1914: Rudolf Duala Manga Bell, in German Kamerun 1856: Elizabeth Martha Brown, Tess of the D’Urbervilles inspiration
August 9th, 2010
Headsman
Hardy’s work spans the English experience from the Napoleonic Wars to the First World War, ever haunted by tragedy and loss. This guy wrote “Dead Man Walking” before Dead Man Walking
I am but a shape that stands here,
Bummer.
For the next few posts, Executed Today catches a young Thomas Hardy as witness to public hangings … and an aged Hardy as witness to a world at war.
On this day.. 1870: William Dickson, the last in Kansas for a lifetime - 20181941: Sheyna Gram and the Jews of Preili - 2017A Day in the Death Penalty Around the Martyrology - 20162000: Brian Roberson, "Y'all kiss my black ass" - 20151849: Friedrich Neff, 1848 Revolutions radical - 20141786: Tom, "faithful, industrious, healthy slave" - 20131934: Anna Antonio, enough for a million men - 20121961: José Isaías Constante Laureano, the last executed in Mexico - 20111856: Elizabeth Martha Brown, Tess of the D'Urbervilles inspiration - 20101943: Blessed Franz Jagerstatter, conscientious objector - 20091993: Mohamed Mustafa Tabet, serial rapist with a badge - 2008
Entry Filed under: Arts and Literature ,Themed Sets
Tags: dead man walking , literature , thomas hardy
Archives
Select Month
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
Categories
Select Category
Categories for Search
Capital Punishment
Crime
Death Penalty
Execution
History
How
Back broken
Beheaded
Guillotine
Maiden
Bludgeoned
Burned
Drowned
Urophagia
Electrocuted
Gassed
Gruesome Methods
Blown from Cannon
Boiled
Broken on the Wheel
By Animals
Crucifixion
Crushed
Peine forte et dure
Dismembered
Drawn and Quartered
Flayed
Gatching
Impaled
Lingchi
Mazzolatura
Running the Gantlet
Stoned
Whipped
Hanged
Lethal Injection
Poison
Precipitated
Put to the Sword
Tomahawked
Shot
Shot with Arrows
Spearing
Starved
Immured
Strangled
Garrote
Trampled
Uncategorized
What
Administrative Messages
Arts and Literature
Fictional
Borderline “Executions”
Lynching
Botched Executions
Cycle of Violence
Essays
Famous Last Words
Gallows Humor
Mass Executions
Mature Content
Milestones
Myths
Not Executed
Cheated the Hangman
Escapes
Executed in Effigy
Executions Survived
Lucky to be Alive
Mock Executions
Pardons and Clemencies
Last Minute Reprieve
Reprieved Too Late
Notable for their Victims
Notable Jurisprudence
Notable Participants
Notable Sleuthing
Notably Survived By
Occupation and Colonialism
Other Voices
Guest Writers
Interviews
Podcasts
Popular Culture
Language
Posthumous Executions
Posthumous Exonerations
Public Executions
Auto de Fe
Gibbeted
Ripped from the Headlines
Scandal
Summary Executions
The Supernatural
The Worm Turns
Themed Sets
Corpses Strewn
Daily Doubles
Torture
Disappeared
Wartime Executions
Wrongful Executions
When
11th Century
12th Century
13th Century
14th Century
15th Century
16th Century
17th Century
18th Century
19th Century
20th Century
21st Century
Ancient
Early Middle Ages
Uncertain Dates
Where
Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Andorra
Angola
Argentina
Armenia
At Sea
Australia
Austria
Habsburg Realm
Ayyubid Empire
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Belize
Benin
Bermuda
Bhutan
Bolivia
Botswana
Brazil
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Burma
Burundi
Byzantine Empire
Caliphate
ISIS/ISIL
Cambodia
Cameroon
Canada
Quebec
Central African Republic
Chad
Chile
China
Hong Kong
Colombia
Comoros
Congo (Brazzaville)
Congo (Kinshasa)
Costa Rica
Crusader Kingdom
Cuba
Cyprus
Czechoslovakia
Denmark
Dominican Republic
East Timor
Egypt
El Salvador
England
Channel Islands
Guernsey
Gibraltar
Isle of Man
Pitcairn Island
Tyburn
Equatorial Guinea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Fiji
Finland
France
Burgundy
Reunion Island
Saint Pierre
Gambia
Georgia
Germany
Concentration Camps
East Germany
Prussia
Ghana
Greece
Grenada
Guatemala
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana
Haiti
Hanseatic League
Holy Roman Empire
Honduras
Hungary
Iceland
India
Maratha Empire
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Ferrara
Florence
Genoa
Lucca
Milan
Naples
Papal States
Pisa
Ravenna
Sicily
Venice
Ivory Coast
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kenya
Kiribati
Korea
North Korea
South Korea
Kurdistan
Kuwait
Laos
Latvia
Lebanon
Liberia
Libya
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Madagascar
Malaysia
Mali
Malta
Mauritania
Mauritius
Maya civilization
Mexico
Micronesia (FSM)
Mongolia
Mongol Empire
Morocco
Mughal Empire
Namibia
Netherlands
Netherlands Antilles
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
Norway
Ottoman Empire
Pakistan
Palau
Palestine
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Persia
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Polar
Arctic
Portugal
Roman Empire
Ostrogothic Kingdom
Romania
Russia
Rus’
USSR
Rwanda
Saudi Arabia
Scotland
Seljuk Empire
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovenia
Somalia
South Africa
South Sudan
Spain
Al-Andalus
Canary Islands
Sri Lanka
St. Kitts and Nevis
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Sudan
Suriname
Swaziland
Sweden
Switzerland
Syria
Tahiti
Taiwan
Thailand
Tibet
Timurid Empire
Trebizond
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
UAE
Uganda
Ukraine
USA
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Confederates
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Guam
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Navassa Island
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Puerto Rico
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
State of Franklin
Texas
U.S. Federal
U.S. Military
US Virgin Islands
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
Washington DC
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Uzbekistan
Venezuela
Vietnam
Wales
Yemen
Yugoslavia
Croatia
Kosovo
Serbia
Zimbabwe
Rhodesia
Who
Activists
Animals
Artists
Assassins
Businessmen
Children
Common Criminals
Organized Crime
Outlaws
Serial Killers
Diminished Capacity
Disfavored Minorities
Homosexuals
Jews
Racial and Ethnic Minorities
Doctors
Entertainers
Athletes
Executioners
Famous
Freethinkers
Heads of State
Pretenders to the Throne
Hostages
Inanimate Objects
Infamous
Innocent Bystanders
Intellectuals
Known But To God
Lawyers
Judges
Martyrs
Nobility
Pirates
Politicians
Religious Figures
Revolutionaries
Royalty
Separatists
Slaves
Soldiers
Guerrillas
Mercenaries
Spies
Terrorists
Volunteers
Women
Why
Arson
Chosen by Lot
Crimes Against Humanity
Drugs
Espionage
God
Heresy
Kidnapping
Military Crimes
Desertion
Mutiny
Murder
Abortion and Infanticide
Attempted Murder
No Formal Charge
Pelf
Counterfeiting
Piracy
Power
Political Expedience
Rape
Rioting
Sex
Theft
Treason
War Crimes
Witchcraft
Recently Executed
1950: The Hill 303 massacre
1704: Roland Laporte, posthumously, and five aides, humously
1293: Capocchio, Inferno-bound
1765: Andrew Oliver lynched in effigy to the Liberty Tree
1997: Ali Reza Khoshruy Kuran Kordiyeh, the Tehran Vampire
1875: Joseph Le Brun, the last public hanging in the U.K.
1853: Hans McFarlane and Helen Blackwood, married on the scaffold
1918: Boris Donskoy, Left SR assassin
1870: William Dickson, the last in Kansas for a lifetime
1862: Frisby McCullough, Missouri bushwhacker
English poet and novelist Thomas Hardy, whose gloomy cast of mind makes him particularly suitable for these pages, lived most of his nearly 90 years right next door to death.
Meaghan, I cried like I’d never cried before when I read “Jude The Obscure”. My husband urged me not to finish it as he could see what it was doing to me, too. Hardy is so cruel and unfair to his people, nothing is ever allowed to go right, only wrong. Mind you, I do think The “The Conversion of the Twain” about the Titanic and the iceberg is a brilliant poem.
Meaghan, I cried like I’d never cried before when I read “Jude The Obscure”. My husband urged me not to finish it as he could see what it was doing to me, too. Hardy is so cruel and unfair to his people, nothing is ever allowed to go right, only wrong. Mind you, I do The “The Conversion of the Twain” about the Titanic and the iceberg is a brilliant poem.
“Are You Digging On My Grave” is one of the most depressing poems I have ever read in my life. And the ending to Jude the Obscure visibly traumatized me.
I remember, in the middle of Jude, calling my boyfriend (who has an English degree) and asking, “Besides all the spouse-swapping, does anything actually HAPPEN in this novel?” And he said, “Trust me, something’s going to happen” and gave a sadistic chuckle. I finished the book at 3:00 a.m. By breakfast time, I was still looking shell-shocked and people in the cafeteria were actually asking me if everything was all right.