Walk VII

I’m back after more than two weeks of absence caused by utter lack of thoughts. It is no coincidence, of course. I walk much less because of cold and wet weather and have less time to think. On the tube I’m trying to read (standing) which proves to be a prefect distraction from thinking. Novels, just as movies, tend to be quite forgettable. I am perfectly aware of the fact this sort of statement makes me look like a troglodyte, and to just prove myself wrong a movie I’ve seen recently did make me think a bit.

Saw a movie Young Victoria, which tells the story of the famous monarch cool enough to have her own tube station.

The movie is great if someone loves movies about picture-perfect characters. Ok, they also show Victoria’s mistakes, but even in her mistakes she is perfect – a mistake is a perfect opportunity for a perfect lesson of how to be a perfect queen in, what the movie’s authors probably thought, a perfect film. I guess you could call it ‘relatively light-hearted’ cinema – though, admittedly quite a good one.

But coming back to the part which I found interesting. There is a scene in which young Victoria is taking a ride with Albert when suddenly a random man takes out two pistols and fires at them. Albert protects Victoria with his own body and is wounded (the attempted assassination by 18 year-old Edward Oxford is a fact, but Albert’s wound is a cinematic fiction). The movie doesn’t focus on the fate of the assassin but one character says that the assassin was a crazy person. I found it very interesting, considering what has recently happened to Silvio Berlusconi. Berlusconi-owned media quickly reacted by saying that ‘the assailant was crazy’.

In both cases, the movie and recent events in Italy, government is quick to sell it as a case of insanity, rather than a symptom of growing discontent in the society. In the movie the scene is preceded by angry mob attacking Buckingham Palace and breaking windows, while ‘No Berlusconi Day’ in Rome attended by 250.000 people preceded the attack in Italy.

The fate of Italian assailant is not yet known but Victoria’s would-be assassin was tried for high treason, found not guilty due to insanity and therefore sent to mental asylum. Though, in all fairness, the monarch’s need to sell it as a case of insanity saved Edward Oxford from a far more gruesome fate. High treason led to the worst possible punishment – being hanged, drawn and quartered. Until 1814 it involved being (following Wikipedia):

• Dragged on a hurdle (a wooden frame) to the place of execution. This is one possible meaning of drawn.
• Hanged by the neck for a short time or until almost dead (hanged).
• Disemboweled and emasculated and the genitalia and entrails burned before the condemned’s eyes (this is another meaning of drawn)
• The body beheaded, then divided into four parts (quartered)

A fate of, among others, William Wallace (a.k.a. Braveheart) who fought for Scotland’s independence or Guy Fawkes who plotted to bomb the parliament. Victoria’s assailant would have been slightly more lucky as in 1840 the punishment was more humane and included just hanging and chopping to pieces.

In Tower of London’s vicinity there’s a charming memento mori in the form of a pub called The Hung, Drawn and Quartered – lovely, no?

Not that the Tower of London looks any more pleasant. Apparently, after executions which happened there and in other parts of London mob would rush to touch mutilated bodies as this was supposed to bring luck.

I found it interesting that rulers separated by centuries react to discontent in surprisingly similar fashion. Insanity still remains a perfect justification for dissatisfaction while YouTube provides a cleaner, yet not much more moral medium for satisfying hunger for executions.

Luckily in London there is a much more moral and probably equally exciting way of  satisfying blood thirst. All one needs to do is head to ‘The Hung, Drawn and Quartered’ and order a platter of raw steak to go with some chopped livers. Yum!

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~ by urbanrichardlong on December 22, 2009.