The death penalty: The importance of dying with honor

Résumé du document

In literature as in cinema, the subject of death penalty has been largely used. It can be seen in fantastic films such as The Green Mile by Frank Darabont, as well as in journalistic type of books, as in In Cold Blood by Truman Capote or in The Executioner's song by Norman Mailer, as well as many other types of genres. The fact is that this topic has inspired many artists in many different areas for its legal aspect as well as for its human and religious aspects. The public of this kind of subject is divided between two different ideas about the death penalty, which is the huge debate that takes place about its abolition or non-abolition.

However, what is interesting to study in these works is not the pertinence of the arguments about the death penalty but the way in which the authors are using it. Indeed, what can be noticed is that very often, the people condemned to death tend to die with a certain kind of honor or at least show a will to do it in that way. Moreover, many philosophers like Kant or even Freud tried to explain the impact of honor on death penalty. For Kant, it is legitimised in the way that it gives back the honor of the criminal who will accept the punishment. Freud, on its side, explains that this should not exist because what commits a murder is only the impulsive, even animal side of the person. Then, honor could be found in overcoming this tendency, which he symbolizes by castration since this animal instinct is based on sexual impulses.

In any case, innocent or not, the notion of honor when people are facing death is recurrent. have consequently chosen to analyse the importance of dying with honor in literature and films based on this subject. First of all, I will study the reason why the condemned people have this tendency do die with honor, even when innocent or when having the possibility to escape from the deathpenalty. Then, I will show how they manage to find honor and how the authors and film directors show it. Finally, I will talk about the role of pride in death penalty and to whom it is directed to.