Through newspapers articles we can take a glimpse at recorded history from the 18th century and see that rape had been a crime committed by many criminals, and dealt with harshly. Most victims of rape assaults were young women that were “robbed of that which constitutes the fairest part of the female sex- her chastity and peace of mind” (Newgate Calendar, Paragraph 3). John Lennard created a reputation for himself, as a man that was found guilty of raping a young woman by the name of Miss Ann Boss on the 15th of June, 1773. Not long after committing the crime, Lennard’s name appeared in numerous newspapers that were reporting on his accused crime. The newspapers followed him through his trial until after his execution on August 11, 1773. The newspapers used specific words and phrases that made Lennard appear to the public as either a dangerous criminal who has committed a particularly dangerous crime, or one that was grouped with other criminals who may have committed less dangerous or harmful crimes. These newspapers also had a way of appealing to the reader’s emotions in an attempt to teach the reader a valuable lesson from Lennard’s life of crime and execution. Through the newspapers specific word choices and appealing to our emotions and idea’s around life lesson’s, we can analyse how John Lennard is characterized by the public and depicted in the press.
Many newspapers followed Lennard through his trial. Lennard was tried at the Old Bailey along with eighteen other prisoners. He was “capitally convicted” (St. James Chronicle or the British Evening Post, Column 2) for raping Miss Boss. By using the words “capitally convicted” (St. James Chronicle or the British Evening Post, Column 2) the newspaper implied a very specific me...
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...es that were taken. By examining these elements of several newspaper articles that depicted a crime and a criminal, we can understand how they were perceived and characterized by the English public in the 18th century.
Works Cited
“John Lennard.” The Newgate Calendar. 11 August. 1773. Web. 29 March. 2014.
“London.” St. James’s Chronicle or the British Evening Post. 10 July. 1773- 13 July. 1773. Gale Cengage Learning. Web. 29 March. 2014.
“London.” Lloyd’s Evening Post. 9 August. 1773- 11 August. 1773. Gale Cenage Learning. Web. 29 March. 2014.
“London.” Middlesex Journal or Universal Evening Post. 10 August. 1773- 12 August. 1773. Gale Cengage Learning. Web. 29 March. 2014.
“London.” Public Advertiser. 12 August. 1773. Gale Cengage Learning. Web. 29 March. 2014.
“Malefactor.” Dictionary.com. Random House, Inc. 2014. Web. 3 April. 2014.
In The Murder of Helen Jewett, Patricia Cohen uses one of the most trivial murders during the 1800’s to illustrate the sexiest society accommodations to the privileged, hypocritical tunneled views toward sexual behavior, and the exploitation of legal codes, use of tabloid journalism, and politics. Taking the fact that woman was made from taking a rib from man was more than biblical knowledge, but incorporated into the male belief that a woman’s place is determined by the man. Helen had the proper rearing a maid servant, but how did she fall so far from grace. Judge Weston properly takes credit for rearing her with the proper strictness and education. Was Helen seduced at an early age and introduced to sexual perversions that were more persuasive that the bible belt life that the Weston’s tried to live? Was Helen simply a woman who knew how to use what she had to get what she wanted? Through personal correspondence, legal documentation, census reports, paintings, and newspapers we are able to make our own determinations. Cohen provides more than enough background and history to allow any one to make their own opinion how the murder of a woman could be turned into a side show at a circus.
Kupperman, Karen Ordahl. “Thomas Morton, Historian”. The New England Quarterly, Vol. 50, No.4 (Dec., 1977), pp. 660-664. The New England Quarterly, Inc. .
While researching texts written about the patterns of crime and punishment in the nineteenth century, I found authors who published books, scholarly articles, and other useful information. These articles were rather heterogeneous; from talking about punishment for pregnancy out of wedlock, to crime rates growing from Irish immigrants in England, and the differentiation in crime of the genders. However, while these authors discuss crime and punishment, they discuss them in multiplicities, there is no certain rate or discussion of what crimes were often performed. My general goal in this paper is to bring to light the certain crimes and the punishments for these crimes in the Victorian Era. I aspire to efficiently explain the originality of the crime in the period of the nineteenth century.
Beckson, Karl. London in the 1890s: A Cultural History. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1992.
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Ann Charters. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, a 2011 book. 1629 - 1631. Print. The.
This is a question that could easily be debated in either direction depending on how one looks at it. This paper will be focusing on the British Justice in the early modern period that would appear to show favor with the criminal. In order to make such determination, one must delve into the both sides of the system and see which weighs heaviest on the scales.
Cook, Don. The Long Fuse; How England Lost The American Colonies, 1760-1785. New York: The Atlantic Monthly Press, 1995 .
In a multi-mediated world, societies are bombarded with endless streams of information, the construction of which becomes central to their understanding and perceptions of the world around them. Stories of violence and death are eminently newsworthy, yet as this essay will explore, when combined with sex and sexual deviance, they become an even more dangerous and potent media cocktail. In an attempt to explain female offending, the media engage with leading and common sens notions of femininity and masculinity. () Here aggression is seen as a natural and inevitable form of male behaviour and thus deemed unfeminine where it is assumed natural for females to be docile compassionate and kind hearted. Gender is of great significance in the way in which the media portray female offending. Females are seen to have violated not only the criminal law but the natural law and where their crimes become gendered crimes, they are thus judged both socially and legally. () This essay will explore the significance of gender, through an analysis of newspaper constructions of high profile female offenders, namely, Myra Hindly, Rosemary West and Maxine Carr, in contrast to their male counterparts, in the UK. The instrumental role of this form of media, in sensationalising this relatively rare forms of offending will be discussed in relation to the choice of tone, language and visual images. Competing narratives of the ‘bad’, evil monstrosity, versus the ‘mad’, pathological women will be analysed in relation to in reinforcing gender stereotypes. This essay will argue that gender is the lens through which female criminal may be, judged, persecuted and alienated from woman hood and humanity all together.
Eric Wilson, “Plagues, Fairs, and Street Cries: Sounding out Society and Space in Early Modern London,” Modern Language Studies, Vol.25, No.3 (Summer, 1995), pp.1-42 (here p.22)
G, Curran, J. & Wingate P. (eds) Newspaper History: from the 17th Century to the present day. London: constable print
When someone examines the case of Jack The Ripper, the victims are the most important part. The canonical five had one thing in common, the fact that they had all been involved in prostitution. When the press began to cover the killings and reported about the victims, what they wrote was consistent with the understanding of prostitution in the late-19th century. In order to understand beliefs that the Victorian people had about prostitution, on most understand the idea of the fallen women. Throughout this essay, I will, explain the idea of the fallen women, select parts of reports about the canonical five victims and explain how they are consistent with the understandings of prostitution during that time.
Clark, George, R. G. Collingwood, J. N. L. Myres, F. M. Stenton, Austin Lane. Poole, Maurice Powicke, ,. May. McKisack, E. F. Jacob, J. D. Mackie, J. B. Black, Godfrey Davies, Basil Williams, J. Steven. Watson, Llewellyn Woodward, R. C. K. Ensor, A. J. P. Taylor, and Richard Raper. The Oxford History of England. Oxford: Clarendon, 1964. 294-303. Print.
Hannah Barker, 1999. Newspapers and English Society 1695-1855 (Themes In British Social History). 1 Edition. Longman.
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