We can find the answer to your question in Book II Chapter
Two of this excellent novel that gives us a literary treatment of the French Revolution.
Treason of course is and was an incredibly serious charge, as it indicated that you had
worked against the crown to try and overthrow it in some form. During the time in which
the novel was set, the brutal punishment reserved for those who committed treason was to
be hung, drawn and quartered. A bystander next to Jerry Cruncher can give us a better
description of what this process actually involves:
"Ah!" returned the man, with a relish; "he'll be
drawn on a hurdle to be half hanged, and then he'll be taken down and sliced before his
own face, and then his inside will be taken out and burnt while he looks on, and then
his head will be chopped off, and he'll be cut into quarted. That's the
sentence."
Clearly,
therefore, the punishment designed for those convincted of committing treason is
designed to be particularly terrible to act as a deterrent to prevent anyone from
thinking of doing such a crime for fear of what would happen to
them.
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