Foucault, Madness and Civilization, 38-84

During the 17^th century the expansions of the houses of confinement we on a steady rise. We had just seen leprosy and the Ship of Fools set out to rid the towns and cities of the mad, who were people of all sorts. Instead of previously dealing with the problem and working on a solution, they were pushed on to other cities. These houses of confinement, especially the famed Hospital de General where the next step in the evolution of the “madman” during this time period. Nearly 1 out of every 100 in the city of Paris were placed in a house for one reason or another, some imprisoned falsely and some for reasons that they themselves could not help nor fix. Madness for Foucault was directly linked to these houses, for if someone was not mad to being, they were surely to be when they left. These placed houses not only the poor, but the “sick, invalid, convalescing as well as the curable and incurable. Directors of such facilities were given complete power of the prisoners, I mean patients and appointed to the positions for life, which was a problem in itself. With power come responsibility and a respect of your power and when the latter is lacking, there is bound to be an abuse of this power. Patients were subjected to such items as chains, stakes, dungeons and irons.  Before long there was an edict to establish a hospital de general in every city in France.  In other places, such as England these houses took the form of “houses of correction”, later leading to work houses, then to jails and prisons. The image Foucault gives us in theses chapters is very disturbing, but upon further research very mindful of the time.  Chapter 3 on the Insane was also a very informative chapter on the history and the inevitable change in the people and the creation of more mad from simple people. 



                          René Magritte, Les Amants (1928)