-evident¡¦ and ¡¥commonsensical¡¦ empowers articulators to discipline and control others. Gender discourses in the name of masculine or feminine ¡¥nature¡¦ are similarly little more than instrument of domination. Precisely, the phallo-centrical discourse of Renaissance age empowers contemporary men by subjecting, or explicitly formulating and shaping the ¡¥feminine nature¡¦ of obedient silence. The patriarchal assessment codifies two genders -- one subordinate to the other -- as a key element in its patriarchal view of the social order, and buttressed its gendered division of power. In other words, what lies beneath the discourse is patriarchal consideration for male domination. As long as contemporary women keep silent, the normative power would enable their fathers and husbands to regulate ¡¥womanly conducts¡¦ of all occasions.
Then, I would examine how Morose and Epicoene wield disciplinary power by setting up certain ¡¥behavior norms¡¦ in Epicoene. Morose¡¦s ¡¥truth¡¦ of having his family members hold their tongue and make signs has been internalized by Mute: Mute is hence drilled to self-discipline himself to answer the family head¡¦s questions in rigidly prescribed signs or gestures. Mute reifies the formidable outcome of silent conformity to ¡¥reality¡¦: he takes for granted the ¡¥natural¡¦ routine of body language. However, Morose¡¦s wife Epicoene keeps correcting Morose¡¦s mistakes to reinforce her version of ¡¥right¡¦ and ¡¥wrong¡¦. In order to rehabilitate Morose, Epicoene and other characters further label his insanity in public. The conclusion they draw results from the same complicity to put badness to Morose¡¦s ¡¥crazy¡¦ will to discourses and goodness to the ¡¥reasonable¡¦ tolerance of their opinions.
In The Taming of the Shrew, Katherina is frightening to the Renaissance males equally because of her undisciplined behavior, or her automatic discourse and self-assertion. The male characters in the play try their best to eschew from Katherina so as to defend themselves against the fear that they will not be capable of keeping ¡¥domestic order¡¦. In one word, talkative women as Katherina are frightening to Renaissance men because of their threat to the original ¡¥orders¡¦. Petruchio hence invalidates Katherina¡¦s judgments ever since they first meet: the purpose of his deliberate pretense of misunderstanding her words is to grant her discourses no influence on him since disciplinary power lies in influencing others¡¦ deeds. He vanquishes resistance from Kate by making her conformable to his ¡¥knowledge¡¦¡Xfemale obedience to male domination. Katherina¡¦s new identity is thus constructed according to Petruchio¡¦s ¡¥rules¡¦: by labeling goodness to female obedience and badness to female transgression, he thus produces another Kate obedient to his intentions. From this aspect, the gender politics between Petruchio and Katherina is essentially a battle for discourse; disciplinary power lies in voicing and reinforcing particular ¡¥truths¡¦. In one word, systematic knowledges are never power-free, but quite the contrary.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NSYSU/oai:NSYSU:etd-0816101-095815 |
| Date | 16 August 2001 |
| Creators | Chung, Pei-shan |
| Contributors | none, none, I-chun Wang |
| Publisher | NSYSU |
| Source Sets | NSYSU Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.nsysu.edu.tw/ETD-db/ETD-search/view_etd?URN=etd-0816101-095815 |
| Rights | restricted, Copyright information available at source archive |
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