SOSC 1520 Chapter Notes -Gallows, Grotesque Body, Highwayman
21 Sep 2014
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Chapter 1: dissecting the laboring body: frankenstein, political anatomy and the rise of capitalism. The dissection of the human body after hanging was the last act of oppression that peasants would not allow on moral grounds. Often surgeons was still get their way protected by the law. The riot at the gallows was one of the most distinctive features of social life in eighteenth- century london, without parallel in any other european city. Its uniqueness signalled three things: widespread contempt for the law; an insurgent culture of resistance; and a deeply felt anxiety about the integrity of the labouring body. (20) Much ostensible crime" was perceived by the lower classes as simple defence of longstanding rights, as survival-strategies sanctioned by centuries of custom. Throughout most of recorded history, the majority of human beings have lived as peasants, organised into family-units whose members work the land collectively (usually along patriarchal lines) and share resources within the community. (37)
