Analyzing Representations of Cruelty in Shakespeare's Plays

This research enquires after the representation of the phenomenon of Cruelty within Shakespeare¿s writing. The following plays are analysed in this research: Titus Andronicus, Macbeth and Richard III. In all three plays one can easily find extraordinary displays of violence and cruelty. Through the Philosophical reading of the psychoanalytical writings of both Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan this paper suggests a deferent point of view on the relationship between Shakespeare and cruelty. We search to analyse and understand Shakespeare¿s attitude towards the phenomenon of cruelty, as well as his usage of violence and his approach to cruelty within its deferent character in each and every play. What we reveal however is Shakespeare¿s contribution to our understanding of cruelty and its psychoanalytical meaning as well as his contribution to the analysis of cruelty as a human phenomenon.