Guillotine?

Question

Was the guillotine a humane wat to kill people during the french revolution

opinions please...

10 points for best answer

Answer 1

The French used it right down until the end of their death penalty a few decades ago. So did Hitler as one method of execution. It was fearsome and it was bloody. But it had to be pretty quick and relatively painless. Humans don't feel pain well when their head is cut off and that heavy blade was fast! The real suffering was probably psychological. But that exists in any method of execution.....

Answer 2

It was thought to be a quick and humane way to kill people.  Unfortunately, there are reports of heads still being conscious for some minutes after death.  These can't really be substantiated for obvious reasons, but if you're still "alive" for a short while after being decapitated, perhaps it really can't be counted as humane.  It's still better than several strokes of the axe, or being hanged, drawn and quartered!

http://www.aintnowaytogo.com/beheading.h...

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_...

According to the site below, when people were beheaded by the axe, the head was then not shown to the people as a lesson, but shown to the body itself as a final insult:

http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizab...

Answer 3

Why do people say "10 points for the best answer"? Duh...makes an otherwise good Q seem like a waste of time to answer....Bye....

Answer 4

As long as the blade severed the head cleanly, completely, it would be a very quick, relatively painless way to die.

...although, the mental anguish of being be-headed (usually publicly) would be humiliating.

IDK......interesting question.

Answer 5

for that time period i would say yes.  Although if you disagreed with anything at that time you were sentenced pretty much.  The French Revolution was not a pretty time but the guillotine was alot better than being dragged, quartered, and pretty much gutted.  at least it was fast and painless.  With the axman you know man with holding an ax  to cut off your head, if he hit your neck wrong then you were spurrting blood still alive, this was boom blade drops, your dead.  I love reading about this time period though.

Answer 6

It was designed with the express intent of being a humane manner to execute people.

Going back to ancient times, beheading has long been considered a humane, even honorable, form of execution. Citizens of the Roman Empire, for instance, were by law spared the more agonizing methods of execution (e.g., crucifixion). During medieval and early modern times in Europe, nobility who had been condemned to death were frequently decapitated by an executioner who wielded a long-handled axe, rather than being killed using more unseemly techniques, such as hanging or breaking on the wheel. (Sometimes, though, the executioner missed his mark and had to swing a second time to complete the job. Ouch!) Decapitation plays a central role in the Japanese practice of seppuku (aka hara kiri), a form of ritual suicide often practiced by samurai who had been disgraced in battle.

So it's clear that beheading, because it was fast and inflicted relatively little pain or suffering, was a more "humane" form of execution. This enlightened position was adopted by the leaders of the French Revolution, who appointed a committee to develop a machine that could do the job efficiently. Their design became the guillotine that we know today.  One last important note: the guillotine was an "equal-opportunity execution device" during the French Revolution, not just reserved for nobility or for special people; everyone from king (and queen) to highwayman and thief went under the blade.  Equality for all, I guess.