Stephen Banks 'Killing With Courtesy: The English Duelist'

Stephen Banks “Killing with Courtesy: The English Duelist, 1785-1845” examines the decline and ultimately the end of dueling in Britain by 1845. Banks studies how the images of masculinity changed during socioeconomic progress and how it affected honour culture. Moreover, he inspects the changing tactics of those whom oppose dueling and how dueling cliques changed in response to the shifting norms of society. However, Banks differentiates himself by suggesting that understanding the internal logic behind pistol dueling provides a further understand as to why it disappeared. Additionally, Banks separates himself from his predecessor, Antony Simpson, by claiming that the newspaper reports on lower class dueling, that Simpson relied on, were apocryphal. …show more content…
Banks argues that this code helped bring upon the downfall of dueling in Britain. This code was followed in the last 18th century, but in the mid-early 19th century, there was a shift in Britain that abused a loophole within the code. That shift was the notion of what constituted as honourable satisfaction. This shift could be seen in both the 18th and 19th century where some men refused to fire at their opponent or fired at the air, whether that is for humanity or for self-interest. The code demanded that during the duel the offended party would be fired upon in earnest. Yet, this prospect became ambiguous, but it conferred the maximum of possible advantages to the offended party. When challenged the gentleman gained the right to shoot to satisfy animosity, whilst his opponent would not attempt o kill him in return. However, by the 1840s, the constant avoidance of harm in duels led a society that was disinterested and unsatisfactory to the dueling community. The avoidance of harm, combined with the previous agreements led to the inevitable end of honourable dueling within