Views on Foucault

Foucault... hmm... well... for this being an English class and it, like all English classes, forces you to read novels and stories you might have otherwise never even thought of picking up, I enjoyed it... suprisingly. This first off all isnt your classic English book about a family you is hit with some hardship and is forced to travel somewhere and everyone dies from like rats or typhoid or something. This is an authors personal view on an interesting subject, torture. I enjoy Foucault's piece mostly because he uses his argument through the history or society itself. He speaks about torture and its past roles on society. He discusses how it was a major part of punishment and justice, and that in turn links to power and the sovereign. I enjoyed this read so much because he talks about a subject that is clear to everyone, yet when you stop and think about it, he hits on points that you never quite linked. He talks about how torture was a way of punishing someone who had done wrong. He also connects how it adapted overtime.

Through this piece we learn that the sovereign played a large role in the proceeding of torture. The sovereign how example could pardon someone who was to be tortured. Torture was in a big way, a strategy or keeping the people in line as well as occasionally pleasing them... or the off-chance of upsetting them. The fact that torture existed and was often done out in public was a way to keep his followers in line by showing them what is done to wrongdoers. There were amazingly revolting ways to torture someone and the more harsh the punishment, the more of an example it was to the people, thus largely reinstating or showing the rulers power. He had total control of who was to be killed and saved. This is a prime example of how Foucault showed the relation between punishment and power. Occasionally the ruler would torture or attempt to torture someone that the people saw as undeserving of such treatment and they could possibly rebel against the ruler in retaliation.

I had always thought of torture back in the old ages as just a form of punishment, never really relating it to a form of showing the kings power. This linking of punishment, pain, and power was a very indepth one and I enjoyed alot due to way of the argument. The fact that he used examples throughout history really solidifies his statement on the subject of pain.

The example of this power through punishment and force is the movie Lord of War. This movie shows the uprising of regimes through weapon purchases and illegal activity. Nowadays you have power either due to the people liking you, or though fear. This movie shows that those with lots of weapons can inflict alot of punishment and pain to force cooperation or followers and this raises there power. This link has been a clear example just by looking at governments and wars then and now. People has always used threats and/or force to help state there power in a declared area. Another such example would be regimes or facist leaders in todays world. A leader that will kill those who step out of line in a heartbeat and without resentment is a leader not to be messed with. This unwavering certainty keep the people under them faithful and fearful. This is an example or power through punishment and pain. People fear pain and will therefore do alot to keep it from being inflicted, even if they are forced to act in ways that do not wish. This does and has always existed. By reading this piece by Foucault, I more clearly see these link and exmaples that I may have otherwise overlooked.