Analysis: The Plague Of Panopticon

The plague was a catastrophic time in history, and happened more than once. It took millions and millions of people’s lives. It destroyed cities and countries, and many people suffered from it.

Foucault in a few short words does not like the implementation of the panopticon or the idea of

To start, is Foucault 's Panopticism. Panopticism uses the idea of Bentham’s Panopticon to elaborate the disciplinary ideas that he is trying to explain. The Panopticon is an “all seeing” structure that makes observations without the people ever knowing when they were being watched, even though it is clearly visible (Foucault, 204). Its gaze can be upon anyone, from a “madman, a patient, a condemned man” (Foucault, 200). These features allow Panopticism to be a passive power, rather than an active one. With this in mind, power is shifted from the hands of the individual to the anonymous “supervisor” of the Panopticon (Foucault, 200). This method of observation facilitates the transformation of individuals to controllable individuals (Foucault, 205).

It was in the 14th century that a catastrophic and deadly Plague hit Europe. The Black Plague killed up to a 3rd of Europe’s population. This lead to medieval science changing dramatically as people began to question how much authority the church should be given, and began to turn to science for logical answers. The plague also contributed to the Peasants anger that evolved into the Peasants Revolt, and ultimately, the breakdown of the feudal system.

The Black Death, now considered the biggest epidemic of the 16th Century, exterminated half of the earth’s population. Europe was left devastated and in ruins following the countless deaths, pillages of barbarians, and loss of morality. Those who came down with the plague endured innumerable tribulations and those who were lucky enough to not contract the illness stayed indoors and made little contact with the outside world. This led to many becoming petulant and restless. Due to the plague, fear ran rampant throughout Europe and caused fallacious theories explaining the illness, violence, and the desensitization of many.

In his essay “Panopticism,” Michel Foucault introduces the Panopticon structure as proof of modern society tending toward efficient disciplinary mechanisms. Starting with his example of the strict, intensely organized measures that are taken in a typical 17th-century plague-stricken town, Foucault describes how the town employed constant surveillance techniques, centralized a hierarchy of authorities to survey households, partitioned individual structures to impose certain behavior, and record current information about each individual.

Let’s begin, in the year 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean and landed in america. That was the start of The Great Plague, see Columbus was from Italy and sailed with and english crew, so their immune systems were built to resist dangerous diseases, but just because it didn’t affect them doesn’t mean that it wasn’t there, so when they landed in ‘India’ and he saw the ‘Indians’, he passed on the still living plague on to them, and since they never encountered the plague they weren't built to resist it so they began to pass the plague on to other Natives and soon most of the population had the disease.

With lacking medical knowledge, people never really grasped the concept or the cause of this epidemic; therefore, they did not know what to do to help cure or stop the spread of it. “In spite of only sketchy medical knowledge, the epidemiology of the plague was fully understood by the 18th century. It took many years of research, after the fact, to finally comprehend all the ins

Foucault's "Panopticism" (1979) is a careful piece that talks about how a panoptic framework would impact culture, society, the political, and individuals. Foucault describes panopticon is to “induce the inmate a state of conscious and visibility that assures the automatic function of power.” Foucault mentions, surveillance has a lasting effects, regardless of the fact that it is discontinuous in its activity; that the perfection of power ought to render its real unneeded practice. The Inmates are in a dominating circumstance that they are them-selves the bearers. Foucault (201, 202–3) also mentions that "He who is subjected to a field of visibility, and knows it, expect responsibility regardless of the constrains of power; he makes them play spontaneously upon

Panopticism is a social theory named after the “panopticon”, which was originally developed by the French philosopher, Michel Foucault. Panopticon was first mentioned in his book, Discipline and Punish. In his book, he refers "panopticon" to “an experimental laboratory of power in which behaviour could be modified.” Foucault considered panopticon as a symbol of the “disciplinary society of surveillance” (Panopticism). In the two novels, Nineteen Eighty-Four and Frankenstein, panopticism is an element shown greatly. Though these two novels have many differences, this similarity shared between the two is equally important.

Michael Foucault wrote Discipline and Punish: Panopticism, in 1975. He begins by describing the actions that were implemented to control and eradicate the plague, like through quarantine, mandatory separation, and etc. The plague was met by order to purify the people. He also notes that lepers were, too, separated from society and met by order to purify the community. Foucault claims that the disciplinary tactics used during the plague were the foundation to the discipline that followed and it could have been the first time where disciplinary methods in society were created and used.

A Cholera pandemic devastated Europe between 1829 and 1851, and was first fought by the use of what Foucault called "social medicine", which focused on flux, circulation of air,

The background behind Panopticism is from the prevention of the spread of a plague. The design used was that all plague victims would stay locked inside their homes while a guard would monitor the street. Those inside the home were not allowed to leave unless it was an extreme circumstance and that they were accompanied by a guard. The system was put in place so the guards were able to obtain the

Foucault is the author behind Panopticism. While reading his article, for starters it was very hard to comprehend what he was trying to say, I found this article very confusing and irritating! However, this article does provide different types of elements that can be used to agree to his theory. In this article, he uses Ethos to persuade people that he knows what he’s talking about. He used Logos to persuade other about the effects discipline. He uses Kairos, to address different points about discipline. He lastly uses Pathos to connect to the audience emotionally to prove his theory about discipline.

In “The Journal of the Plague Year,” H.F praises the power of government to regulate urban spaces, shut up houses, and impose quarantines on potentially dangerous Londoners. However, he also pushes back against this authority by critiquing the inefficiency of the practice and expressing empathy for the people it harms. H.F’s contradictory attitude is also displayed in his treatment of the bills and documents used to control the public’s access to information. While H.F occasionally enforces the regulations of these papers, he also questions their accuracy. Observing the lives of everyday people, H.F gathers personal anecdotes and experiences that suggest the plague cannot be quantified by charts and statistics. Lastly, while H.F initially