Georgia Southern University Digital Commons@Georgia Southern Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of Spring 2020 On Voyeurism: Being Seen on the Modern Stage Megan M. Mobley Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd Part of the Dramatic Literature, Criticism and Theory Commons Recommended Citation Mobley, Megan M., "On Voyeurism: Being Seen on the Modern Stage" (2020). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2062. https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/2062 This thesis (open access) is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of at Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. ON VOYEURISM: BEING SEEN ON THE MODERN STAGE by MEGAN MOBLEY (Under the Direction of Dustin Anderson) ABSTRACT At the end of the nineteenth century, playwrights grew more interested in exploring the ramifications of the gaze, looking and being looked at. For existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre, the gaze causes a never-ending battle between our subjective selves, how we view ourselves, and our objective selves, or how others view us. The knowledge of the Other’s gaze allows us to self- reflect on our own existence. Sartre and Oscar Wilde each incorporate the gaze into their plays to explore the battle between our subjective and objective selves, gendered perception, differences in perception, and to undercut or demonstrates the dominant structures of seeing. By first exploring Sartre’s No Exit, I can observe how Sartre’s three main characters demonstrate Mulvey’s theories of the male gaze, a structure of looking which is influenced by the dominant social order.