Understanding the Concept of Death Penalty Through Literature, Essay Example

Introduction

The idea behind death penalty has affected many individuals in the society for many years. Experts such as psychologists and even the law enforcers themselves often get into an uncanny position that makes them question whether or not death penalty is indeed a necessary aspect of the law that intends to control the emerging rate of particular crimes in the world today. Ending a person’s life as response to the crime he has committed has been used by nations from around the globe to hopefully control the rising rate of violence and deaths due to crime in their own administrations. Notably, such concept of legal measures intend to put the society in fear of doing something wrong, thus keeping away from matters that might cause them to be put into the death row.

But what really is death penalty? Does it instantiate a determinable course of darkness, a sense of fear that not everyone might be able to recognize especially because of the fact that they were not justifiably tried in court. It is because of these occurrences that the real value of death penalty is being questioned accordingly. In the discussion that follows, a determination of the real meaning and value of death penalty shall be given attention to. Practically, through this discussion, the analysis of what is understood as modern literature that identifies well with the real issues of the modern society, shall be given practical attention to. Measuring what death penalty stands for shall be discussed through the use of the narrative presentation of facts as given attention to by George Orwell in his essay entitled “A Hanging”.

About the Narrative

Before the emergence of medicines used to implicate death penalty among inmates, there existed the system of hanging. Considered as the most traditional process of applying death penalty among convicted criminals, hanging is also noted as one of the most brutal procedures of killing by the law, as it does imply a short span of torture that puts the inmate to be killed in an agonizing pain and a sense of delusion before he even takes his last breath.

In the writing of George Orwell, he tries to get the attention of the readers regarding the argument about death and life upon the hands of the law through presenting a vivid visual on what happens to a man as he faces death by hanging. What makes this reading reflective is that it does not only dwell on what was happening, it dwells on what the individual to be hanged feels and how different or similar he might be to those surrounding him.

What is Capital Punishment?

Noted as the final stage; the most powerful judgment that the court could release; Capital Punishment is the turning point of the life of every convicted felon as he enters the jail and waits for the time he is to be dealt with by the law. There are certain guidelines followed by the court before capital punishment is imposed upon the individuals concerned. With full attention given to the evidence that supposedly strengthens the case against the perpetrators of the crime, the court releases an order of whether or not such a case or the individual himself should be subjected to death penalty.

Through the years, nations have been embracing the concept of capital punishment as part of their programs regarding social tolerance. Using ‘fear of death’ as the primary element of control, capital punishment hopes to impose on the members of the society that when it comes to serious crimes, they should be able to think better before they actually commit the act. In consideration to this desire to control the situation, law enforcers make sure that they get the right man and present the right evidence accordingly. This is where proper trial and investigation comes into the picture.

However, given that humans make mistakes and at some point have specific attitude towards making what they want happen, the capacity of the court to accurately release the right language based on evidence could at times be questionable and scanty. The assumption of whether or not the human court has the right capacity to handle such judgmental calls amidst the faulty elements that make human judgment questionable at times, often puts the assumption of the death penalty and its real value to the law and the human society into a distinct sense of debate among members of the court and other experts concerning human rights.

With all these questions and uncanny vision about death penalty, it is still continuously being applied in different nations around the globe at present. Hence, in Orwell’s writing, he challenges not the vision of the ones sitting in authority; instead, he tries to address the attention of those who are supposedly in a neutral position in relation to the issue in concern. The mission of Orwell’s writing is to present the truth to the public and to appeal to their thinking and hopefully create in their minds a better picture of what death penalty is about and how such legal sanction should be viewed against the implicative values of the human rights law.

Human Nature versus Human Rights

Human rights is basically the foundation by which humans try to recognize the fact that they have particular benefits as a civilian of a particular nation while also understanding the fact that with such freedom comes a distinct responsibility of respecting other’s rights as well. The guidelines with regards the determination of specific courses of noting what human rights is about is often founded upon specific sanctions of the law. The assumption of what is right and what is not is determined through understanding the basic needs of individuals and how well such needs ought to be protected through legal provisions and barriers all at the same time.

On the other hand, human nature is more of what is naturally expected of humans. The determination of the concept of cause and effect especially with regards the need to identify with the response of human individuals to either negative or positive situations is an important part of determining what human nature is about. Notably, it is through the identification of this particular value that humans become more accustomed to seeing what it really means to make a mistake and how they should react to those short comings.

When it comes to determining what makes up the concept of death penalty, the mixture of human rights and human nature is examined accordingly. Understanding why the [accused] individual committed the crime and how he is supposed to be dealt with by the law is an important aspect of determining whether or not death penalty is a valid punishment that deserves attention from law enforcers and courts around the globe.

Hence, when implicating final judgments that would put an accused individual within the death row, the court takes a lot of considerations before even putting a name in the list and scheduling him for the end of his life. In the writing of Orwell, he presents a man who has been convicted of a crime that results to his name being placed in the death row list. He never named the individual and said nothing about his past or his being apart from the bits and pieces of the case he has been involved with. Orwell made sure that the audience or the readers would not find a connection with the convicted felon thus creating an emotional or mental attachment to the character.

The description of the prelude of the time when he was to be killed by hanging is considerably the highlight of the narrative. It imposes a perspective on how life, beyond its recognizable value, is dealt with condemnation at the face of death by hanging. He closely describes the vision towards the man who was about to be killed. He noted of the fact that in that man was a thriving life, a person who has so much to offer, but has been brought to his end because of a probable mistake that he has committed from one time of misbehavior and misjudgment in his life.

Everyone makes mistakes, everyone err at times; nevertheless, there are those who commit mistakes that largely affect other individuals, often ending the lives of those whom they victimize. The concept of life-for-life has long been recognized as a determinable course of judgment among individuals who do not fully understand the value of respecting the lives of others living around them. Practically, through decades, the same concept of judgment has been carried out and applied especially in dealing with crimes that involve the loss of life among members of the society. The determination of such judgment specifically identifies well with the hope of putting an end to an evasive attitude of humans concerned with the situation. Hopefully saving the possibility of responding to the rights of the majority, capital punishment is designed to support the rights of the greater number of the members of the society. Given that a criminal has committed something malicious and evasive of others’ rights, it could be understood that application of legal sanctions is necessary. With such consideration towards the rights of others, it could be noted that death penalty might indeed seem to be justifiable; especially if it entails to protect the rights of a greater number of people in the society.

However, envisioning the right of the felon himself, it could not be denied that he too does have a right to life. The abrupt ending of his lifetime without recognizing the allowance for him to change his attitude and his thinking towards others’ safety is a direct assumption of control against the provisions of the law according to the sanctions imposed by the law. Practically, it is with this approach that the right of a person to life is kept out of his reach, thus making it impossible for him to change his ways and hopefully find a better way to provide a better and justifiable manner of resolving issues with those individual/s that he has victimized.

Conclusion

Death is the end of everything there is to life, including the aspect of changing and improving as an individual. This is the reason why the legal sanctions surrounding death penalty is argued upon by experts, especially individuals engaged in the aspect of law enforcement and others who are connected towards the hope of improving of human development that is related to human psychology that basically supports the ideal process of understanding human nature and how it relates to the different assumptions of the law and how well it should determine or shape the attitude of humans at present.

Orwell’s writing regarding death penalty and how it affects the individual to be killed under the sanctions and provisions of the law gives a clear vision on how life is expected to be valued under the natural guidelines of human nature. What makes such concept of developmental directive to be rather implicative of what is supposed to be highly valuable for the society especially when it comes to recognizing the value of life whoever the person is, whatever he has done in his own lifetime. The observation over the real worth of one’s being is dependent on how he is recognized by people around him, how he is judged by the things that he has done in the past. For a criminal, chance is an important aspect of living. However, death penalty [no matter in what form] is a direct presumption against such condition of thinking towards the hope of changing and the possibility of the perpetrators being able to embrace a new kind of life that would best benefit them and their fellowmen.