Essay On Good Death

There is much variance when it comes to assessing a “good” death from a “bad” one. Depending on one’s culture and perspective, there is a great difference. The positive and negative aspects of “good” and “bad” deaths do not refer only to the moment of death itself but also to the circumstances that precede it. Death is not only a universal biological fact but also a complex cultural event. Because of this, there is no one definition of what is a “good” death or a “bad” death. In “Kinds of Death and the House”, a “good death”, among other things, is rapid while a “bad death” may mean weeks, months, or even years of slow agony. For that reason, a good death is also known as a “sudden death” while a bad death might be classed as a “death of chronic illness” or a “slow death” (Robben, 77). In all the definitions of good death, there are two additional constants: the absence of pain and the absence of an awareness of dying (Robben, 77). A good death that fulfills these three conditions is known as a “happy death”. The happy death comes peacefully during sleep when the dying person is not aware of it. In contrast, a bad death involves sickness with pain and an awareness of the imminence of a death without cure (Robben, 77). …show more content…
A bad death, then, comes from any long illness, especially cancer. A good death will have no symptoms. It usually takes place when a person has completed the life cycle, in old age. The death that forms the sharpest contrast with natural death is known as the “tragic death”. This kind of death is caused by external agents or accidents. Yet another kind of death is known as “violent death”, a form of tragic death that includes all deaths caused by humans, both murder and suicide. Death of old age its expected and inevitable, the conclusion of a natural process. Tragic death interrupts this process unexpectedly and prematurely. When people get old, they often lose their fear of