innocence – Discipline & Punish

Elizabeth Wilson

mtt3e — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 01:23:10 +0000

Alibi- Elizabeth Wilson is the only person in one of these narratives to proclaim her innocence and have a plausible alibi. When accused of murdering her twins, Wilson “persisted in denying the fact; her behavior was such, in general, as gave reason to conclude she was innocent of the murder of which she was charged, or was an insensible, hardened creature, and did not expect to die for this crime.” The narrative is intended more as a tear-jerker than a cautionary tale. The state is in the wrong here. Foucault said that public executions began to work against the church and state because they began to engender sympathy for the murdered or bloodlust. Here, we can see how a public execution could backfire and reflect poorly on the state rather than the sinner.

Happy- Wilson supposedly says that the dungeon is “the happiest place she ever was in her life.” This seems strange and unlikely because she is in jail falsely accused of murdering her children. This sounds like the religious propaganda found mostly in earlier narratives.

Marriage- The sacrament of marriage is important in these texts. A big deal is made of whether children are legitimate or illegitimate. Wilson, like Charlotte Temple, is seduced by the promise of marriage. The involvement of the church is important. This narrative seems to be warning women (as C.T. did) that a promise of marriage was not the same thing as marriage. Men are fallible; the church is not.

wall

bford — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 20:19:12 +0000

Public – At the outset of Wall’s narrative the writer of this narrative chose to speak to the people reading directly saying “…the ever curious Public…will be anxious to know…” This open address to the reader is a bit odd and makes me call into question the authenticity of this particular piece. It seems very much like the person who will benefit monetarily from this publication is shaping the work right out of the gates to form a reliable story that is victimized by the fundamental structure of the early crime narrative. The writer even hints at the fact that those “of serious turn of mind” should be interested in the following discourse.

fear of God – At the beginning of Wall’s story he begins as most of the narratives do, with a context of the family life and how the individual responded to their family. It is safe to say that Wall is another whose path of disobedience began at the early stages writing that her parents “…taught the fear of God.” She not following her parents counsel decided upon living a life without the fear of God and this has accounted for her dire situation.

innocence – Wall’s narrative includes a short list of a few crimes that she had committed as well as her own admittance that there were far too many other crimes to be listed in such a short narrative. However she is claiming to be innocent of the said burglary for which she is going to be sentenced to death. It seems ridiculous that she would be so resigned to her fate, even thanking a litany of people, given the fact that she contends the charges to be false. This leads me to believe that either she had absolutely no faith in the justice system and became so disheartened as to not care of her own death or that there is something contrived in this narrative.

elizabeth wilson

chard3ah — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 22:19:45 +0000

Elizabeth Wilson

Innocence- Like Rachel Wall, Elizabeth Wilson is concerned with the idea of her own innocence. She also has a modern conception of guilt an innocence, an idea of not guilty by reason of insanity: “or was an insensible, hardened creature, and did not expect to die for this crime” (271).

Force- Wilson says that Mr. Wilkinson kills her infants by stomping on their chests, and the force of the blow ends their lives. Also, he puts a pistol to
Wilson keeping her forcibly from being able to protect her babies