From a symbolic warning to a talisman, the corpse has held several connotations in society. One such factor, in turn, involves the act of post-mortem bleeding, known as cruentation. Although not a common occurrence, the process has been documented for centuries and, up until the nineteenth century, was believed to be a posthumous means for victims of murder to identify their killer, since superstition maintained the corpse would bleed whenever in the assailant’s presence.[1] In fact, the belief has been featured within several famous literary works, including William Shakespeare’s Richard III (1597), Walter Scott’s Fair Maid of Perth (1828), and Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876).[2]
Works Referenced
Davies, Owen, and Francesca Matteoni. “‘A Virtue Beyond All Medicine:’ The Hanged Man’s Hand, Gallows Tradition and Healing in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century England.” Social History of Medicine 28.4 (2015): 686-705.
Tarlow, Sarah, and Emma Battell Lowman. Harnessing the Power of the Criminal Corpse. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.
____________________
[1] Tarlow and Lowman, 224.
[2] Davies and Matteoni, 686-705.
No comments:
Post a Comment