Poetic Justice:The Analysis Of The Rule Of Law In Western Dramas

Literature and law is self-contained, but they are also inextricably connected. In the 1970 s, America raised a movement called "Law and Literature ", which means that this interdisciplinary field-the blend of emotion and reason. This particularly remarkable discipline in the "Postmodern Legal Movement" brought a new perspective and broader thinking space. By the 1990 s, the research results of "Law and Literature" movement gradually come into the domestic study of jurisprudence. Scholars gave focuses to the two main branches-"Law in Literature" and "Literature in Law" from which some specific issues come. This thesis first induces those research results on that two branches and gives them a summary, tries to start from the first branch- “Law in Literature"-to discusses the relation between them and their significance. It finally proves the possibility to study the rule of law through western literature and drama.Literature and law have common subject of concern, such as justice, equity, benevolence, freedom of human society. And these problems are what since ancient Greek litterateur and lawyers diligently strive after. Today, advocating The spirit of rule of law advocated nowadays is just the sum of humanity, justice, equity, human rights and so on. To further study the spirit of rule of law in the literature, this thesis depends on Sophocles’ Antigone, Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice and The King Lear. And it analyses the conflicts in the plot of those three classic legal dramas to make every work sublimates a specific value connotation from the spirit of rule of law. To realize the pursuit of the value of justice, Antigone focuses on the concerns of humanity, The Merchant of Venice focuses on emphasizing on the fairness of law, and The King Lear focuses on regulating the conflict of reason and emotion. If the previous people pursued "rule of law" from the concept, with obscure feelings, through literature and law perspectives of the three dramas, people will empathy to understand the complex information implied by "rule of law".Interpretation of dramas is to a deeper discussion of the core values of the rule of law, but also the ultimate value of literature and law pursue- justice. These three works eventually return to the tone of discussion on the pursuit and interpretation of justice. This thesis discusses on justice issues from a new perspective. As the pursuit of maximum economic benefit steps into the field of law in modern society, mechanically pursuing rational law leads to the ignorance of the humanistic care due to the legal nature. It draws out the concept of "poetic justice" in order to compensate for this deficiency. And this is that the poetic justice gives the rule of law a re-examine through in-depth analysis of literature.