2026-05-24T16:21:15Zhttps://keep.lib.asu.edu/oai/requestoai:keep.lib.asu.edu:node-1519342024-12-20T18:25:12Zoai_pmh:alloai_pmh:repo_items151934
https://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.I.18109
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
All Rights Reserved
2013
2015-04-30T01:13:05
192, [4] p
Doctoral Dissertation
Academic theses
Text
eng
Aldrich, Eric
Wertheimer, Eric
Tobin, Beth
O'Donnell, Catherine
Arizona State University
Partial requirement for: Ph. D., Arizona State University, 2013
Includes bibliographical references (p. 187-192)
Field of study: English
"The Wicked Man's Portion" uses crime writing as a means to measure modernity in early America. Crime writing does things all too familiarly "modern"; it imagines audiences in need of moral instruction, citizens questioning the decisions of those in power, and men and women seeking reassurance that their community was safe, just, and moral. Crime writing pries open the dialectic between the expectations of authority and individuals' experiences. What emerges is the concept of a moral citizen, a self-reliant individual sharing responsibility for a well-ordered community. The first chapter examines typological interpretations of scripture in execution sermons revealing the interrelation between religion and law. Chapters two and three focus on the interaction between criminal law and beliefs in the supernatural; chapter two looks at supernatural crimes and forensic methods, such as those surrounding witch trials, and chapter three examines arguments for capital punishment that hinged upon divine involvement in human affairs. The fourth chapter discusses gallows publications' functions in the public sphere and contributions to inchoate democracy. The final chapter asks how equity defined punishment in economic terms. This chapter pays particular attention variations of punishment determined by race, class, and gender.
American Literature
American History
Crime
execution
Gallows
New England
Punishment
Sermons
Crime in literature
American literature--Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775--History and criticism.
American literature--Revolutionary period, 1775-1783--History and criticism.
American literature--1783-1850--History and criticism.
Crime--New England--History--16th century.
Crime
Crime--New England--History--17th century.
Crime
Crime--New England--History--18th century.
Crime
The wicked man's portion: discourses of vice and boundaries of moral citizenship in early New England