The Black Veil

From a "modern" view point, it is horrifying to look back on the type of torture that Damiens the regicide was subjected to. On a superficial level, this horror stems from the disgusting image of a man being slowly and systematically torn to pieces. However, on a deeper, Lord of the Flies, consciousness, it is at the knowledge that were I living in Paris in March 1757--I may not have been horrified. If, Locke's and Hume's postulations on human understanding are true, and our minds and beliefs are based on experience and custom, then I am only horrified by Foucault's graphic descriptions because in modern society, corporal punishment is taboo.

For the most part, of course, I believe that the black veil of secrecy surrounding punishment is a beneficial thing for society. In many ways, torture and public punishment lowered the people to the same level as the offender. However, I wonder whether it can be harmful to deny that wild side of human nature, whether we bury it so deep that it gnaws away at us or transforms itself into another beast entirely. As Foucault points out, our society is moving away from the tangible, away from bodily punishment, and into the abstract complexities of the mind and spirit. (Indeed, this move away from the tangible has only increased since Foucault wrote his essay, as evidenced in the technological revolution).

Since this "reform" or punishment of the spirit is socially acceptable, we assume that it is the better of the two forms of punishment. It certainly makes us as bystanders feel more comfortable, for there is no visible damage to the offender--no tearing of skin or ripping of ligaments.

However, is this in fact the case?

As someone who has experience neither mental nor corporal punishment, I can not speak from personal experience. However, there is no question that the mind is a powerful thing. The question brings to mind "The Scarlet Letter" in which Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale are both punished for the same crime. Hester is shamed publicly; however, she is able to build a life regardless, perhaps finding solace inside herself. On the other hand, Dimmesdale's crime is unknown and the punishment is all self-inflicted. He is unable to find refuge within his mind, for it is his mind that causes him anguish. In the end, his secret plight is far worse than Hester's public one. Although a fictitious novel, it presents an interesting argument for the unbearable torture that a wounded mind or spirit can subject itself to.

Background Information on "The body of the condemned" reading

Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/foucault/#1

Amende Honorable

To the left is an image of the official arrest papers of Robert Francois Damiens, mentioned in the introduction of "The body of the condemned" by Michel Foucault.