Do Judges Deserve To Die

As Eddard Stark said in A Game of Thrones: “The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you would take a man’s life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die.” A man has been judged guilty of a crime according to the laws of the land, and his punishment is death. The Judge is both judge and executioner. How does this reflect on the Judge? Does this make life more or less valuable? Would this make a man a better King?

It would be difficult; there is no doubt, to kill a man. “Difficult” is an understatement. That word does not carry enough weight to lend understanding to the thought. To have to swing the sword, hear the fall of the head, see the blood, and listen the deafening silence must be nightmarish. At first there might have been tears, curses, or pleadings coming from the guilty. But shortly after that, …show more content…
The Judge shall feel the weight of every death, and because of that he will value life. He is different from judges who can condemn a man and forget about him, because those judges never see what happens afterward. This Judge will remember every face, down to the last detail. He will condemn no man needlessly. For this Judge to be able to carry out the execution with the least emotional damage while still remaining a good person, he must love the guilty. He must carry out the punishment because it is what is just and what is best. He carries out the execution for love of his people and country, and hope for a better future. This is what the Judge must be able to do. Because of this, he will be wise, gaining knowledge and reticence from these experiences. He will learn about life from death. He must be a strong man, with confidence in himself, that he will make the right decisions and be able to carry them out. He would be a good leader, knowing the ways of