Josephsong


 * Torture During the Elizabethan Era**

Take a moment to imagine that you have just switched places with a suspected criminal in Elizabethan England. You have been accused of treason and now you are find yourself being hauled off by the authorities. They take you to the lowest area of the castle where the dungeon is located, and they proceed to throw you into a room sure to induce claustrophobia. As your eyes begin to adjust to the candle-lit surroundings you wonder to yourself how in the world they managed to cram so many bizzare contraptions into such limited space. Soon you realise that you are not alone, there are several other shackled individuals, white with terror. Within moments you are too. You hear a muffled cry shortly thereafter followed by horrid popping sounds. You have "arrived" just in time, an unfortunate individual like yourself has just been introduced to what they call, the rack. Welcome to the torture chamber...

The period in which Queen Elizabeth I ruled has been coined by historians as the Elizabethan Era. England underwent what many call the golden age in English History during the Elizabethan Era. Despite this, Queen Elizabeth often lived paranoid, in fear for her life. Throughout her reign there were various attempts at her life. The safety of her most royal highness was paramount and anybody implicated in anything that would potentially jeopardize that would be subject to torture and quite often death followed soonafter. In other words don't even think about messing with the queen, or else. The act of torture is defined as, "the deliberate, systematic, or wanton infliction of physical or mental suffering by one or more persons in an attempt to force another person to yield information or to make a confession or for any other reason". Those individuals skilled in the "art" of torture could prolong your life while using different devices and methods in order to inflict as much pain as possible. Aside from punishing the accused, torture was used to extract information or a confession from an otherwise unwilling victim.

__**Various Methods of Torture:**__. Various methods and devices were employed in Elizabethan England. None were particularly appealing to the victims, but to this day these devices remain eerily fascinating to many. The very names of a few, for instance the scavenger's daughter, can still illicit fear. Below I will discuss a couple devices that i found particularly notable: **__The Rack:__** (Picture shown above) This device was usually a rectangular frame that slightly elevated above the ground, with a roller at one, or both, ends, having at one end a fixed bar to which the legs were fastened, and at the other a movable bar to which the hands were tied. The victim's ankles are fastened to one roller, and the wrists are chained to the other. The interrogator could gradually increase the tension of the chains and by doing so could inflict varying levels of pain upon the victim until he/she talked or was gradually pulled apart. __**The Scavenger's Daughter:**__ The Scavenger's Daughter was invented by Sir William Skevington. This device was an A-frame shaped metal rack. The head was strapped to the top point of the A, and the hands at the mid-point and the legs at the lower spread ends; swinging the head down and forcing the knees up in a sitting position so compressed the body as to force the blood from the nose and ears. It is also known as Skevingtons' gyves and the Spanish A frame.

__**The Pillory:**__ The pillory was a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands. The victim could not escape and pillories were often located in public areas for everyone to see. Often a sign detailing the crime was placed nearby. The victim would then be at the mercy of the public. As part of the punishment, people could throw garbage and other objects at the captive. Abuse from the public could often be lethal.

[|See other methods of torture]

Torture was also present in the works of Shakespeare. In Shakespeare's play King Lear in Act 3, Scene two, Earl of Gloucester is betrayed by his bastard son and is tortured by Regan and Cornwall supposedly to gain information. Below is a humorous adaptation of said scene: media type="youtube" key="pGlmb0AX41A?fs=1" height="385" width="480"
 * __Torture in Shakespeare:__**

__**Bibliography:**__ N/A. "Middle Ages Torture." //MIddle Ages Encyclopedia//. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Oct. 2010. . N/A. "Torture in the Tower of London." //Eyewitness to History.com//. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Oct. 2010. . N/A. "What We Can Learn from the Torture Scene in Shakespeare’s King Lear." //FDL//. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Oct. 2010. . Sarkis. "Different Kinds of Elizabethan Era Torture." //Elizabethan Era Life//. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Oct. 2010. . Wikipedia. "Medieval Instruments of Torture." //wikipedia.org//. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Oct. 2010. . __**Picture Cites:**__ David Bjorgan, __The Rack__, David Bjorgan, London. Flominator, __Scavenger's Daughter__, I. Stöcklin, N/A. N/A, __John Waller in Pillory__, Wikipedia, N/A.