A Woman in Rebellion: Punishment, Discipline, and Willful Figures in Outlander

Abstract

This thesis investigates Outlander’s depiction of violence as a response to willfulness enacted both by individual characters and by Scotland as a national entity. At times, physical violence serves as a form of discipline intended to prevent future willful behavior, and at other points the violence serves as punishment for prior willful behavior. Because Outlander’s central character is a 20th century woman who finds herself in the midst of the 18th century Jacobite Rebellion – in which most of the other main characters are men – Outlander genders willfulness and discipline in ways that shape both how the violence is carried out and how characters respond to the violence. I examine the audio and visual elements of moments of violence depicted on screen, and I also discuss the ways in which willfulness is repeatedly met with violence on Outlander. I argue that Outlander’s depiction of violence as a response to willfulness makes a connection between imperialism and discipline in Scotland.