"Bedlam " The very name, derived from a nickname for the Bethlehem
Hospital, conjures up graphic images of naked patients in filthy
conditions, or parading untended wards deluded that they are
Napoleon or Jesus Christ. This common image of madness can be
traced to William Hogarth's 1735 "Rake's Progress "series, which
depicts Bedlam as a freak show providing entertainment for
Londoners between trips to the zoo, puppet shows, and public
executions. That this is still the most powerful image of Bedlam,
more than two centuries later, says much about the prevailing
attitude to mental illness, although the Bedlam of the popular
imagination is long gone. The hospital was relocated to the suburbs
of Kent in 1930, and Sydney Smirke's impressive Victorian building
in Southwark took on a new role as the Imperial War Museum.
Following the historical narrative structure of "Necropolis," this
history examines the capital's treatment of the insane over the
centuries, from the founding of Bethlehem Hospital in 1247 through
the heyday of the great Victorian asylums to the more enlightened
attitudes that prevail today.
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