The three kings case is presented as an example of the first phase of the technique of Recognition by Mirror, that of exaltation. 'With Pinel,' again according to Foucault, ' observation operated only within the space defined by madness, without surface or exterior limits. Madness would see itself, would be seen by itself--pure spectacle and absolute subject.' On the three kings case specifically, Foucault says: 'Madness is made to observe itself, but in others: it appears in them as a baseless pretense--in other words, as absurd.  However, in this observation that condemns others, the madman assures his own justification and the certainty of being adequate to his delirium. the rift between presumption and reality allows itself to be recognized only in the object. it is entirely masked, on the contrary, in the subject, which becomes immediate truth and absolute judge: the exalted sovereignty that denounces the others' false sovereignty dispossesses them and thus confirms itself in the unfailing plenitude of presumption. Madness, as the simple delirium, is projected onto others; as perfect unconsciousness, it is entirely accepted.'