Lisibilité de l’histoire et (in)visibilité des corps violentés dans Sir Thomas More

This article focuses on the history play Sir Thomas More and its representation of three types of violence at the core of Tudor society: war, public execution, and rebellion. The first two are presented as legitimate while the third one is deemed criminal; yet, the play blurs such an orthodox delimi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Nicolas Thibault
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Centre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte" 2022-01-01
Series:Sillages Critiques
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/11820
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1832578552929714176
author Nicolas Thibault
author_facet Nicolas Thibault
author_sort Nicolas Thibault
collection DOAJ
description This article focuses on the history play Sir Thomas More and its representation of three types of violence at the core of Tudor society: war, public execution, and rebellion. The first two are presented as legitimate while the third one is deemed criminal; yet, the play blurs such an orthodox delimitation. Official history makes some forms of violence visible, even spectacular, while erasing others from its narrative. Moreover, this framing, which is particularly present in language, tends to hide the concrete and physical effects of such violence on bodies. Nevertheless, the play brings those bodies back to the surface, giving them an existence and a voice, whereas the royal figure remains in the background. Thus, Sir Thomas More stages history in such a way that it offers multiple perspectives on violence and places suffering at the centre of the stage. In so doing, the play questions both the univocality of history and the legitimacy of state violence.
format Article
id doaj-art-8f57e7c29aca4ae18ac74f2e55af8a28
institution Kabale University
issn 1272-3819
1969-6302
language English
publishDate 2022-01-01
publisher Centre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte"
record_format Article
series Sillages Critiques
spelling doaj-art-8f57e7c29aca4ae18ac74f2e55af8a282025-01-30T13:47:10ZengCentre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte"Sillages Critiques1272-38191969-63022022-01-013110.4000/sillagescritiques.11820Lisibilité de l’histoire et (in)visibilité des corps violentés dans Sir Thomas MoreNicolas ThibaultThis article focuses on the history play Sir Thomas More and its representation of three types of violence at the core of Tudor society: war, public execution, and rebellion. The first two are presented as legitimate while the third one is deemed criminal; yet, the play blurs such an orthodox delimitation. Official history makes some forms of violence visible, even spectacular, while erasing others from its narrative. Moreover, this framing, which is particularly present in language, tends to hide the concrete and physical effects of such violence on bodies. Nevertheless, the play brings those bodies back to the surface, giving them an existence and a voice, whereas the royal figure remains in the background. Thus, Sir Thomas More stages history in such a way that it offers multiple perspectives on violence and places suffering at the centre of the stage. In so doing, the play questions both the univocality of history and the legitimacy of state violence.https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/11820memorywarviolencehistoryvisibilityspectacular
spellingShingle Nicolas Thibault
Lisibilité de l’histoire et (in)visibilité des corps violentés dans Sir Thomas More
Sillages Critiques
memory
war
violence
history
visibility
spectacular
title Lisibilité de l’histoire et (in)visibilité des corps violentés dans Sir Thomas More
title_full Lisibilité de l’histoire et (in)visibilité des corps violentés dans Sir Thomas More
title_fullStr Lisibilité de l’histoire et (in)visibilité des corps violentés dans Sir Thomas More
title_full_unstemmed Lisibilité de l’histoire et (in)visibilité des corps violentés dans Sir Thomas More
title_short Lisibilité de l’histoire et (in)visibilité des corps violentés dans Sir Thomas More
title_sort lisibilite de l histoire et in visibilite des corps violentes dans sir thomas more
topic memory
war
violence
history
visibility
spectacular
url https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/11820
work_keys_str_mv AT nicolasthibault lisibilitedelhistoireetinvisibilitedescorpsviolentesdanssirthomasmore