Foucault's Panopticon

In Michel Foucault’s “Discipline and Punish The Birth of the Prison,” he talks about the idea of Panopticon. The Panopticon is a circular structure with a guard tower in the center with cells surrounding it on the outside. The purpose of Panopticon is to make the inmates believe that they are being watched at all times, when in reality they might not even be watched at all. This psychological process forces inmates to act accordingly and not do something wrong because they never know when they are being watched. This process also eliminates the need for an excess amount of guards to watch over the inmates. By expressing the idea of surveillance within the prison, Foucault connects the concept of surveillance as a whole to the power imbalances …show more content…
Polonius tells, “You shall do marvellous wisely, good Reynaldo Before you visit him, to make inquire Of his behavior” (2.1.3-5). When Polonius tells Reynaldo, “You shall do marvellous wisely, good Reynaldo” (2.1.3-5), it shows that Polonius chooses Reynaldo to go spy on Laertes because Laertes has no idea who Reynaldo is as he is just a servant of the King. This allows Reynaldo to actively spy on Laertes because he is just being viewed as an average civilian and not someone that he knows. Reynaldo not only is going to watch Laertes, but he is going to ask around about him as shown in the quote, “to make inquire of his behavior” (2.1.3-5). This shows that this goes farther than just observing Laertes, but instead Reynaldo is actually investigating and asking people around the town to make sure that Laertes is on his best behavior and not participating in activities such as, gambling, drinking, or visiting brothels. This idea of being watched and behaving can relate to Foucault’s notion of Panopticon. Foucault writes, “If the inmates are convicts, there is no danger of a plot, an attempt at collective escape, the planning of new crimes for the future, bad reciprocal influences” (Foucault 200-201). Since the inmates believe they are being watched in the concept …show more content…
Hamlet tells the players in the play, “Let me comply with you in this garb, lest my extent to the players, which I tell you must show fairly outward should more appear like entertainment than yours. You are welcome. But my uncle-father and aunt-mother are deceived” (2.2.326-329). Hamlet wants to setup the play to portray his father’s death to see if King Claudius is guilty of killing his father. To the audience, Hamlet wants the play to seem just like it is just entertainment as he says “show fairly outward” (2.2.326-329), but in reality, his actual purpose of the play is to trick Claudius into seeing his reaction after hinting at his father’s death. When Hamlet tells the players, “Let me comply with you in this garb” (2.2.326-329), he wants the players to give the audience with what they want with entertainment by appearance. However, how it appears to the audience is not what the play is actually about as the play’s purpose is to trick the King. The King suspects nothing of Hamlet’s play, leaving him clueless and open to being exposed. Hamlet knows that if Claudius leaves during the play or shows any sign of shock on his face during the play, then he is clearly hiding a secret, the secret that Hamlet believes that he killed his father. This also shows that Hamlet does

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