Execution: Capital Punishment and People
Scotty Caley
English 102
26 July 2012
Final Draft
Execution
Everyone has different thoughts on punishments for different crimes. There are currently thirty-three states that support the death penalty (Deathpeanltyinfo.org 1). Over the passing years punishment for crimes has gone soft. Whenever the words “death penalty” are said it raises such debate whether or not it is right or wrong. An eye for an eye my father told me when I was growing up. For that to be true in todays society we need the death penalty and much more. Today our “eye for an eye” system is weak. Seventeen states believe if a murder happens that person who does the crime does not need to be put to death (Death Penalty Information Center 1). In the poem “Punishment” by Seamus Heaney, it is about an execution for a crime of adultery, which would be a correct punishment for that crime in that time period. “When the Puritans came to this land, they left a country where the English treated adultery as largely a civil and personal matter. The Puritans wanted to create a society where moral dictates were enforced by harsh corporal punishments” (Turley 1). The Puritans had it right, they believed that there needs to be consequences for all crimes petty or not. An issue that has continually created tension in today 's society is whether the death penalty serves as a justified and valid form of punishment. The death penalty can be the only way to justify a crime especially adultery. In the poem “Punishmentm,” Heaney paints a vivid picture of a dead girls corpse tortured and hung for punishment of a crime of adultery. Heaney uses great detail as if you were the one to find the corpse. “It blows her nipples / to amber beads, / it shakes the frail rigging / of her ribs” (lines 5-8). He goes on to explain the punishment that this girl indoored for her crime. It is a fitting crime for what she did. When it is thought about this girl ruined a life of another persons, a family’s life. “Her shaved head /
English 102
26 July 2012
Final Draft
Execution
Everyone has different thoughts on punishments for different crimes. There are currently thirty-three states that support the death penalty (Deathpeanltyinfo.org 1). Over the passing years punishment for crimes has gone soft. Whenever the words “death penalty” are said it raises such debate whether or not it is right or wrong. An eye for an eye my father told me when I was growing up. For that to be true in todays society we need the death penalty and much more. Today our “eye for an eye” system is weak. Seventeen states believe if a murder happens that person who does the crime does not need to be put to death (Death Penalty Information Center 1). In the poem “Punishment” by Seamus Heaney, it is about an execution for a crime of adultery, which would be a correct punishment for that crime in that time period. “When the Puritans came to this land, they left a country where the English treated adultery as largely a civil and personal matter. The Puritans wanted to create a society where moral dictates were enforced by harsh corporal punishments” (Turley 1). The Puritans had it right, they believed that there needs to be consequences for all crimes petty or not. An issue that has continually created tension in today 's society is whether the death penalty serves as a justified and valid form of punishment. The death penalty can be the only way to justify a crime especially adultery. In the poem “Punishmentm,” Heaney paints a vivid picture of a dead girls corpse tortured and hung for punishment of a crime of adultery. Heaney uses great detail as if you were the one to find the corpse. “It blows her nipples / to amber beads, / it shakes the frail rigging / of her ribs” (lines 5-8). He goes on to explain the punishment that this girl indoored for her crime. It is a fitting crime for what she did. When it is thought about this girl ruined a life of another persons, a family’s life. “Her shaved head /
Cited: Hymowitz, Kay S. “The National Adultery Ritual.” Commentary 132.1 (2011): 40-44. Academic Search Premier. Web. 19 July 2012.