Reply To: Do you think justice was done?Â
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I do feel that Martha was fully justified in what she did to North in self-defense; and the punishment fit the crime. If that situation had ever been exposed and brought to trial, I doubt she would have been exonerated; it would have been a “he said, she said” moment like most of the rape trials of that era, and Martha would have probably ended up a double victim, especially given North’s status. As it was, it was as good an outcome as could be expected, and there was a particular justice in him losing his “weapon of choice.” Good for her.
I don’t feel that Rebecca got justice, though. Some revenge, yes, but that would never erase the harm done to her. Like Jane said, the sort of trauma she endured will have scarred her for life, and no amount of revenge would eliminate that. But hopefully, it might have made it a little bit easier to move on, knowing that at least she never need fear him repeating his deed or perpetuating it on others.
Regarding Burgess’s killing– that’s a tough one. I have a problem with people who think they are above the law. If one puts it solely in the context of the frontier justice of the times, he got what he deserved, and it’s just that his executioners got away with the deed. In more modern times, they probably deserved to be charged with something like manslaughter (I’m not a lawyer, so am not certain what category this sort of thing would be classified under). They took the law into their own hands, and they beat and killed someone. That the person was a lowlife criminal who would probably do more harm in the future is emotionally pertinent, but they acted out of anger and a desire for revenge. Nowadays, that isn’t supposed to be justification for taking another’s life. One would wish that Burgess would have been imprisoned and punished for the multiple rapes and assaults he’d done; and in that era, if the punishment was death, he should have been executed legally. But seeing how imperfectly justice was served back then (and seriously, is it much better these days?), I found it emotionally satisfying to accept this fictionalized version of justice; and I don’t blame Martha for condoning it.