The Three Executions
An execution is the carrying out of a sentence of death on a condemned person; the killing of someone as a political act. Execution of criminals and political opponents has been used by nearly all societies—both to punish crime and to suppress political dissent. This paper examines three executions: the execution of Mary Queen of Scots in 1587, the execution of Joan of Arc in 1431, and the execution of John Wayne Gacy in 1994. In history books, all three executions represent the sentence of death on a condemned person. However, one difference is that the methods of execution, the public perception of execution, and requirements to earn a death sentence have changed dramatically from 1431 to 1994. Mary Queen of Scots was charged with “treason”
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First, Joan of Arc had to be burned three times before she died of smoke inhalation because her organs survived the first two burnings reports say she was calm at first but started screaming when the flames rose high (Smith). Joan’s execution violates the quick and painless rule for humane execution along with the gore rule. John Wayne Gacy’s execution was easily the most humane of the three. Except, before the execution began, the chemicals used to perform the execution unexpectedly solidified. Clogging the IV tube that pumped the drugs into Gacy’s system thus complicating the procedure. The clogged tube was replaced and the entire procedure only took about 18 minutes (Seiderman). However Mary Queen of Scots’ execution was by far the most brutal and undignified. Mary was not beheaded with a single strike, the first blow missed her neck and struck her in the back of the head. The second blow severed her neck except for a small bit of tendon, which the executioner cut through using the axe (Fraser 539). Following Elizabethan tradition after the head was severed from the body, the executioner held the head by its hair and showed it to the crowd (“Elizabethan Executions”). When the executioner lifted up Mary’s detached head to show the crowd, it became separated from the wig she had been wearing and her head went rolling. Ultimately, with the universal agreement on basic human rights and an international disgust that is shown to offenders of those rights, executions like Joan of Arc’s and Mary Queen of Scots’ are most likely never going to happen
First, Joan of Arc had to be burned three times before she died of smoke inhalation because her organs survived the first two burnings reports say she was calm at first but started screaming when the flames rose high (Smith). Joan’s execution violates the quick and painless rule for humane execution along with the gore rule. John Wayne Gacy’s execution was easily the most humane of the three. Except, before the execution began, the chemicals used to perform the execution unexpectedly solidified. Clogging the IV tube that pumped the drugs into Gacy’s system thus complicating the procedure. The clogged tube was replaced and the entire procedure only took about 18 minutes (Seiderman). However Mary Queen of Scots’ execution was by far the most brutal and undignified. Mary was not beheaded with a single strike, the first blow missed her neck and struck her in the back of the head. The second blow severed her neck except for a small bit of tendon, which the executioner cut through using the axe (Fraser 539). Following Elizabethan tradition after the head was severed from the body, the executioner held the head by its hair and showed it to the crowd (“Elizabethan Executions”). When the executioner lifted up Mary’s detached head to show the crowd, it became separated from the wig she had been wearing and her head went rolling. Ultimately, with the universal agreement on basic human rights and an international disgust that is shown to offenders of those rights, executions like Joan of Arc’s and Mary Queen of Scots’ are most likely never going to happen