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103
Tamed Death
By "lamed death," Aries designates thai attitude which is the oldesl, the longest held,
and the most common.! He traces it from Homer to TolstoY, and from the great medieval
epic and romance heroes up to an English contemporary. For, if it is exceptional in OUf
days, "tamed death" has not entirely disappeared. Contrary to what the paradigm would
suggest, death was "tamed" before it turned "wild." In its oldest conception death was
familiar, awaited and accepted. From this serene resignation to human destiny, the
evacuation of death characteristic of modern industrialized society is a far cry. Aries
explains:
11 Y a deux manieres de n'y la la mon] point penser: la notre, celie de
notre civilization technicienne qui refuse 1a mort et la frappe d'ill\erdit; et
celie des civilisations traditionnelles, qui n'est pas rerus, mais
impossibilire d'y penser forremenr , parce que la mort est proche et fait
trop partie de la vie quotidienne. 2
It could be thaI the imminence of death attenualed ("tamed") much of its brutality.
Dealh was forewarned, and more usually through an inner conviction lhan supernalural
occurrences or magical means. Most warnings came through casual observations of daily
life, and if the apparition of a revenant was a sure sign, it was uncommon and held as
fantastic. In any case, death hardly hit in the back:
La mort commune, norrnale, ne prend pas en traitre, meme si cUe est
accidentelle a la suite d'une blessure, meme si elle est I'effet d'une trop
grande emOlion, comme cela arrivait. Son caractere essentiel est qu'elle
laisse Ie temps de l'avertissement. 3
These warnings, even when accompanied by prodigies, were very positively received. 4
The most desirable or "good" death typically was the natural passing,away of an aged
person, which provided both the dying and his community with the comforting thought of
a life duly fulfilled. As "good" was the heroic death of the knight, for if falling on the
battlefield and in his prime, his heroic death allowed due respects. But, "bad death," such
as caused by