Punitive spectacle could invert into a festival glorifying the condemned.
Evidence
In every town it passed through, the chain-gang brought its festival with it; it was a saturnalia of punishment, a penalty turned into a privilege. And, by a very curious tradition which seems to have escaped the ordinary rites of the public execution, it aroused in the convict not so much the compulsory marks of repentance as the explosion of a mad joy that denied the punishment. … Yet there was in those collective songs a totally new tonality; the moral code, which most of the old complaints obeyed, was reversed. Instead of bringing remorse, torture sharpened pride; the justice that brought the sentence was rejected, and the crowd that came to witness what it believed to be repentance or humiliation was scorned: ‘So far from our homes, we sometimes moan. Our stern brows will make our judges blench … Avid of misfortune you turn your eyes upon us, hoping to find a blighted, humiliated, tearful race. But there is pride in our eyes.’ … And, above all, the present order will not last forever; not only will the convicts be freed and resume their rights, but their accusers will take their place. Between the criminals and their judges, the day of the great reverse judgement will come: ‘The contempt of men belongs to us convicts. The gold they worship is also ours. One day, this gold will pass into our hands. We will buy it with our lives. Others will seize these chains that today you make us bear; they will become slaves. As we break out of our shackles, the star of liberty will shine for us … Farewell, for we brave both your chains and your laws.’ — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 396
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: The spectacle’s crowd could invert terror into revolt against the punitive power — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 115
Related
Broader Connections
- The spectacle’s crowd could invert terror into revolt against the punitive power
#expands(0.95) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 115