The Execution of Tropmann written Turgenev is about capital punishment. Turgenev tells of his personal experience witnessing Tropmann’s execution. He reveals his personal opinion of capital punishment throughout the text. Turgenev does this by describing everything that happened with many details. He was one of few that were able to be right beside Tropmann through the whole long process. Due to that he is able to form his own opinion of why capital punishment is so wrong. He hopes that readers will understand the process better and maybe open their eyes about the topic..
Turgenev’s tone in the passage is nervousness. He writes about the time he had to spend waiting for the execution to start. Turgenev seemed like the whole procedure was growing on him in a negative way. He became very anxious and flustered while he waited. Also Turgenev’s tone throughout the passage is sadness for Tropmann And bitterness for the people who had become excited by what was happening. Turgenev describes Tropmann as a young guy who barely has lived life. I believe Turgenev felt sorry for Tropmann because he wasn’t able to experience many of life’s greatest joys yet. Tropmann does a very good job of explaining what Tropmann is going through in a step-by-step fashion.
A statement of Turgenev’s that stood out to me was , “It will not be only the reader’s curiosity that will be satisfied: he may derive some benefit from my story. ”. Turgenev’s purpose of the work was to enlighten readers on how he looked at capital punishment. He gave a foundation to an argument that could be used. I don’t believe Turgenev wanted to argue he just wanted to spread his own opinion. He also says, “ And, anyway, who is not aware of the fact that the question of capital punishment is one of the most urgent questions that humanity has to solve at this moment?. This shows that he knows his writing could be used in support of one who is trying to stop capital punishment altogether. He also showed the barbaric process of using the guillotine and publicly humiliating process that goes along with it. Also, he expresses his disappointment for the public’s way of using the beheading as a source of media.
Turgenev later in his passage says, “…my account supplies a few arguments to those who are in favour of the abolition of capital punishment or, at least, the abolition of public executions. “. He hopes that his experience will help drive capital punishment out of existence. Turgenev’s passage has enough details to show why capital punishment should in fact be thrown out. The public looked at Tropmann execution as a source of media. Do you think it was okay for Tropmann to go through that horrible public humiliation? People may argue he was a criminal and deserved what was given to him. Also a point that is arguable is the process he went through. People may say he was a criminal and didn’t deserve those last rights that he received. Any way you look at it Turgenev told his story and showed his readers his point of view on the topic of capital punishment.
