KRITIK TERHADAP HUKUM YANG TIDAK MANUSIAWI DALAM NOVEL ”THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER” KARYA MARK TWAIN

Abstract

The story of “The Prince and The Pauper” is about two boys who have the same face but yet they are born in different social status. One is born as a prince while another is born a beggar. Fate meets these two boys and they decide to switch their clothes and their life. The prince boy lives as a beggar and otherwise, the beggar boy lives as a prince. Both of them then live their new life and finally they learn a lesson. In the end both of them are able to switch each other again and they live happily. This thesis is aimed to analyze whether this novel was a critic for the discrimination in law and its inhumane torture and punishment. The method used in this thesis is library research. The structural approach is used to analyze all intrinsic aspects such as characters, settings, and theme; while literary sociology and law sociology are used to analyze the extrinsic aspect and the relation with the critic for law. After the novel “The Prince and The Pauper” is analyzed, it is found out that the novel itself was really a critic for the discrimination in law and its inhumane punishments during Elizabethan Age in England. Mark Twain emphasized the condition of the beggar and poor social class during Elizabethan Age by describing in detailed how cruel and sadistic the punishment that they got if they broke the law. On the other hand Mark Twain also emphasized that the highest social classes such as, noble and knight classes, were able to escape from the law by using their economic power.