1. transformation– a change in appearance, nature, and character can be seen throughout this entire reading. obviously, the change in appearance is most obviously applicable to a body changing physically while subject to torture like that of Damiens in the opening of the chapter. “the flesh will be torn from his breasts, arms, thighs and calves with red hot pincers…finally he was quartered.” this depicts an extreme change in a human corpse, the breaking down of a whole into smaller portions which have also undergone a gruesome transformation themselves. “the whole was reduced to ashes.” this word can also be looked at from the perspective of the transformations that types of punishment have undergone through time. At the beginning of the chapter we are introduced to a very primitive, barbaric torturing device: horses. “then the ropes that were to be harnessed to the horses were attached with cords to the patient’s body; the horses were then harnessed and placed alongside the arms and legs, one at each limb.” Some years later, another form of punishment is described: “Eighty years later, Leon Faucher drew up his rules for “the house of young prisoners in Paris.” Article 17-28 describe how the emphasis has been removed from torture completely and placed rather on strict routine. “by the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century, the gloomy festival of punishment was dying out…the use of prisoners in public works, cleaning streets or repairing highways, was practiced.”
2. justice– this idea of rightfulness and lawfulness in a way fuels this entire article. Why was torture used? why do we have prisons today? I believe societies’ drive to correct and improve whatever it deems unjust or punhishable is fueled by its incessant desire for justice…or a shape or mold that an individual society sees as being right…and in the same way, removing those aspects that each society has decided is not right. This term justice as presented in this article shows the relativity of the term. Back to Damiens, the French at this time found it just to punish someone by torture in order to correct the person’s unjust act. What was his unjust act? Although the act is never stated, in America’s infancy, only some 50 or 60 years later, justice was never sought out by the supreme lawmaking body of our country, regardless of the crime in the dismemberment of a human body as Damiens’ was in France. This article shows the means by which a society will act in order to create a just environment.
3. body– the body is the physical structure of a person, a corpse. While reading this article I realized that I have been perceiving the body as an entity directly connected to the brain and soul. However, the article really showed how the body, soul, and mind are separate entities. For example, with Damiens again, what were the people actually torturing? They were only torturing the physical body, the corpse…as if the body had commited the crime. is tearing apart a body punishing the aspect of the person that is responsbile for the crime? even if it is to try and reveal the mentality of the person through pain, the actual corpse is the only thing being punished since the mind and brain will be dead, leaving no room to correct an injustice. “physical pain, the pain of the body itself, is no longer the constituent element of the penalty.” Toward the end of the article and as the judicial system has evolved, I feel that this point has been considered. They speak of “meidco-judicial” treatment rather than torture.
