Vasilyeva S.A., Erlikhson I.M., Tuarmensky V.V.

Representations of public punishment rituals in 18th-century English and American popular literature. Pp. 68–81.

UDC 821.111.09″17″

DOI 10.37724/RSU.2025.88.3.007

 

Abstract. The paper analyzes 18th-century English and American popular literature containing depictions of public punishments. Initially, the instructive rhetoric of crime literature was supposed to be a tool for influencing society, creating a moral barrier for potential offenders. Since the beginning of the 18th century, the British concept of public repentance by criminals underwent desacralization and delegitimization, which was reflected both in the rituals of punishment and in literary representations — heroization of the image of the criminal and aestheticization of criminal behavior. In the conceptual sphere of American colonial culture, the system of moral values did not undergo a similar breakdown, and the boundaries of the criminal world remained clearly defined. Under the harsh conditions of colonial life, religion remained an important regulator of social relations, the foundation of public morality and ethics, and the guarantor of the preservation of family and community values. Through comparative analysis of public punishment procedures in the legal and sociocultural spheres of the metropolis and the American colonies, the paper raises the issue of the relationship between authenticity/reception of worldview and behavioral attitudes.

The appendix offers readers two American “broadside ballads” in our translation. Based on the concepts of British and American colonial cultures discussed above, the texts reveal significant influence of the metropolis on the formation of the American nation. Nevertheless, the unique historical events experienced by North American colonists contributed to the dynamic separation of Americans, largely through the rejection of Britishness in the spheres of politics and law. The development of independent American legislation led to changes in rituals and their representation in literary sources.

 

Keywords: Great Britain, American colonies, 18th century, justice, capital punishment, “broadsides.”

 

Bibliography

 

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