Pentonville Prison History

Pentonville Prison History Introduction This dissertation will identify the history of prisons and how Pentonville prison came about in 1842. It will bring in Millbank as an example to Pentonville, as it was also a convict prison. It will also identify how the crimes committed and the punishment placed on criminals in London changed when Pentonville prison was built. It will also show how the prison reform changed the prison and how it affected Pentonville prison. Law and order in London will also be identified. Information and research will be obtained from The National Archives in Kew and also the Galleries of Justice in Nottingham. It will also include primary sources such as the Times Newspaper, The Guardian and also Parliamentary papers. Secondary information will be found at the University library and also Liverpool library. During the nineteenth century, the state of prisons changed dramatically. The government and officials began to notice that crime rates were not being reduced and the prison system needed to be improved as it was out of date. Many victims of crime in the Eighteenth Century were choosing not to prosecute the criminals due to receiving community disapproval if the criminal was a local person who was liked or had a big family in the surrounding towns and villages, it was expensive for the rate payer, travelling to the trial was time consuming and a waste of time for many matters as the criminal would often be let off with a light penalty. Many offenders never even ended up in prison and many were never even recorded. Pentonville Prison was built in 1842, and was an original structure within society in this time period. It soon became a model for prison architecture and discipline throughout the majority of Europe. General Prison Information John Howard wrote a book in 1777 called ‘The State of the Prisons in England and Wales this particular book captured widespread public attention. The consequence of this book was that it exposed the English to other countries. It also suggested that the book was severely trailing behind all the other countries when it came to prisons and punishment. His main concern was to establish a new and better organisation of the prison. He believed that a prison should not be like the actual world but tougher and place that people did not want to go to, a place in which they feared. The Penitentiary Act was written up by William Blackstone and William Eden but was influenced by John Howard. It was this act that put the harsh prison conditions into place such as; uniforms, coarse diets and hard labour. Mug shots were created in the 1850s and 1860s by a Select Committee of the House of Lords photographing the prisoners in 1863. By the 1870s, mug shots were common and the Home Office saw the advantages of them. By the end of the century fingerprinting had been introduced. Not everyone who was convicted of a criminal offence was known as a convict. Anyone who had committed a minor offence would be known as a prisoner. A minor offence could receive a sentence of anything from a few days to a maximum of two years with or without hard labour. A minimum offence for penal servitude was three years which increased to five years in 1864 for a first offence but seven years for any subsequent offences. The silent system allowed for prisoners to undertake work tasks in a workroom in complete silence. The silent system however proved to be very difficult to obtain and led to it being ineffective. More staff was required to monitor and observe the prisoners. The separate system was to prevent any association with the other prisoners and as a result would become excited about the visits that the chaplain was required to do. The separate system was put in place to prevent any contamination and corruption of the vulnerable prisoners. However, a fenian convict serving fifteen years by the name of Michael Davitt spent 9 months in solitary confinement in Millbank. His health suffered leaving the medical officer with no other option but to order him to half an hour exercise. If the prisoner or convict was a family breadwinner then there family often asked the parish for help but if in the worse situation and the parish were unable to help or they refused then the family would have to enter the workhouse. Cells The cells had tiny paned windows which were so high that it was necessary to stand on them to look out, but this was a punishable offence. Cells often became hot and stuffy in the summer and cold in the winter. The cells were often poorly lit, but when gas was introduced the cells had gas jets placed in the cells but they were soon placed behind thick, fixed glass windows due to the prisoners committing suicide by self asphyxiation or hanging. There was rarely a mattress for the prisoners that were in their first of their sentence, this changed to a hard plank bed in 1865. Oscar Wilde describes the Victorian prison cells darkness stating that ‘it is always twilight in ones cell, as it is always midnight in ones heart. This statement identifies that the cells were very depressing for the person within it especially when the lighting was also minimal. If the convict was under the age of 50 then he was issued with a plank bed that had no mattress for one month. The surgeon was the only person that could have changed this uncomfortable fate for the prisoner if he had deemed that the convict or prisoner was unfit to sleep without a mattress. Oscar Wilde recalled that the plank bed ‘caused him to shiver all night long and that, as a consequence of its rigors, he had become an insomniac.'[1] A report that was made to the Royal Commission on the Penal Servitude Acts in 1879 claimed that the bed clothes could sometimes be covered with faeces. Complaints were made about Pentonville cells being unbearably cold. This is somewhat arguably ironic due to the efforts that were put in place to create the ideal model cells. The first commissioners report in 1843 was no more than two pages long. It commented on the temperature of the cells ‘the ventilation of the cells, and the means of maintain an equable and proper temperature. Pentonville was originally designed to hold 520 prisoners whilst under the ‘separate system. Individual cells were 13 feet long, 7 feet wide and 9 feet high. They were placed in cells that contained a table, chair, a cobblers bench, hammock, broom, bucket and a corner shelf which held a pewter mug and dish, a bar of soap, a towel and a bible. When the cells were inspected by the inspectors the prisoners were required to have these items in specific places. Millbank prison held up to 1000 cells, making it the largest prison in London during the 19th century. The Times Newspaper from 1850-1900 shows a few extracts which describe both the criminals within Millbank and also the state of the prison. An extract on the 23rd January 1850 shows how a warder was attacked by a prisoner. The opening sentence went as follows, ‘Saturday morning last the interior of the Millbank Penitentiary was again the scene of a most desperate outrage. The word ‘again identifies the lack of control that the warders had on the prisoners within the prison. The incident on the 23rd January resulted in a warder by the name of ‘Balls ‘ending up in hospital after a violent attack from one of the prisoners. Balls let a prisoner out of his chamber to allow him to clean out his chamber pot, the prisoner then followed Balls back to his cell and hit him over the head. The prisoner was able to cause several severe injuries to the head, face and arms before several other warders were able to secure the prisoner in a ‘strong cell. Punishment The separate system was to ensure that the prisoners would not interact with other criminals in whom they would be able to become friendly with and join forces with when they got out of prison. This was an attempt to stop convicts from becoming repetitive criminals and to stop the revolving door theory. When the convicts were moved around the building they were made to wear a mask with a beak on to prevent other convicts seeing their faces but Colonel Jebb argued in his discipline and management of convict prisons report that ‘the mask or peak does not prevent prisoners from recognising each other in the prison'[2] They were also stripped of their identities when they entered the prison. The prisoners would also become overly bored sitting in their cells on their own that they would eventually beg for work to overcome their boredom and prevent them from going mad. The Times Newspaper described the separate system in 1842 as the ‘maniac making system indicating that people believed that the system was not a good idea and it would just send men and women insane but still the Home office agreed with the separate system. Two thirds of English prisons had adopted the separate system in 1856. The fourth commissioners identifies that the prisoners were strictly separated from fellow prisoners. They were supplied with books which were usually the bible and books that provided information and instruction on a particular trade. They were allowed to attend school twice a week and also according the report the prisoners were also provided with sufficient diets, clothing and also bedding but this can be argued due to the plank beds and also the poor diets which resulted in many prisoners falling ill. The prisoners were required to endure 18 months in complete solitude in 1842, but after many prisoners became mentally insane the prison authorities felt that the time period should be decreased to 12 months in 1848 then decreased again to 9 months in 1853. Even though they were in their cells on their own, the man in the next cell was only two feet away. The major problem for the separatists at this time was the belief held by many that the long periods of isolation for prisoners created insanity. Pentonville reduced periods of separation at Pentonville which was much to the Chaplains displeasure. When Pentonville separation time period was decreased to 9 months it was the same amount of time that the prisoners at Parkhurst had to endure. Millbank Prison did not allow criminals to have visitors without an order from the Home secretary of state, this was part of the separate system as the government believed that if the prisoner saw anyone from the outside then they would go back to their ‘old ways. When Henry Mayhew visited Pentonville he found from interviews with the prisoners that they disliked the separate system with a passion. Even though prisoners were not allowed to talk or communicate to fellow inmates, it is evident that many tended to disobey this rule. The 6th Commissioners report states that 220 prisoners committed offences whilst being within Pentonville, and that 110 out of the 220 were for attempts to communicate with other prisoners either by writing, signs or verbally. The total number of prisoners placed within Pentonville during the year 1847 was 701, so only 220 prisoners committing offences within the prison walls shows that many prisoners were afraid and obeyed the system. 341 of these prisoners were existing prisoners from the previous year whilst 360 prisoners were received to Pentonville in the course of the year. However, a new system known as the ‘stage system was put in place in 1853 to enforce discipline and also to reward good behaviour. Penal servitude was divided into three stages, the first being 9 months in solitary confinement, the second being where the convict was required to work in close association with other prisoners and the last stage was where the convict or prisoner was kept under supervision by the police when they were released. Convicts were divided into classes and could be promoted to the next class by earning ‘mark for hard work. A maximum of 8 hours could be earned in one day. The first and second class were allowed tea instead of gruel before they were sent to bed. Du Cane states that the main elements of prison were ‘hard labour, hard fare and hard board Hard labour was both hard and pointless, it included labour such as Oakum picking, the crank, the treadmill and also the shot drill. The treadmill involved walking up revolving stairs for ten minutes then having a five minute break. This happened for several hours. It was invented by William Cubitt in 1818 and the prison discipline society advised that every male should participate in 12,000 feet. The treadmill could be very dangerous for those who were new to it and also for those who were exhausted. The Shot drill were heavy cannon balls weighing 32lb were passed from one to another down a long line of prisoners. It was not adopted by many prisons. The conditions at Pentonville were incredibly better than those at Newgate. The prisoners at Pentonville were also healthier than prisoners at another prison. Like Millbank, prisoners were made to work and participate in jobs such as picking tarred rope and weaving. The jobs in which they made to do were pointless jobs which served no purpose. The Times Newspaper states that the hours of work in the summer were 6am till 9pm and 7am till 8pm in the winter. The prisoners were separated into classes when they entered the prison which resulted in the same atmosphere that people endured outside the prison. They were also made to work; it was believed that if prisoners worked whilst in prison then they would not have time to think of committing more crimes. They were forced to do work such as shoemaking, tailoring, painting, cleaning, whitewashing the prison, washing and sewing prison clothes. In 1864, Oakum picking was introduced as part of the hard labour programme. This involved separating the fibres of old ship ropes so they could be re used. In 1870 two cranks were introduced to a local prison, Nottingham Gaol, this was a box with a handle on the side in which the prisoner was made to turn round in a circle. The prisoner was required to make 10,000 revolutions per day before breakfast. The task of the crank was one task that was completely pointless, it served no meaning but to irritate the prisoner and increase their upper body strength so they were able to complete more heavy duty work whilst in prison and also when they leave prison and get a job. Henry Mayhew states that ‘it is impossible to imagine anything more ingeniously useless'[3]. Labour was both long and without any intentions of ceasing. The 1865 Prison Act accepted that the treadmill, crank, capstan, shot drill and stone breaking were all types of first class hard labour and that if a prisoner or convict was not sentenced to hard labour then they were still required to participate in light labour during their sentence. Prisoners were made to work an hour and a half before breakfast, 3 hours before lunch and a further 4 hours in the afternoon totalling 8 and a half hours hard labour a day. The prisoners returned to their cells at 6pm and were allowed to have two hours after their dinner to sit on their own and reflect or read the bible. When the prisoner or convict was serving a long sentence, these two hours would become incredibly boring. When public hangings were abolished in 1868, Pentonville had trapdoors installed over a 12 feet deep brick lined pit within the exercise yard. Albert Pierrepoint described the trap in 1931 as ‘having two leaves each some 8 feet 6 inches long, 2 feet 6 inches wide.'[4] The prison was also a school to teach hangmen, there was a one week course at Pentonville in which men got involved in to become a hangman. They were taught how to calculate and set the drop of the gallows and also how to carry out an execution efficiently including the speed of pulling the trapdoor open and also how long a human takes to die from strangulation if the neck did not break from the drop. Albert Pierrepoint states that the hangman trainees used a dummy called ‘Old Bill whilst training. The last training course held at Pentonville was the week beginning 25th April 1960 for two men called Samuel Plant and John Underhill. Whipping was also a major punishment in the nineteenth century. The Home office in 1878 took responsibility for prisons and created three categories for the birch which was used for whipping. A thin strip of birch was used for juveniles up to the age of ten, a medium for ten to 16 years and thick for individuals over the age of 16 years. The birch was applied to naked buttocks whilst feet were kept together and shirts lifted. The effects of whipping were a little bleeding but mainly severe bruising. Once the pain of the whipping was over and the aching of the bruising had gone down, criminals could carry on committing crimes within a matter of weeks. The birch and cat was also used on prisoners all over the country for punishing prisoners who assaulted or swore at warders. Both male and female criminals sentenced to transportation were sent to Millbank before they were transported although Pentonville has been viewed as being the first stage of transportation as Forsythe states ‘the portal to the penal colony'[5]. Transportation was a sentence in which could have held a life sentence or for a set amount of time. It was seen as a humane version of execution. At one point, returning from a transportation sentence was a hanging offence. Both major and petty crimes could result in the transportation punishment during the 17th to 19th centuries. Until 1868, convicts could be transported to a penal colony on the other side of the world. Transportation criminals were originally sent to the colonies in North America until the American War of Independence in 1775.Britain was then forced to send their criminals to Australia. The 4th commissioners report on the 10th March 1846 identifies that 382 prisoners had completed their period and had been removed from Pentonville to Van Diemens land which was an Island of Tasmania but it is now part of Australia. They were placed into classes which were as follows, the ticket of leave class was the first which contained 288 prisoners, Probationary pass holders was the second which contained a further 78 prisoners and then the penal gangs class was the third which contained the last 16 prisoners. Ticket of leave was where the prisoner had the advantage of freedom within the colony, the probationary pass holders were able to work for themselves with restrictions and the penal gangs were where the convict was required to serve a certain period after they arrived in their allocated location. There was also a journey in July 1845 in which a total of 100 prisoners were transported on the Royal George Seymour ship. The commissioners report states that they received a sati sfactory account of the prisoners conduct for the journey and the arrival. Prisoners who were sentenced to transportation were perceived as being the ‘pick of the criminal crop'[6] identifying that the criminals who were sent abroad to serve their sentence were the worst kind of people and criminals. Food Prisons were run like machines and all the prisoners within Pentonville prison could have their breakfasts delivered to them in ten minutes. The prisons were instructed to make the prisoners food as monotonous as possible as part of the hard fare factor and the prisoners had hard beds instead of hammocks as part of the hard board factor. A letter written to the Times editor by a Mr Robert Hosking, who was Pentonvilles governor, identifies the costs of convicts at the Pentonville Prison. He states that ‘convicts in Pentonville prison are actually rioting in gluttony'[7] due to lack of food. He identifies what the prisons have in relation to meals. The extract also identifies that if a prisoner is on surveillance for bad behaviour then they would receive less bread than the rest of the prisoners. The convicts diet consisted mainly of bread in which they receive a 10oz at breakfast, 5 oz at lunch and a further 5oz for their supper. Their diet included both carbohydrates and protein but very little else. The prisoners were given water gruel and a small loaf of brown bread. The cooks put a lot of salt in their food to add seasoning, but the salt made the prisoners thirsty which made swallowing the food incredibly hard and painful. The potatoes that were given to the prisoners were inedible and were rotten, whilst the suet pudding was both dry and tasteless with bit of suet visible to the naked eye. The 1864 report on the dietaries of convict prisoners claims that there were two separate diets within the prison, the first being the penal class diet and the second being the punishment diet. The penal diet consisted of the standard food allowance that the prisoners were entitled to such as porridge potatoes and bread but the punishment diet consisted of bread and water and every fourth day then they were allowed the penal class diet. Dartmoor was the only convict prison within the country that allowed its prisoners cocoa for supper three times a week. The committee recommended that the dietary needs for male convicts within separate confinement and also industrial employment consisted of 284oz per week of solid food which contained 148 oz of bread, 96oz of potatoes, 16oz of meat, 4oz of cheese and also 4oz of meat that was in soup. One prisoner commented on the suet pudding to the Gladstone Committee and stated that ‘mo matter how hungry a man might be, his stomach would naturally turn from it[8]. This identifies the extent of the ghastliness of the food in which convicts and prisoners were required to eat especially when some prisoners and convicts would eat candle ends and boot grease to control their hunger. Oscar Wilde told friends after leaving prison that the food was both revolting and also insufficient. The total cost of each prisoners diet was 3s 11/2d per week or 8l 3s 41/2 for the year. In the 4th commissioners report it mentions an increase in the diet expenses and the reason being due to the rise in the price of the flour and the potatoes. A Convict Prison Pentonville prison began to be constructed on the 10th April 1840 and was completed in 1842. The total cost of the building of the prison was  £84, 186 12s 12d and the total upkeep of each prisoner was 15s a week in the 1840s which is the equivalent of 75p in todays money. Two acts had to be passed to allow the building of the prison. The convict service was established in 1850 when Millbank, Pentonville and the hulks became under the governments control. Like Millbank prison which was the first convict prison in London, Pentonville was built on the ideas and plans of Jeremy Bentham. The Pentonville Prison followed Benthams Panopticon idea; the panopticon idea was the criminals were under constant surveillance. The Prison had a central hall which was surrounded by five wings, which all members of staff were able to survey from the central hall. Pentonville soon became the model prison for all British prisons during the Victorian era and over the next six years a further 54 other prisons were built throughout Britain with the same design as Pentonville. Even though Pentonville was known as the model prison, prisoners still managed to escape from it. An extract in the Times in December 1850 identifies George Hackett, a professional criminal who mastered in bus muggings and had a criminal history with the Thames police and Mansion House. Hackett as stated by the Times made an ‘extraordinary escape from the Pentonville (model) prison. When investigation went into place, it was found that Hackett escaped the police court with another man, and a turnkey had received a large amount of money. Hackett was serving a sentence for a crime that he committed on the 29th May 1850 in which he nearly murdered a police constable. He was sentenced to 15 years of transportation. The investigation resulted in authorities believing that the turnkeys had been tampered with. The next day on the 4th December, the Times commented on this speculation once again by stating that the government inspectors of prisons launched an inquiry into a private inve stigation into the escape of Hackett. They believed that the turnkeys and the officers had helped Hackett escape from the prison which identifies that the officials at the prison were easily influenced and like Millbank held little control of the convicts. There was six main convict prisons throughout Britain- Millbank was used as a transportation dept, Pentonville as a model separation, Portsmouth and Portland for associated labour, Parkhurst for juvenile delinquencies, Brixton was a womans prison and Dartmoor was for invalids that were unable to participate in labour. Local prisons were vastly different from a convict prison due to the difference in skills. There was such a high turnover of prisoners within a local prison whilst prisoners within a convict prison served longer periods of time. A prisoner within the convict prison would have more than likely done time in a local prison before being transferred to the convict so the officers within the convict prisons were well informed of each prisoner as the paper work and inspection had already been done for convict officers. There were also distinct differences within the prisoners accommodation, discipline, work tasks and the general treatment of the prisoners. If a convict was well behaved during his sentence then he could be entitled to their sentences being shortened but a local prisoner who was sentenced to a maximum of two years did not have the option of having the sentence shortened whether they were well behaved or not until 1898. In 1877 these differences became minimal as the government took over all prisons in Britain including the local prisons. Each prison throughout the country was required to have school staff ‘at an additional expense of  £2,230.'[9]The convict prison has school staff on site from 1870 onwards and the local from 1879 onwards. The 4th Commissioners report in 1846 identifies that the state of Pentonville prison was in a perfect state of repair and only several important additions had been made to the prison during the years 1845-1846 one of these being the erection of a ‘complete apparatus for the manufacture of gas for the use of the establishment'[10]. In the 6th Commissioners report in 1847-48 it claims that an additional six sittings had been made within the chapel and also a fire main was laid down in order to supply the engine with water from a large tank in the roof. It also claimed that the ventilating, warming and cooking apparatus were in good order but complaints from the prisoners perceives a different story as they constantly complained of the cold cells. Prisoners When a convicted prisoner was sent to prison they travelled in a hearse like omnibus which was nicknamed the Black Maria when they went from the courts to the prison. They would then begin their prison journey in the reception ward where they were made to strip naked and had their clothes and possessions confiscated of him. They were then placed into a bath of waist high water which tended to smell like carbolic acid, this bath was not to clean them but to erase their original selves and replace it with their new prison lives. Their heads were shaved and the prisoners were not allowed to grow their hair till 3 months before the end of their sentence. Uniforms were issued which were different colours or markings depending on the prison sentence that the person is serving. Old or repaired boots were also issued to each prisoner but underwear was not issued till late nineteenth century. His name was changed to a number which he would be known as for the time he spent within the prison. If the prisoner was a repetitive convict then the number would be different each time. Each prisoner was allowed one visit every 6 months and one letter every 6 months, which made prisoners feel very lonely but with their I.Ds stripped they were made to feel like completely different men to what they were when they entered the prison. The warder also listened in on the conversations and watched to make sure that nothing was being passed between the prisoner and the visitor. The warder also timed the meeting by using a sandglass which allowed the meeting to be no longer than fifteen minutes. The longer the prisoner was in prison the shorter the time period for visits became. Prisoners serving within the second year were allowed visits every 4 months and prisoners within the third year or more were allowed visits every three months. The letters that the prisoners wrote to family and friends were censored and read by the governor and the chaplain before they were sent off. They were forbidden to write about the prison or other prisoners that were within it. The convicts at Pentonville Prison were made to wear dark grey outfits with ‘P.P embroided in red into the collar. The P.P stood for Pentonville Prison. The first ever mention of a prisoner having a structured daily routine was in 1865, the daily routine of a prisoner from this date was as follows: they were woken at 5.45am by the sound of a bell and returned to their beds at 8pm. They were allowed an hour or half an hour of exercise which was required to be done in silence within the special yards. After, they were made to work for a further 8 hours. The prisoners day would include waking up, working, eating meals, visiting the chapel, exercising, and an inspection ending with the lights being put out. The routine differed on a Sunday with the bell ringing slightly later and the day containing church services and exercise. Prisoners were made to endure 3 chapel services every Sunday, Christmas day and also Good Friday. The chapel was only able to accommodate half the prisoners so each prisoner was required to attend two services on a Sunday and then one upon the following. Daily prayers were read within the chapel every morning and evening. Each prisoner would attend one of these daily services. This was to cleanse the prisoners soul and make them a better person when they were released back into society. It was attempts into making the prisoner go back into work rather than result to crime. In the morning they were allowed out of their cells to have a wash with which a bucket of water was provided, this water would then be used to clean their cells and tin ware. This was also the time in which they were required to clean out their slop buckets and roll up their bedding, which had to be done correctly. Not all prisoners were guilty when they were sent to prison, an example of this is a man named Valentine Bambrick who was a recipient of the Victorian Cross. He was sent to prison for protecting a woman against a man named Henry Russell, whilst protecting her in a fight broke out and Russell later accused Bambrick and a woman named Charlotte Johnson of stealing his medals and violent assault. Bambrick had his Victorian Cross revoked by the Royal Warrant in December 1863. He fell into a deep depression and after writing a letter protesting his innocence he committed suicide by hanging himself in his cell in Pentonville Prison. The 6th Commissioners report shows that half the prisoners in Pentonville in 1847-48 were between the ages of 20-25 years old and two thirds were unmarried. One third of 701 prisoners had been imprisoned in other places of confinement beforehand, 74 had been imprisoned twice before and 27 had been imprisoned three times before. Even with the harsh prison regulations and conditions, people still chose to continually break the law and find themselves back in Pentonville; five men during 1847-48 were serving their tenth time within Pentonville. Health Prisoners were often observed and it was found that due to the separate system many prisoners would leave prison suffering from crying outbursts and hysteria, some had to cover their ears due to the noise being too much for them to cope with. Others often found themselves daydrea

The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood – Consider the way Atwood presents Professor Pieixoto’s conference speech in the’Historical Notes’

The anti-utopian novel, ‘The Handmaid's Tale', tells the futuristic story of Offred, a Handmaid of the oppressive Gileadean regime, a society immune to any form of external influence and governed by an elite. It is the ‘Historical Notes' at the end of the novel that help the reader to put one woman's autobiographical record into historical perspective by acting as an epilogue to the tale of Offred. Although not part of Offred's narrative, the notes are part of the novel, working as an essential supplement to the story in a hope to answer some of the many unanswered questions evoked throughout the novel. The notes stand as a framework with which one can use to reflect on Offred's narrative from a point in the distant future, where Gilead is long gone, along with all of the main characters of story. The ‘Historical Notes' are a transcript of a convention held in 2195, two-hundred years after Offred's existence, taking place at the University of Denay, Nunavit in Arctic Canada. The symposium is lead by a male archivist from the University of Cambridge named Professor Pieixoto, proving the notes to be of a view from outside of America. The introduction to the main text of the notes is light, whilst prefacing the main speaker, along with the works for which he is recognised. The main work for which he is recognised is that entitled â€Å"Iran and Gilead: Two Late-Twentieth-Century Monotheocracies, as Seen Through Diaries†, Iran being a country that imposed severe restrictions on the freedom of women and so has a direct link to Gilead. It is ironic that Iran and the United States are famous enemies yet impose similar restrictions upon their people. The name of the university has great significance for the reader as although it's set in one of the first aboriginal self-governing territory in Canada, ‘Denay Nunavit' is also a pun of ‘Deny none of it', in reference to the story as told by Offred. It is through this play on words by Atwood, that the reader is advised to believe Offred's story, whatever explanations or misinterpretations may be offered by the professors, in the ‘Historical Notes'. The Chair of the conference is a woman professor called Maryann Cresent Moon, her name indicating that she is a member of the Native people, along with her associate Professor Johnny Running Dog, suggesting that both women and Native people have substantial status at this point in the future. She begins the conference by addressing the students with notices about several other talks and expeditions taking place, and the reader can grasp that the fact the students go on nature walks and can eat fish, â€Å"Arctic Char†, from the sea, suggests an unpolluted environment contrasting that of Gilead. Professor Cresent Moon goes on to introduce the succeeding speaker, prefacing him along with his work, allowing Professor Pieixoto to then take the stand. Although this epilogue is set two hundred years in the future, it is through her speech that the Professor Cresent Moon reveals that the society of 2195 is more familiar to the society of today than the times of Gilead. However, there are also subtle differences to our society, as primarily, the culture that is presented in the future is characterised by non-Caucasian cultures seemingly studying Caucasian culture, the evidence provided through the names of the professors giving talks, such as Professor Gopal Chatterjee and Professor Johnny Running Dog. Traditionally, Western academia has been characterised by Caucasians studying anthropology, eastern philosophy and eastern religions and so much of the beginning section of the notes, spoken by Professor Cresent Moon, hints a mild ridicule of current academic practice by Atwood. Despite the advances in non-Caucasian academia, the male perspective of the Professor Pieixoto is typical of the historical male dominance and perspective in academic research and seemingly, it's through his seminar that Atwood satirises the methodology and manners of a male academic historian. Professor Pieixoto's jokes about ‘tail' and ‘Frailroads', instead of Femaleroads, have a sexist tone, indicating that sexist attitudes have not changed in the two hundred years that have passed since Offred's time. It is in this context that the nature of the professor's name has meaning as Atwood got the name ‘Pieixoto' from a Brazilian novel where it is the name of a character who continually is reincarnated in the same form. It is here that Professor Pieixoto demonstrates the same masculinist characteristics as those who created the Gilead regime, who had modelled themselves on the Old Testament patriarchs. Pieixoto starts by locating a historical context for Offred's story and goes on to tell his audience that the tale, later titled ‘The Handmaid's Tale' in tribute to Geoffrey Chaucer's ‘Canterbury Tales', came in the form of thirty cassette tapes that were discovered in Maine, in a sealed army footlocker near what used to be the Underground Femaleroad. We are told that each of the tapes began with several songs, â€Å"as camouflage, no doubt†, in order to disguise the nature of the recordings and that the same voice speaks on all of the recordings. Pieixoto also discusses the difficulties in reconstructing the narrative as the tapes were not numbered nor arranged in any particular order, along with the problems associated with the speaker's old-fashioned accent. Therefore, the professors transcribing the story had to guess the intended chronology of the tapes and this provides an explanation for the interrupted structure of the narrative. For all of Pieixoto's detailed account of how he came about Offred's story, he seems to lack concern for Offred as an individual and is more concerned in implementing the authenticity of her tale and its worth as impartial historical evidence. He seemingly avoids the moral issues raised by Offred, claiming â€Å"our job is not to censure but to understand† and most obviously, he is more interested in establishing the identity of her Commander than Offred herself. Surprisingly, Pieixoto cautions his patrons against judging the Gileadean regime too severely, as judgements on events in history are â€Å"culture-specific†. Furthermore, he seems to attempt to justify the establishment of Gilead by claiming that it was under a large amount of pressure due to the rapidly declining birth rate and environmental depravity. Pieixoto goes on to talk about the falling birth rate, elaborating on the reasons that caused it such as abortion, birth control, sexually transmitted diseases and also miscarriages that resulted from exposure to nuclear waste. Using the Bible as a justification, he explains how Gilead rounded up a collection of fertile women by pronouncing all second marriages and non-marital relationships illegal, confiscating the children of these relationships and allowing the women to take on the role of â€Å"walking wombs†. Similarly, Pieixoto clarifies of how Gilead adopted the regime of what he calls â€Å"simultaneous polygamy† rather than â€Å"serial polygamy†, taking inspiration from the Biblical story of Rachel and Leah. Pieixoto explains that similarly to all new systems, Gilead drew on the past for inspiration in creating its ideology. Specifically, he mentions the racial strains that troubled pre-Gileadean America, which Gilead embodied in its main principles, and later talks of how the idea of dumping â€Å"more than one boatload of Jews† into the Atlantic Ocean was one of the ideas dreamt up by one of the two possible Commanders of Offred. It is here that Pieixoto talks of his and his fellow Professor Wade's interest in identifying the author of the tape, but due to her name being concealed by the Gileadean patronym, he's unable to tell the reader anything new about Offred, her life before, within or after the Gileadean regime. However, it is noticeable to the reader than Pieixoto is more interested in identifying the Commander of Offred, as perhaps by discovering his identity and more about him, he can so do the same for Offred. After attempting to research the names used by Offred in her story, after having no leads, Pieixoto comes to the conclusion that the names such as ‘Moira', ‘Luke' and ‘Janine' must have been pseudonyms, in order to protect those that she loved. The two possibilities that Pieixoto offers as the Commander's real identities are Frederick Waterford and B. Frederick Judd, both men leaders of the early Gileadean regime and instrumental figures in the structuring and establishment of Gilead. He runs through what both men contributed to Gilead, starting with Frederick Waterford, revealing that he was â€Å"responsible for the design of the female costumes† and came up with the idea that the Handmaids should be branded by the colour red. He was also responsible for some of the names of the events practiced in Gilead, such as ‘Particution' and ‘Salvaging', taking his inspiration from events in the past, along with the design for the Handmaids costume, which resembled the uniforms of German prisoners of war during WW2. Judd on the other hand is credited with devising the form of the Particution ceremony, rather than the name, and proposed the idea that the Handmaids should be governed by women as he believed that â€Å"the best and most cost-effective way to control women for reproductive and other purposes was through women themselves†. He was also responsible for the dumping of the Jews into the ocean. Although both were childless, there is more evidence to support Frederick Waterford in being Offred's Commander as although his wife wasn't called ‘Serena Joy' or ‘Pam', but instead ‘Thelma', he was into market research and was involved in one of the earliest purges of Gilead after being accused of â€Å"being in possession of†¦ heretical pictorial and literary materials†, as well as â€Å"harbouring a subversive†. However, although all of this evidence points towards him, Pieixoto explains that because historical details of Gilead are few due to the fact that the destruction of records was a regular practice during the purge, it's unlikely that they can be certain of her identity of her Commander as Frederick Waterford. Pieixoto concludes on the note that the final fate of Offred is unknown, and that she may have been recaptured, reached Canada or could have even made her way to England. What he notes as surprising is that if she did escape to Canada or England, why she didn't make her story public, although he recognises that Offred may have wanted to protect what family and friends she had left. However, the aforementioned ‘subversive' is thought to be Nick, a member of both the Eyes and the Mayday movement, and that the men he called in at the end of the novel were sent in order to rescue Offred. The final sentence of the speech, â€Å"Are there any questions? thereby invites the reader to question the issues raised, having heard the two opposite perspectives, by Offred's narrative and the addition of the ‘Historical Notes'. It is at this point that the novel undertakes a moral tone, typical of dystopian literature. The ‘Historical Notes' alter the readers perspective of Offred and her tale, as it can be recognised that she is no longer a living human but an anonymous voice. It appears to the reader that Professor Pieixoto seems to doubt the tes timony of Offred and he attempts to discredit her by claiming her not to have paid attention to the more important issues going on at the time. For the reader, it seems as though Pieixoto has not taken notice of what Offred chose to tell, a tale of suffering and persecution within the regime, and this results in the reader feeling as though the professor is not only paying attention to the wrong things but is also belittling her story. Pieixoto's version of Offred seems surprisingly inept in warmth, humour and the genuine human emotion expressed that the reader will have felt from reading Offred's testament and so ironically, as Offred had predicted, â€Å"from the point of view of history, we'll be invisible†, Pieixoto has partly erased her from history. The narrative technique of the ‘Historical Notes' is entirely different to that of Offred's story, in terms of both its form and language, and so the change in voice from the personal account by Offred to the rather generalised and removed version by Professor Pieixoto forces the reader to take a more moralistic view of what he or she has just read. The historical glance back at Gilead, what preceded it and what was happening in other parts of the world at the same time, has the effect of drawing the experience of Offred much closer to home for the reader. It is unsettling to learn that the Gileadean practices were based on real practices formerly or currently in existence and this serves as a warning by Atwood that the reality of Gilead is not as far away as it seemed when reading Offred's account. After the abrupt ending of the main text of the novel with its leap into the unknown, the epilogue follows and the ‘Historical Notes' are simultaneously a welcome objective explanation of the Gileadean society, a parody of academic conferences and offensive to the reader. The notes are a shock to the readers, as they have just gone through the emotional ups and downs of Offred's account, suffering her torments with her, and is therefore shocking, as intended by Atwood, to hear Offred's life discussed in front of an amused audience, joked about and treated as a quaint relic. The significance of the ‘Historical Notes' to the novel as a whole is that they provide an open ending for the journey which Atwood takes the reader on, allowing each reader to have a different interpretation on the fate of Offred and the other main characters of the novel. It is the last line of the novel, â€Å"Are there any questions? † that signals to the reader that the fate of Offred is debatable, and an ending like this causes the story to stay with the reader some time after finishing reading it, as the ending is left up to the reader to decide upon.

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Essay on Politics by Aristotle - 1843 Words

The subject which the question focuses on is the view of Aristotle’s ideal state. The distinction between hierarchy and equality is at the heart of the understanding of Aristotle’s ideal state. He claims that an ideal state ought to be arranged to maximise the happiness of its citizens. So happiness together with political action is the telos of human life. This end can be reached by living a better ethical life. However, he endorses hierarchy over equality. On one hand we have the equality which benefits everyone; on the other hand we have the distinction of classes meant in terms of diversities and differences where the middle one appears to be the means through which the state is balanced. Furthermore what is clear for Aristotle is that†¦show more content†¦I will now start with the analysis of the relevance in an ideal state of ruling and being ruled. Aristotle’s view on this is clear, he says that citizens should rule and be ruled in turn. He claims that those who rule and those who obey are the same. At this level, therefore, Aristotle seems to praise equality. He says: â€Å"†¦ it is obviously necessary on many grounds that all the citizens alike should take their turn of governing and being governed. Equality consists in the same treatment of similar persons, and no government can stand which is not founded upon justice. For if the government be unjust everyone in the country unites with the governed in the desire to have a revolution †¦Ã¢â‚¬  I strongly agree with this concept of the cyclical flow of power. I find it as a perfect way to achieve a well-spread equality in society and for this reason it is needed to have a more equal distribution of justice. In addition to this he then argues that: â€Å"†¦ for he who would learn to command well must [†¦] first of all learn to obey.† He thinks that those who were firstly ruled, when they have power they will rule in a better way, because they will understand the meaning of being ruled. I once again agree with this view, I believe that this mutual change of roles lets citizens think more carefully on the meaning of ruling and being ruled. As a matter of fact, if we want to live in a state where justice is its main feature we have to prevent theShow MoreRelatedAristotle s View Of Politics Essay1454 Words   |  6 Pagesorder to understand what Aristotle means when he says man is a Zoon politikon it is essential to understand the concept and reasoning beh ind his writings of The politics as a whole. This essay intends to discuss Aristotle s view of politics through the way in which he layers the fundamental concept of hierarchy of humans and natural societies to show that man by nature works for the common good. I will also discuss the conflicting views between the works of both Aristotle and Hobbes in orderRead MoreAristotle s Views On Politics980 Words   |  4 PagesPolitics is a political philosophical work by Aristotle, a fourth century Greek Philosopher, logician and scientist. Along with his teacher Plato, Aristotle is considered as one of the most influential ancient thinkers of political theory in western civilization. Therefore, it is important to understand the gist of his work Politics from our perspective. Influenced by Plato’s Republic and Laws, Politics presents synthesis of lifetime political thoughts and observations. The philosopher attempts toRead MoreAristotle s Views On Politics1031 Words   |  5 Pag eswhere Aristotle’s is coming from. Aristotle looked for solutions in a Universal manner. Basically, the principles and solutions for correctness comes from the idea that they have to be natural more than conventional. The idea of the good from Aristotle’s point of view comes from observation, he believed that the good is the final cause(there are three others that will be discussed), and that everyone can understand judgement and collective moral action. Aristotle also believed that people need toRead MorePlato Vs Aristotle On Politics And Philosophy1899 Words   |  8 PagesPlato versus Aristotle Plato and Aristotle, two philosophers in the 4th century, hold polar views on politics and philosophy in general. This fact is very cleverly illustrated by Raphael s School of Athens (1510-11; Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican), where Plato is portrayed looking up to the higher forms; and Aristotle is pointing down because he supports the natural sciences. In a discussion of politics, the stand point of each philosopher becomes an essential factor. It is not coincidental thatRead MoreEssay on The Doctrine of the Mean in Aristotles Politics2146 Words   |  9 Pages The Doctrine of the Mean in Aristotle’s Politics.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Examining the texts of Aristotle’s â€Å"Nicomachean Ethics† and â€Å"Politics† side by side, one is bound to find parallels between his reasoning with regard to the individual and to the state. In â€Å"Nicomachean Ethics† Aristotle discusses happiness, virtue, and the good life on an individual level and lays out necessary provisions for the good life of a person. He maintains that virtue is a necessary element of happiness: a manRead MoreAristotle And Plato s Views On Politics And Morality Essay1480 Words   |  6 PagesThe purpose of this essay is to discuss whether politics should be focused on morality with reference to the political thinkers, Aristotle and Plato. Aristotle and Plato have two fundamentally differing views on politics and how it links to morality. Morality to Aristotle and Plato will be analysed through their version of how politics utensils morality to carry out legislation or create a universal manner carried out by the citizens. To achieve this, this essay will examine the following pointsRead MorePlato And Aristotle s Views On Politics And Society1090 Words   |  5 PagesPlato and Aristotle are philosophers that both have an idea of an ideal state but they have their differences. While there are benefits to each of their views on politics and society, there are also many negative things about their views. Some of their negative views were realistic at one point in time but few are the same in today s society. Although I don t fully agree with either philosopher, I would have to side with Aristotle overall. The two philosophers had many differences but they wereRead MoreThe Constitution Of Government And Selections From Aristotle s Politics1009 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"The science of politics, however, like most other sciences, has received great improvement. The efficacy of various principles is now well understood, which were either not known at all, or imperfectly known to the ancients,† wrote Alexander Hamilton in Federalist Paper number 9. In The Federalist Papers, which Thomas Jefferson described as â€Å"the best commentary on the principles of government, which was ever written,† writers Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay sought to articulate andRead MoreAnalysis Of Plato s Republic And Aristotle s Politics1375 Words   |  6 PagesFamily in Political Society Plato’s Republic and Aristotle’s Politics both accredit nature to the teleological functions of men, women, and children. Nevertheless, each philosopher defines family differently to support their main goals of finding the right type of society. While Plato does not conform to the traditional definition of a family—with a husband, wife, and children—and instead defines the role of men and women separately, Aristotle uses the family as a microcosm of political society, in theRead MoreAristotle s Politics : Government Enterprise Within The Context Of The Different Types Of City States Essay1925 Words   |  8 PagesAristotle s Politics discusses government enterprise within the context of the different types of city-states. While the work includes details about the basics of political science, Aristotle largely focuses his attention on the question of regimes during this time period, presenting the distinctive elements that compose these regimes. Aristotle structures this work to build upon the different elements of a city-state and their differences. Society is marked by unequal positions of power and privilege