Gullotine

=Guillotine=

The history of the guillotine is a dark and disturbing one. The intention behind guillotine was a good one. It was originally meant to be a less gruesome way of execution. The idea was proposed by Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, designed by Dr. Antoine Louis, and finally built by Tobias Schmidt. It was built for France to help with the enormous amounts of executions happening there. The guillotine began its career of claiming lives in 1792.

The French Revolution was in full flight when the guillotine debuted. People were being executed left and right. The most common ways were brutal and caused the victim tremendous pain before they met their end. When Dr. Guillotin presented his idea, he meant it in a peaceful way. In fact, he was a man who was against the death penalty. The machine itself is simple. It consists of a suspended wooden frame with a slanted blade at the top. The victim would place his (or her) head at the bottom of the frame. The blade would be dropped, cleanly decapitating the victim's head. The device was named the guillotine after the man who originally proposed the idea. Though extremely grotesque,this was a swift and virtually painless death. However, the executions by guillotine became a horrible thing. They garnered massive crowds who cheered for the victim's death. After the death, the operators would parade the severed head. After centuries of use, the guillotine finally was retired in 1981 when France banished the death penalty.

Though they wish it was not, the guillotine is a massive part of French history. It represents a dark time in France, one from which they have learned. France knows that the guillotine is a blemish on the history of their country, but their abolishment of the guillotine represents that they have learned from its use and this gruesome part of their past. It remains a part of their documented history, though, reminding them not make the same mistakes today.