Body

Preparation for execution

toilette

Toilette here is the physical preparation of condemned prisoners: hair cut and the shirt opened at the neck.

From the book

The Gods Are Athirst

Anatole France · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Meaning

Lemma.

Toilette here is the physical preparation of condemned prisoners: hair cut and the shirt opened at the neck. It is not ordinary washing alone and certainly not a modern lavatory. The English renders the whole phrase as “Prepared for death,” with the following details stating what was done. Those details later underlie the fashion called “in the victim’s style.”

Places to read

  1. Chapter XXIV, paragraph 42Frenchla toilette faite, les cheveux coupés, la chemise échancrée: prepared for death, hair and shirt cut. The prisoners wait for the executioner after preparation.