Mason at the Theatre of Tyburn

[alice malice]

Fielding in his Enquiry into the Causes of the late Increase of
Robbers (1751) recognized that public hangings provided the theatrical
stage upon which the criminal could play his most heroic part. If
public shame and humiliation were the original intention of holding
executions in public, the effect was just the opposite. ‘The day
appointed by law for the thief’s shame is the day of glory in his own
opinion. His procession to Tyburn, and his last moments there, are all
triumphant; attended with the compassion of the meek and
tender-hearted, and with the applause, admiration, and envy of all the
bold and hardened.’ The frequency of public hangings encouraged
solidarity among the working classes and the criminal underworld, and
provided criminals with models to follow when their turn came to mount
the gallows.

http://rictornorton.co.uk/gu17.htm
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