A Critical Analysis of Mark Ravenhill’s The Cane: Hegemonic Subjects’ Revolt against Authority

Authors : Cüneyt Özata

Pages : 153-166

Doi:10.47777/cankujhss.1290195

View : 113 | Download : 108

Publication Date : 2023-12-29

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :The purpose of this paper is to analyse the hegemonic approach taken toward students in the British education system in the past from the perspectives of both the students and the teachers within the framework of structure and superstructure and to search for the erroneous disciplinary beliefs prevalent then. Mark Ravenhill chooses The Cane for the title of his play ironically, a choice which draws attention to the cane as a punishment tool employed by the authority to exercise its hegemony, and to the deficiencies of the previous educational system. Turning into a display of hegemonic power and authority, this punishment act will be analysed through the term hegemony, believed to have been given its final meaning by Antonio Gramsci, a Marxist theorist. To Gramsci, this term is defined as the sovereign demonstrating its supremacy through ideological devices/techniques in institutions such as schools and churches, where large numbers of members present in civil society. The Cane (2019) by Mark Ravenhill, a pioneer of In-yer-face movement in British theatre, is the product of a flawed discipline-based hegemonic practice England used in the past when ideologies produced theses and antitheses, based on a chain of events revolving around a chain of mistakes.
Keywords : hegemonya, eğitim, Sopa, ceza, güç