Nah, guillotine is less gruesome than a hanging. Proper guillotine usage, blade falls, head comes offbody is secured, so there isn’t a lot of flailing. The blade itself blocks or stops a lot of the blood from shooting out, you might get a little from the head itself, but it falls into a basket. The victim is facing down, so there is no expressions for the crowd to witness.
Meanwhile, in a proper hanging, where everything as planned, a whole person drops a few feet, snapping the neck, the body spasms twitches around violently, even if the victim is fully bound. The crowd gets to see the expression and life fade from the victim’s face, it’s whole spectacle. Not to mention there are a lot of ways the hanging can go wrong. If the height is to short, or the rope is new, the neck won’t snap, and the victim does a hangman’s dance for 5 or so minutes as they fight to breath, the brain is still connected to the body, so it’s a very directed and desperate struggle instead of a minute or so of errant electrical pulses.
You are thinking about the feelings of the victim. That’s fine, but it’s not the point of a guillotine.
The real purpose is to make the spectacle more gruesome to the spectators. To create fear.
Guillotines were made for political purposes. To eliminate opponents and to tell about it to as many people as possible. When many can watch, then many will know. When some of them can watch closely how the head is separated from the body, and the blood flows, then they will be talking about it. Many times, and for a long time.
Nah, guillotine is less gruesome than a hanging. Proper guillotine usage, blade falls, head comes offbody is secured, so there isn’t a lot of flailing. The blade itself blocks or stops a lot of the blood from shooting out, you might get a little from the head itself, but it falls into a basket. The victim is facing down, so there is no expressions for the crowd to witness.
Meanwhile, in a proper hanging, where everything as planned, a whole person drops a few feet, snapping the neck, the body spasms twitches around violently, even if the victim is fully bound. The crowd gets to see the expression and life fade from the victim’s face, it’s whole spectacle. Not to mention there are a lot of ways the hanging can go wrong. If the height is to short, or the rope is new, the neck won’t snap, and the victim does a hangman’s dance for 5 or so minutes as they fight to breath, the brain is still connected to the body, so it’s a very directed and desperate struggle instead of a minute or so of errant electrical pulses.
You are thinking about the feelings of the victim. That’s fine, but it’s not the point of a guillotine.
The real purpose is to make the spectacle more gruesome to the spectators. To create fear.
Guillotines were made for political purposes. To eliminate opponents and to tell about it to as many people as possible. When many can watch, then many will know. When some of them can watch closely how the head is separated from the body, and the blood flows, then they will be talking about it. Many times, and for a long time.