Monarchy versus Liberal Democracy: A Study of Defense Mechanism in Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Lenny Abrahamson’s Room

Abstract

This paper, by employing comparative study, seeks to highlight the adoption of defense mechanism by analyzing the possible similarities and differences in the behaviors, and the strategies of the characters and the respective impact of the political contexts of The Tempest, the last play written by Shakespeare and Room, the movie nominated for the best picture academy award of 2015. It begins with a discussion about displacement as the most dominant form of defense mechanism employed by the protagonists of the two selected works belonging to different eras, cultures and genres. Both protagonists displace their oppressive puissant onto their children. In The Tempest, Prospero displaces his brother by his daughter, while in Room; Joy’s son displaces her rapist captor. The discussion then turns to the fact that although Prospero and Joy show almost the same behavior, only Joy, Room’s protagonist, is condemned. The Tempest is written in a patriarchal society governed by a monarch, while Room’s happenings are depicted in a liberal society. The deep correlation between political atmosphere and individuals’ behavior pushes the study to examine the reasons for the resultant contrast between the two selected texts by focusing on the political context in the production of each. Monarchy needs obedient subjects whereas democracy is meant to respect individuals. Consequently, people, in these societies, think and behave differently. The findings of the research show how political orders result in disorders in the behavior of characters, e.g. patriarchal orders are not only justified by Monarchy’s nature but are also produced by it, while democracy, as shown in the modern setting of Room, harshly condemns violation of individualism and pushes Joy, the protagonist, to a suicide attempt.

Keywords

• Defense Mechanism
• Displacement
• Monarchy
• Liberal Democracy
• Room
• The Tempest