18th Century England Asylums

Much led Londoners to inhabit the asylum. The mad, drunk, homeless, and reluctant were outcasts o the rest of Englands inhabits. People that were thought threats to society had punishments ranging from being restrained, to being murdered and “left to rot in a gibbet at the crossroads” (Arnold 43) . Th ough most veiwers of the events of Bedlam see the punishments as brutal at the time it was actually seen as treatment. This was, afterall, the 1400’s – 1500’s, they lacked a lot of medical advancement. They thought that the chaining of a person, the isolation, and whippings help to teach the ‘mad’ a lesson and help them ‘come to their senses’. Edward Atherton coaxed Bethlem ‘back to health’ after again, being neglected by it’s masters. Shortly