The Hour Of Our Death Analysis

What can be defined as the Good Death, an ideal way to die, in America? The idea of a Good Death has been around since the Middle Ages as being the ideal way to die within a culture; however, the idea has been distorted and modified since it began. Each author discussed has a different opinion about what is the ideal way to die in the time period or situation they are discussing. Philippe Ariès’ is a dominant figure in the history of death and his book, The Hour of Our Death, defines the four stages of death that the world has gone through and is still experiencing today. Ariès defines the Tame Death, Death of the Self, Death of the Other, and Invisible Death throughout the time period of over a century. The Tame Death is the death that has

Ariès is the model that will be used as a basis for the change that has occurred, or as an example of what stage the culture is currently experiencing. The Good Death is not always achieved, but it can be summarized through what each culture thrives to achieve to experience when death knocks on the door. The most ideal way of death Ariès describes is the Tame Death. The Tame Death is a death “governed by a familiar ritual that is willingly described. The common, ordinary death does not come as a surprise, even when it is the accidental result of a wound or the effort of too great an emotion, as was sometimes the case. Its essential characteristic is that it gives advance warning of its arrival (Ariès 6).” This characteristic has been distorted since the Middle Ages and difficult to distinguish between actually dying and having an illness or disease that can be cured. Ariès claims, “In those days the boundary between the natural and the supernatural was indefinite. It is nevertheless remarkable that the signs most often mentioned to

During the age of tuberculosis, the invalids were in control of their own health; while people diagnosed with consumption were put away in sanatoriums away from the rest of the population. This distinction is necessary to understand: invalids were not considered in full ill health and could still regain their health, but once consumption was diagnosed the person was doomed to be consumed with the disease. The male invalids were instructed by doctors to go on journeys in search of health. The women invalids continued their work as keeper of the house; they were not allowed the opportunity to seek their health through travel. “Although educated men expected to regain health on lengthy and often daring voyages, women from the same social class and background expected to restore their strength within the confines of the home (Rothman 77).” The idea of the Good Death during this age did not involve travel or work around the house, because those who traveled usually died alone and those who work usually did not die with any form of acceptance. The Good Death, during this time, is exemplified in the death of Deborah