Analysis Of The Penalty Of Death By H. L. Mencken

In the essay “The Penalty of Death,” by H.L. Mencken, he shares with us why he disagrees with the two most commonly heard arguments of capital punishment, Mencken also shares his views on the inhuman treatment of making prisoners wait for death. Though there are those with strong opposition to capital punishment, Mencken indicates it is a universally natural human impulse that give us katharsis. Menken argues that more inhumane than the capital punishment itself is the American way of putting it off so long. It is common today to dismiss the humane treatment of those who are facing capital punishment. The three most effective rhetorical strategies Mencken uses in “The Penalty of Death” are tone, description, and examples and illustrations.

The authors passionate tone in this essay shows many reasons why the arguments against capital punishment are futile. Mencken conveys two of his points in the first paragraph when he says the arguments are “too weak”, or when he points out the other jobs that might also be considered unpleasant but have no call to abolish them. Mencken gives insight into his passion when he uses words like “katharsis” to replace revenge. In other words, Mencken believes that we simply do not hurt someone because they hurt us, but we let off of steam and a have a calming natural

Mencken uses many descriptions to show the readers his points of view. Mencken’s uses literal and figurative descriptions to give a better understanding of what he is trying to convey. One figurative description is, according to Mencken, “A school-boy, disliking his teacher, deposits a tack upon the pedagogical chair; the teacher jumps and the boy laughs. This is katharsis.” Using this figurative description, the author describes the feelings we have as katharsis instead of using revenge. Mencken writes that the people who want capital punishment really want the “piece of mind that goes with the feeling that accounts are squared. Until they get that satisfaction they are in a state of emotional tension.” Using a literal description, Mencken states, “After all, every one of us must die soon or late, and a murderer, it must be assumed, is one who makes that sad fact the cornerstone of is metaphysic. But it is one thing to die, and quite another thing to lie for long months and even years under the shadow of death.” Here Mencken argues the real objection to capital punishment is “our brutal American habit of putting it off so long.” Mencken uses description to let the reader experience his points of view throughout the essay. When Mencken used the figurative description of the school-boy and the teacher, it implies letting off of steam, or katharsis, not revenge. Tapping into our natural human