Murder-  Patience is constantly being accused of, and confessing to, the murder of her own children.  She confesses to the death of her second child (three times) presumably to anger her husband and because she is drunk.  Although she is acquitted, she later drowns her third child so that “Now I am guilty of murder indeed”, and in fact attempts to kill him more than once, but finds that she can’t (124).  Interestingly, this text is sympathetic to Patience because although she killed at least one of her own children, she finds God in the end, and is presumably forgiven both by him and by public opinion.

Believing- Patience, again much like Esther Rodgers, is deeply comforted by the fact that regardless of her sins, her faith in God will be her salvation.  She mentions that she is troubled when she hears that all adulterers and liars will be cast into hell, but is comforted when told that the greater debtor will be forgiven equally as the lesser debtor, no matter how much more he owes.  She repeats to herself the same quote that Esther does, that a man who believes in God shall never die, but have eternal life.  While awaiting her execution, she is calmed and comforted by a belief that her soul will be saved—a greater issue to her than the saving of her body.   

Mercy- Before her death, Esther is continually asking God for mercy, something that the justice system has already denied her.  She is so caught up with the idea that her belief in God will be her salvation that even though she admits that “my sins have deserved Hell”, she seems to expect a divine pardon, as “whosoever believeth on thee shall never dye” (107).  This obviously religious speech (and text in general), makes almost no reference to Esther’s guilt or innocence or to the fairness of her sentence or her trial: the religious aspect of punishment and redemption seems to become important only when hope of earthy redemption and mercy have failed.

Deserve- Esther repeats that she deserves both to die and to go to hell, although she dies asking God for mercy, something the public admires her for.  The question of what Esther “deserves” is another interesting difference between the two concepts of relationships between God and the judicial system: either the justice system is doing God’s work, what God would sentence criminals for if he could, or the justice system simply gives people what they “deserve”, not, as God would, something merciful, good, or kind.  This separation of goodness and justice, demonstrated by Esther’s appeal to God, is an interesting aspect of the vilification of the penal system.