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David Gale Vs Dead Man Walking

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Katy Turl Professor Harden English Composition 1 15 March 2024 The Life of David Gale vs Dead Man Walking Essay “When you kill someone, you rob their family - not just of a loved one, but of their humanity. You harden their hearts with hate, you take away their capacity for civilized dispassion, you condemn them to bloodlust.” -Constance Harraway. Is the death penalty an acceptable law when it comes to executing people? Is redemption possible for those who have committed heinous crimes? The Life of David Gale and Dead Man Walking are both similar and different in numerous ways. David Gale, professor of philosophy, father, husband, and anti-death penalty activist, was falsely accused of rape by one of his former students, Berlin. He loses everything, …show more content…

David Gale was executed on the ground. After the execution, Bitsy gets a tape that reveals what happened. Sister Helen Prejean, a nun who works with children and the poor in New Orleans, Louisiana. She answers a letter from a death row inmate, Matthew Poncelet. Later, she visits Matthew on death row. Matthew is on death row for the rape and murder of the teenage couple, Hope Percy and Walter Delacroix. Sister Helen then becomes Matthew’s spiritual advisor, which deeply hurts and angers the victims’ families. Towards the end, Matthew confesses his guilt. When he slowly walks to his execution with fear and guilt, he apologizes to Hope and Walter’s families, and then he is executed. Both the men in these two stories are criminals and they both were convicted of the same crimes. In the Life of David Gale, David was falsely accused of raping one of his former students, Berlin. He was also found guilty of rape and murder of his very own best friend, Constance Harraway. In Dead Man Walking, Matthew Poncelot also committed the same crime. He raped and killed the teenage couple, Hope Percy and Walter Delacroix. These crimes are massively important in the storyline, because that’s how they ended up on death

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