Torture in Michel Foucault’s Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison

Michel Foucault was subscribe toed as a postmodernist philosopher. He was known to expose the changing temperament of human institutions. In the platter Discipline and Punish The abide of the Prison, Foucault revealed the evolution of social correction and discipline. pang was part of this evolution and it disappeared due to the shift in the ply. In the eighteenth century, throe was used as a penalty for criminals and the globe demo of violence was done in an effort to deter offensive activity and found the exponent of monarchy. In the 19th century, condition was shifted to the soul.As a result, changes in punitive methods were made. In Discipline and Punish The Birth of the Prison, Michel Foucault used the issue of bedevil to illustrate the change in power and prove the arbitrary nature of disciplinary institutions. In the book, Foucault began his discussion on badgering with the gruesome history of the execution of Damiens the regicide on March 1, 1757 (Foucault, 1977). The details given provide a horrifying picture the criminal, who was clothed with only a shirt, had his flesh lacerated with the use of pincers.After the flesh was removed, a combination of hot molten lead, oil, resin, sec and wax was poured on his body. Initially, it was planned that the body would be torn with the service of process of horses, which would be drawn apart. When this plan did not work, the executioner named Samson had to crush the joints. After the limbs were pulled away, the body was burnt to ashes (Foucault, 1977). According to Foucault, twirl as punishment was a judicial ritual (Foucault, 1977). To fully understand the notion of torture, it is big to consider the historical context from which it was taken.Foucault wrote that torture had been practiced since the ancient propagation and was a significant part of ancient legal procedures. In the eighteenth century, the monarchical form of government and feudalism was prevalent (Sarup, 1993). The king ha ve absolute power, and he manifested this power on his subjects. At that point in history, the crime was perceived as similar to sacrilege. This perception was the reason why punishment became the ritual which was not created for the purpose of reform it was made with the excogitation to uphold the sacredness of a law which had been broken by the criminal (Sarup, 1993).Hence, torture was ineffective as punishment because reform was not its objective. Foucault pointed out that torture was not merely a judicial ritual it was also governmental in nature (Foucault, 1977). Public execution, like the case of Damiens, involved the lodge of sovereign. By committing a crime, the criminal had offended the sovereignty. As a receipt to the offense, the sovereign would inflict harm on the body of the criminal. Torture was the marrow in which the offense of the criminal against the sovereign can be change by reversal (Foucault, 1977). Torture as a method of punishment focused on the body.He explained that torture allowed the body of the criminal to reveal the legality of the crime (Foucault, 1977). In the brutal ceremony of torture, the body of the offender would create and recreate the truth of the offense. In the context of Damiens execution, his torture presented the truth of the parricide he committed. The authorities relied on the effect on the body to achieve the desired outcome. They believed that the viewing earthly concern would react accordingly to the execution they thought that the violent display result decrease the number of crimes because the audience would be overcome with apprehension.However, this was not the case. The public had a different reaction. The body of the criminal became the source of pity. Instead of thought fear after witnessing the torture, they felt sympathy for the criminal. The broadsheets which documented the details of the crime and the punishment did not succeed in preventing crime preferably, it succeeded in arousing bewi lderment from the public. The marks depicted the object of torture as a hero as opposed to a criminal. In addition, torture became a source of difference amid the sovereign and the people.Torture was supposed to be a manifestation of the power of the sovereign on the body it was designed to make the people fear the sovereign. Instead, the public executions made the audience detest the sovereigns power over them and their bodies. As a result, the public often intervened at the executions. Foucault wrote that the criminals had to be guarded from the audience and that the people often attempted to liberate the imprisoned convicts (Foucault, 1977). Eventually, torture as punishment was rendered obsolete because power was redirected to the soul.In the book, Foucault juxtaposed the account of Damiens torture in the 18th century with the schedule of prisoners in a 19th century jail (Foucault, 1977). This juxtaposition presented the dramatic difference between punishments in those time periods. According to Foucault, the transformation occurred because the penalty shifted from body to soul. In the past, the punishment was directed towards the body. By the 19th century, torture disappeared because punishment was already directed to the soul. The executioner, who was once a relevant figure, was replaced with new figures of authority.Professionals such as doctors and psychologists took over the correctional process. Foucault claimed that those who were responsible for the transformation of correctional methods had learned to consider the humanity of the criminals they sought to respect and reform the human body rather than diminish it. Prison life was more humane than torture, but both methods of correction were still grounded on power. A new kind of power existed for the criminals, that which resulted in impersonal method of supervision which influenced the psychology of the inmates (Foucault, 1977).Discipline and Punish The Birth of the Prison is a postmodernist te xt. Michel Foucault had undermined the stability of institutions by exposing its changing nature through his discussion on torture. Foucault illustrated the prevalence and obsolescence of torture as a form of punishment in history. He proved that the existence of torture was due to the manifestation of power on the body. When power was manifested on the soul, it ceased to exist. Indeed, Michel Foucault had shown the notion of institutions through his discussion on torture.ReferencesFoucault, M. (1977). Discipline and Punish The Birth of the Prison. (A. Sheridan, Trans.). vernal York Vintage Books (Original work published 1975).Sarup, M. (1993). An Introductory Guide to Post-structuralism and Postmodernism (2nd ed.).