Panopticon: An Automation of Power Mechanism A Foucauldian Analysis of the Coercive Surveillance in 1984 by George Orwel

Abstract

Jeremy Bentham’s concept of Panopticon introduced the notions of complete regulation, discipline, and observance. It is an official way of accomplishing procedures of coercion and surveillance to ensure a structured working of an edifice of discipline. Correspondingly, the notion of discipline, Foucault believes, serves as a method of power employed to control the society. Surveillance is a seminal discourse in literary fiction which often assumes the repercussive nature of political events as tropes of discursive hegemony therefore this paper explores the concept of Panopticon as a monumental apparatus of power depicted in George Orwell’s 1984.