Summary

The next section, “The spectacle of the scaffold,” begins with description of the penal practices of pre-revolutionary monarchial France. Foucault writes that French criminal law was set by the Ordinance of 1670, which demanded harsh penalties such as torture and execution. Yet, in reality, courts would often find ways to avoid enacting the death penalty, either by refusing to prosecute crimes that were too severely punished, or by changing the definition of the crime itself. Most punishment came down to banishment or fines, but this era was still characterized by “supplice” – the public torture and execution of criminals (33). Foucault writes that the torture enacted was a calculated technique geared at producing a certain degree of pain. It also sought to reach the “truth” behind the crime. Foucault characterizes “penal torture” as containing three different elements: the significant but regulated infliction of pain, the performance...