The Madness Of King George

THE MADNESS OF KING GEORGE hysteria Watchd In l6lO, Ravaillac, the assassin of Henri IV, was spread-eagled upon a great wheel. The royal executioner tore his flesh hand with redhot pincers, poured motel lead into the wounds, and splintered his bones with an iron rod. He expired in prolonged, exquisite, and public agony. The direness of Ravaillacs punishment was an index of how direly his crime was perceived. Not hardly did an attack upon the reign overr classically represent an profane castigate to the divinity which he incarnated. The kings corpus also personified the very noesis domain he ruled (a metaphor particularly validated to the Elizabethans). some(prenominal) threatened the former -- whether an assassins blade, accident or illness -- posture the latter in equal peril. A mental rega rd afflicting the chief of state poses its own peculiar menace to the health of the realm, and one often more perilous. The ruler with a disgust psyche can deny his condition with greater vehemence than one with a perturbed soma.

It may be cynically suggested that dressing table and paranoia often constitute the native soil for rulership to flourish. When these traits ripen into hotdog delusion, what Stalin or Mao will label himself unfit towards the frequent good, quit his dominion, seek paltry treatment? More seeming his derangement will compel him to project his malevolent intuition upon those around him, and so become more tyrannical, bloody-! minded and cruel. stripping out whether an emotionally dissipated ruler is too troubled to rule may constitute an even more restrain childbed than assessing the degree to which physical illness limits the capacity to govern. Shakespeares Claudius averred that Madness in great ones should not unwatchd go. But Claudiuss incident is a signal illustration of the ancient warning: quis custodiet ipsos custodios? -- Who watches the watchers? History...If you essential to establish a full essay, order it on our website: OrderCustomPaper.com

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