Hello, my name on here is Mayo, and I’m a student currently at University studying English Literature and Creative Writing. I’m twenty-years old, and I’ve loved all things creative ever since I was a child, so knowing I’d be able to write a blog as part of my second year English module Prison Voices, I was pretty excited as it was something I’d never done before. I also really enjoy the topic of Crime and Punishment from the 18th and 19th century, so I was pretty interested when I began writing my blog. If you’d like to follow this blog, please do, and also follow my twitter which will be at the bottom of my Blog!
I know that the title seems a little dramatic and daunting, but trust me it’s interesting! In today’s blog I will be discussing a topic I found dark yet at the same time informative, but not in the I-am-so-bored way. This topic will introduce what happened to criminals and what crimes they committed. Confessions, speeches and articles were taken by the condemned who were hanged for crimes from theft to murder.
To begin with, a little background. Firstly a law was made to punish criminals who committed all sorts of crimes, similar to today, (but ours being less severe of course). There was up to two hundred offences where you could be hanged, and most criminals were ridiculed while being hanged.
Continuing on, in 1839, Jack Sheppard, a novel which was written by William Ainsworth was about a man who broke out of Newgate Prison. This didn’t exactly go down well with the public, as a story about a criminal encouraging thievery wouldn’t mix well with the youth of that time. So of course it was banned by Lord Chamberlain in London, even after a positive response from people actually liking the book.
An illustration of Jack Sheppard having his portrait painted before execution.
Capital punishment is still used today, but less commonly, and attitudes towards severe punishment have changed drastically. Think about it, the thought of being hanged for thievery sounds a bitbarbaric doesn’t it? Back in the 18th and 19th century however, it was more seen as entertainment, and a lesson to those who were even considering going down the life of crime.
The broadside for M. Atkinson
An interesting broadside that I found is an article on Matthew Atkinson, who was sentenced to death by hanging over the brutal murder of his wife, and by brutal, I mean brutal. He was to be hung on the 17th December 1864, however the hanging didn’t go to plan, as the rope snapped and he had to be executed a SECOND TIME. The most haunting aspect of this broadside is the explanation of who was at the execution. The article states young girls and boys had to witness M. Atkinson’s two executions. In terms of reliability, this broadside demonstrates how far our attitudes on crime and punishment have changed, as broadsides such as Atkinson’s were posted almost every day in comparison to modern times.
There is also a poem written at the bottom of the broadside which is written in third person, where it continuously describes Atkinson’s crimes in an almost lyrical way- “he kicked and beat her till he took her life the dreadful scene did all folks affright,” which definitely paints you a picture of how Atkinson killed his wife, but in a pretty unsettling manner.
This broadside can be used as interesting evidence of the types of punishments that took place in the 19th century, and we can definitely see the attitudes towards the extremities of execution, which were…let’s say, more calm than today.
Hope you enjoyed reading this blog! If you have any feedback or any interesting things you know about criminal broadsides, comment down below!
Mayo X
P.S If you’re interested in other criminal broadsides, there’s a few links down below which you can explore further!
Bibliography/ sources:
Jack Sheppard: Ainsworth, W. (1902). Jack Sheppard. London: Gibbings & Co.
Hello! Welcome to my first OFFICIAL Prison Voices blog. In today’s blog, I will be exploring the preface of Moll Flanders. The reason I’m exploring the topic of the preface rather than the story itself is because of the nature of Defoe’s intentions behind it, and it makes you think deeper about societal expectations of ‘appropriate’ Literature. So, without further ado, I will begin.
A snippet of the preface, so you have an idea of his use of language.
Moll Flander’s, or also known as The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, written in 1722 by author Daniel Defoe, is about the tragic life of a woman who was born in Newgate Prison and resorts to live a life of crime. By crime I mean thievery, incest and adultery. Now this is a particularly dark story I know, so what Defoe wrote in his preface really sparked an interest in me in which made me want to write this blog.
One of the most thought-provoking aspects of Daniel Defoe’s preface is his use of language. He makes it extremely clear that he wishes for whoever reads his story that they can choose to believe it or not believe it, or simply think whatever they please about it, for example “we must be content to leave the reader to pass his own opinion upon the ensuing sheet, and take it just as he pleases.” As a reader from today we can see how already interesting his language is expressed, as he notes that the story basically mustn’t be taken too seriously.
The thought of a fictional story involving a protagonist who is both a woman AND a criminal may have been controversial at the time, so maybe Defoe was insecure about writing it perhaps? Moll Flanders was also one of the earliest English novels written, so we can see that Defoe’s preface delves into the idea of didacticism and entertainment and shows how style of writing has changed through time.
An illustration of Moll Flanders above.
A story which is more morally focused than fictional wasn’t as common during the 18th century, and Defoe establishes this at the beginning- “the world is so taken up of late with novels and romances, that it will be hard for a private history to be taken for genuine,” and due to that, it’s as if Defoe was putting a disclaimer of the reality of his work- warning those that read on may be surprised by the dark path the story goes down, as, well…it’s not exactly a lovey-dovey happy ending type of story.
Defoe makes sure that the reader doesn’t view the language of the character as vulgar, so specifies that he changed it in order to be more morally acceptable for the sake of his readers. We all know Shakespeare’s famous love sonnets and typical romance heavy literature of the 1600-1800 time period. So a realistic morally ambiguous fictional character such as Moll who marries her half-brother, steals a child and becomes a mistress to a married man wouldn’t exactly have been accepted in their society to say the least.
Another interesting aspect is the name Moll Flanders itself. Defoe chooses to disguise her identity by giving the woman a fake name. Using a fake identity suggests that Defoe tried to express Moll as a real person who chooses to stay away from the limelight over fear of judgement.
It’s also as if he was alluding to the fact there was many people during that time that experienced similar lives of crime, and treats his book almost as a lesson on how to act morally acceptable. This is seen in the line -“upon this foundation this book is recommended to the reader as a work from every part of which something may be learned,” which is probably the only justifiable reason for its publication, as without it, I think the general public would be furious with the obscenity within the story.
If you’d like to find out more about Moll Flanders, I will put some links below for you to explore and expand your own knowledge and opinions on Defoe’s novel.
Also, I hope you thought this was interesting as it’s my first ever blog post, if you’d like to check out other blogs, please check out Through Iron Bars and Voices of the Old Bailey through the links: prisonvoicesel.wordpress.com and throughironbars673053521.wordpress.com
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