In Joel F. Harington's The Faithful Executioner, the life of Frantz Schmidt is explored and detailed according to his journal which listed chronologically all of his executions and punishments. Harington uses Frantz's journey of redeeming his family's honor as a tool to closely analyze the importance of social class and reputation in 17th century Europe.
During Frantz's time period, the path of a young boy's career was largely dependent on the occupation his father currently held. Due to the forceful appointment of Frantz's father as the executioner of the town Hof, Frantz had no choice but to follow in his father's footsteps. Executioner's, at the, were regarded as part of the lowest class because of their dealings with death. When Frantz's …show more content…
In Frantz's journal, descriptions of those he executed listed out their crimes and social backgrounds. Harington uses Frantz's choice of words in those descriptions to provide an insight into how different groups of people were perceived during that time period. For instance, the treatment of prisoners sentenced to death differed according to how much influence he or she had. Those who were of nobility were able to stay in better cells and received decapitation which was considered the swiftest way to die as their punishments. When it came to those of lower classes, punishments such as hanging, live burning, live burial, and live burning were more common. Despite the better treatment nobles or those of high societal positions received, in his writing Frantz would find more fault in their wrongful actions than those of lower class. Harrington claimed that this was due to the fact those nobles were abusing their reputations in order to break laws. The most prized possession during Frantz's time is good reputation because it dictated how difficult or prosperous one's life would. To a man whose sole purpose is to gain back his family's reputation, seeing those carelessly through away their own reputation was aggravating. In between the cases, Harrington would also provide information on how
During Frantz's time period, the path of a young boy's career was largely dependent on the occupation his father currently held. Due to the forceful appointment of Frantz's father as the executioner of the town Hof, Frantz had no choice but to follow in his father's footsteps. Executioner's, at the, were regarded as part of the lowest class because of their dealings with death. When Frantz's …show more content…
In Frantz's journal, descriptions of those he executed listed out their crimes and social backgrounds. Harington uses Frantz's choice of words in those descriptions to provide an insight into how different groups of people were perceived during that time period. For instance, the treatment of prisoners sentenced to death differed according to how much influence he or she had. Those who were of nobility were able to stay in better cells and received decapitation which was considered the swiftest way to die as their punishments. When it came to those of lower classes, punishments such as hanging, live burning, live burial, and live burning were more common. Despite the better treatment nobles or those of high societal positions received, in his writing Frantz would find more fault in their wrongful actions than those of lower class. Harrington claimed that this was due to the fact those nobles were abusing their reputations in order to break laws. The most prized possession during Frantz's time is good reputation because it dictated how difficult or prosperous one's life would. To a man whose sole purpose is to gain back his family's reputation, seeing those carelessly through away their own reputation was aggravating. In between the cases, Harrington would also provide information on how