According to Foucault, sovereign power is the ability to decide between life and death. In medieval times, the one with the most power had the ability to decide one’s fate: the king. He could put anyone to death and, in some cases, even his own wife was not overlooked. In addition, sovereign power is a direct form of power because you are sentencing that person to death. It is not an indirect form of power because with indirect power it is like someone being sent to war. You do not whether that person would lie but it is a chance that it may, but either way you are not choosing that person’s fate. A great example of someone who had sovereign power, and in a way who rather abused his power, is King Henry VIII.
King Henry VIII was the king of England from 1509-1547. He had a total of six marriages and out of those six, he had two of his wives beheaded. His most famous marriage out of the six was the one he had with Anne Boleyn. This is most likely because he started out having an affair with Anne’s sister and got her pregnant, but then started having an affair with Anne. Henry left his first wife, Katherine of Aragon, in order to marry Anne Boleyn and had their marriage annulled. Things soon ended up becoming strained between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn because she was able to give him a son, which he blamed her for (Of course we all know now that it is the male who carries the sex gene that is able to make a male child). Anne Boleyn gave Henry VIII a daughter, the famous Elizabeth I, but still it was not enough. In the end Henry VIII got tired of Anne Boleyn and wanted to marry another woman, so with charges of witchcraft and treason, he had her beheaded.
The point of me explaining what happened to Anne Boleyn was to show how the King, her husband, was easily able to sentence her to death. The charges that he brought her up on were false and Anne was basically sentenced to death because Henry VIII grew tired of her and because she could not give him a son. It was so simple, that he did not even think twice about it and it just goes to show that too much power, absolute power could be a bad thing.
Today sovereign power does not exist as it did in the medieval times. However, in our society there are ways that we can sentence people to death. Usually it has to be a horrible crime that one has done and, in that case, that person is sentenced to death row. The difference now is that, one has to have legitimate evidence to prove what a person has done wrong, in order for them to be convicted for any crime. However, back in those times, the king could do whatever he wanted to do, and all the people needed were his stamp of approval.
King Henry VIII was the king of England from 1509-1547. He had a total of six marriages and out of those six, he had two of his wives beheaded. His most famous marriage out of the six was the one he had with Anne Boleyn. This is most likely because he started out having an affair with Anne’s sister and got her pregnant, but then started having an affair with Anne. Henry left his first wife, Katherine of Aragon, in order to marry Anne Boleyn and had their marriage annulled. Things soon ended up becoming strained between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn because she was able to give him a son, which he blamed her for (Of course we all know now that it is the male who carries the sex gene that is able to make a male child). Anne Boleyn gave Henry VIII a daughter, the famous Elizabeth I, but still it was not enough. In the end Henry VIII got tired of Anne Boleyn and wanted to marry another woman, so with charges of witchcraft and treason, he had her beheaded.
The point of me explaining what happened to Anne Boleyn was to show how the King, her husband, was easily able to sentence her to death. The charges that he brought her up on were false and Anne was basically sentenced to death because Henry VIII grew tired of her and because she could not give him a son. It was so simple, that he did not even think twice about it and it just goes to show that too much power, absolute power could be a bad thing.
Today sovereign power does not exist as it did in the medieval times. However, in our society there are ways that we can sentence people to death. Usually it has to be a horrible crime that one has done and, in that case, that person is sentenced to death row. The difference now is that, one has to have legitimate evidence to prove what a person has done wrong, in order for them to be convicted for any crime. However, back in those times, the king could do whatever he wanted to do, and all the people needed were his stamp of approval.