Curious Punishments of Colonial Days Punishment in today’s society is a civil process that has changed dramatically over the centuries. Today, there are laws against cruel and unusual punishment, however there was a time when curious punishments were very popular and often practiced. One of the most notable historical eras that participated in the practice of curious punishments was the colonial time period, the seventeenth century, in and around Boston, MA. Since this area was primarily settled by the Puritans, religion had a large impact on all of the lives of the colonists, especially crime and punishment procedures. Law officials depended on biblical injunctions to guide their definitions of capital crimes (Hawke 106).
These curious punishments of the colonial period inspired many great works of literature. The Puritan faith believed that God was the most important subject in everyone’s life. Anyone who disrupted this idea was to be severely punished.
The variety of punishments were designed to hurt the offender either physically, emotionally, or both (“Curious Punishments of Bygone Days” 1).
Often times, humiliation hurt more than physical pain. There were many different punishments used to reprimand convicts. The bilboes were a long heavy bolt or bar of iron having two sliding shackles and a lock. The legs of the criminal were padlocked into the shackles (2).
The Essay on Colonial Time
Honors English II Colonial Time (1607-1765) Immigrating to America in 1607, the Separatists wanted to practice their own religion. Unhappy in England, the Separatists came to America on the Mayflower setting out to sea to America. Upon their arrival, sickness meet more than half of them causing the first year to be the “Starving Time.” In 1619, plantation systems, as well as slavery grew. The ...
The ducking stool was a brutal punishment feared by many.
They fastened an armchair to the end of two beams twelve or fifteen feet long parallel to each other. These two pieces of wood are attached to the chair, which hangs between them, by a sort of axle. This means it the chair hangs freely, and always remains in the natural horizontal position in which a chair should be. This chair is then placed over a pond and can be lowered into the water however many times the sentence calls for (5).
The stocks were one of the earliest punishments of New England. They consisted of a piece of wood with foot holes. The criminal would sit with his feet through the holes for however long his sentence permitted (10).
The pillory was an upright board, hinged or divisible in twain, with a hole in which the head rested and two other holes for the hands.
Often the ears were nailed to the wood on either side of the head-hole (14).
Authors who wrote inappropriate or disliked books were punished. The said book would be publicly burned. Authors were rarely brought to court, but often became outcasts to the community (19).
The whipping post is rather self-explanatory. A vagrant would be whipped until they bled.
This was often done in front on an audience (24).
The scarlet letter, which is the subject of Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, was a bright scarlet letter sewn on the offenders garments to remind everyone of their sin. Hawthorne wrote about Hester Prynne, who wore an ‘A’ for adultery. There were a variety of different letters that stood for different offences (28).
The branks and gag was a horrid punishment. It was used to punish gossips or slanderers. The brank, sometimes called the gossips bridal, was a shocking instrument.
It was an iron cage, often of great weight, that covered the entire head. A spiked or flat tongue of iron was placed in the mouth over the tongue. Talking would give the offender much pain (32).
Public penance was a way to humiliate the offender in front of a congregation at church. The criminal had to get in front of everyone and confess in detail his or her sin (37).
The English military provided harsh punishments to their soldiers.
They were often flogged until they bled. The flogging was so sever it caused soldiers to be ruined in their temper, character, and health. Troops died from exhaustion and infectious flogging wounds (41).
The Essay on Adultery and Punishment in The Scarlet Letter
Adultery is a sin never taken lightly. It's a serious crime that hurts not only the person committing it, but also the people around that person. A crime so serious requires a severe punishment, but that would just lead to more sorrow. In The Scarlet Letter, by Nanthaniel Hawthorne, Hester is the main character who is forced to wear the letter ‘A' on her chest for committing adultery with an ...
Branding and maiming came about years after the stocks and the pillory. Audiences would gather to see helpless offenders get branded with burning iron or abused with flailing stones. The gashes were enough to kill a person, and often did (47).
Death became another popular procedure for punishment for felonies.
A felony in those days was defined as a crime “involving loss of life or limb” (Taylor 150).
Seventeenth century America limited the death sentence mainly to the crimes of murder, sodomy, witchcraft, and insurrection (Hawke 106).
The death sentence sometimes included barbaric actions. Quartering, for example, meant the convict was to be hung by the neck and, being alive, they were cut open, burnt, decapitated, and cut into four parts. These harsh punishments made the settlers appear barbaric (107).
There were ways one could escape the horrific fate of the court.
Persons convicted of felonies could beg the mercy of the court, which might listen, if the crime were not too heinous and if it were the first offence. They could also plead “Benefit of Clergy” if they could read and were male, or plead “Benefit of Belly” if a female offender was pregnant which allowed the malefactor freedom until the child’s birth (Taylor 150).
There were even cases where the husband would be prosecuted in place of his wife if she had committed a crime with or at the order of him (151).
These horrible punishments ruined many lives during that time period. The Salem Witch Hunts of 1692 played a large role in publicizing the ridiculous lengths settlers went through to punish people who discouraged the biblical law. Witchcraft was the main topic in Arthur Miller’s book, The Crucible. Miller poked fun at the Puritan’s way of handling crime and punishment (Miller 12).
The Essay on Let The Punishment Fit The Crime 2
Justice should mean helping victims as well as punishing offenders. This story and our criminal justice system ignore the problem of restoring fairness for victim as a principle of justice. We set two primary foals for our criminal penalties. We want them to deter crime and we want them to rehabilitate criminals. In theory, these two goals should go together, since they amount to saying that we ...
It is easy to look back now and comment on how far fetched their beliefs seemed, however at the time Puritans of the colonial days took everything they did very seriously. Believing that the Devil could take over one’s body was common (4).
Punishments for compacting with the Devil could result in death if you did not cooperate with the right people (8).
In The Crucible, many innocent citizens on Salem were killed for witchcraft (73).
Although Miller wrote a compelling play based on the Puritan’s style of punishment, Nathaniel Hawthorne captured the atmosphere of punishment in the seventeenth century best of all with his novel The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne’s book follows the life of a woman, Hester Prynne, who commits adultery with a man named Arthur Dimmesdale (Hawthorne 52).
She has a baby as a result of this affair, and is forced to confess her sin (51).
She is sentence to wearing a scarlet letter ‘A’ on her chest for the rest of her life to remind herself as well as the community of her sin (51).
This caused Hester to become isolated from the world and outcast from the community. However, instead of humiliating her or ruining her life, Hester’s punishment made her a stronger person because of the pain she had to endure (146).
This novel showed that even though the curious punishments of colonial days could hurt someone physically, a human being was still able to maintain their self-respect and pride. Although many people are repulsed by the horrific actions of past settlers, such as their unusual ways of execution and humiliating criminals, the law has learned a lot from them. The quality of human life has finally been recognized for its importance and is no longer toyed with as if it were a game. Literature on punishment from bygone days allows present day citizens to respect their lives.
It helps people realize how far our community has come and how society has drastically changed.
Bibliography:
Works Cited “Curious Punishments of Bygone Days” Hawke, David Freeman. Everyday Life in Early America. Harper & Row: New York, NY. Copyright 1988. Hawthorn, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter.
Bantam: New York, NY. Copyright 1986. Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. Viking Penguin: New York, NY. Copyright 1980.
The Essay on Capital Punishment Life Crimes Killers
Capital Punishment: The Just Punishment For Serious Capital Punishment: The Just Punishment For Serious Crimes Capital Punishment: The Just Punishment for Serious Crimes Justice must be done. Capital punishment is the just punishment for serious crime offenders and must be imposed. First, the basis of a punishment must be just and fair to both the victims and the offenders, and definitely capital ...
Taylor, Dale. The Writer’s Guide to Everyday Life in Colonial America. F&W Publications, Inc.: Cincinnati, Ohio. Copyright 1997..
