William Harrison Ainsworth's Going To See A Man Hanged

William Harrison Ainsworth’s Jack Sheppard , serialised in Bentley 's Miscellany magazine, an affordable means of entertainment for the lower classes, from 1839-40; the story fictionalises and sensationalises the events of a notorious real life housebreaker written to entertain. William Makepeace Thackeray’s ‘Going to See a Man Hanged’, published in Fraser’s Magazine, a general interest periodical aimed at the middle-classes, in 1840; written to express Thackeray’s discontent with capital punishment and gives a graphic but factual depiction of a hanging ‘to see the effect on the public mind of an execution’. Thackeray’s essay can be read against the last two chapters of Jack Sheppard where Ainsworth gives a very accurate representation of a

Thackeray’s text states; ‘the waves of this mob-ocean laughed innumerably’ and several references to this are used in Jack Sheppard such as ‘for the tide, which poured upon them behind, around, in front, and at all sides’ (JS p. 522), ‘over the sea of heads’ (JS p. 528) and Jack’s body ‘was borne along by that tremendous host, which rose and fell like the waves of the ocean’ (JS p. 530). The use of this metaphor within the two texts are used to show the vastness and strength of the crowds. Thackeray’s use signifies the sheer volume of the event, showing how much admiration and attention the man trespassing is receiving therefore, showing the immensity of support for a criminal. Ainsworth’s use, particularly the first quote mentioned, which preceded with ‘the guards had great difficulty in preserving a clear passage without resorting to severe measures…’ (JS p. 522), expresses the madness of the event as it shows how uncontrollable the crowd was. The metaphor itself suggests the crowd is overtaking the streets and engulfing whatever was around them. It shows the popularity of Jack and the chaos he caused, it is a metaphor for the fame he has gained as this fame has overtaken the city and its