Free «Review and Analysis of Assignment» Essay Paper

Introduction

To begin with, deductive arguments are based on understanding that the premise of the discussion is engineered to guarantee the truth of the closing statement. The conclusion can only be guaranteed by the starting arguments, and if not, it will be classified as false. The essays on The Ballad of Frankie Silver and The Murder of Poor Ellen Smith are under review regarding the themes that each of them displays. These are legislation, gender bias, and murder. Inductive reasoning suggests reasons that claim the probable truth of the conclusion. The only difference between the two types of arguments is a slim possibility in the latter that the conclusion would be false (Klement, 2003).

Legislative Theme

These ballads are meant to create a mood that goes on to give meaning or help in the understanding of a certain theme. For example, the theme of legislation is evident when looking at the arrests made in the stories. This theme was meant to create a feeling that the law remained a defining force even though most depictions of that period described lawlessness. However, legislation in this sense was a set of laws and regulations meant to be followed.

 

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On the other hand, it may have meant something different. Such legislation was a polite meaning to retribution. The reason the offenders are punished in the stories is to ensure justice is done at the end of the day. This is short for “an eye for an eye.” The issue is not about the break of law but about the issue that the offenders meet their end just as they have treated their victims. The citizens are probably hiding their joy behind the premise of the law, but this is inductive as the truth is only probable (Hurley, 2003).

The legislative aspect includes that of the court process. However, the ballads do not go into much detail in this sector. The evidence is the main case brought against the offenders. This brings about the possibility that they have not had a good chance to defend themselves reasonably in a court of law. When a judge is deciding a case, he or she will apply both forms of reasoning; these are deductive and inductive (Faculty of business and Law, 2011). They have to evaluate the possibilities, as well as the facts of the matter at hand. The cases in both stories have possibilities that the offenders are not guilty. However, both trials end quickly supporting the probability that punishment is the main aim rather than due process.

Gender

Two other themes are gender issues and murder. The gender relationships at the time despite the nature of both cases are still fraught with biases. Although the evidence is not conclusive, this is an inductive argument (Knight and Parson, 2005). The offenders are of different sexes in both accounts and have met similar fates. The method of execution is the same, but the account of the female offender was seen as a harsher punishment because she is the first woman to be executed.

The feeling that she is a woman and deserves some leniency due to her sex made the sentence even more hard-hitting. This is a form of gender bias and is directed towards the favoring of women over men because of the belief they are the weaker sex. Women are not the weaker sex, but concepts and cultures like this undermine gender equality. On the other hand, the second account does not hold any remorse for Ellen Smith’s murderer, because he is male. In any case, the crowd is quite enthusiastic about his execution.

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The stereotypes apply to most issues within the society at that time. The victims have always been preferably women, so the society could take the just position of a judge and jury. This will end badly for the offender in whichever case. Ellen Smith is a classic case. She is a victim of a heinous attack and gets pregnant to make the case complete to call on the wrath of the law. Therefore, even if the man were not guilty for starters, it would not matter. The mob needs justice to be meted out and will not rest until someone has paid for the sin.

It does not matter who it is because injustice happened and it has to be paid in blood. The victim role is just as easily placed in the hands of a woman as the criminal one goes to the man. Other instances of this stereotype come in sickness. Women are likely candidates for the sick role scheme (Chafetz, 2006). This is probably because the society views them as the weaker sex. At the same time, personal accountability would go in the direction that would blame women for the same sickness. In other words, they find their competence undermined as functional people.

Concerning The Ballad of Frankie Silver, the woman is a perpetrator who is mentally unstable. She is unfit to be a working member of the society. She is doing harm to the community instead of helping. Even if she only killed her husband, she is dangerous, and there is a need to deal with her accordingly. Either way, she is not capable of being a normal person in the society; upholding all social norms because of this fact. 

Murder

In the case of Ellen Smith, she is too weak to take adequate care of herself from both emotional and mental perspective.  This leads to her being shot and killed by a man who ignores her despite her being pregnant with his child. She is led to death, and her naivety is her death. An interesting fact about both tales is that the girls in them are very young and impressionable. Frankie Silver is just eighteen when she is hanged for murder, and Ellen Smith is just about the same age (McCrumb, 2011). Older characters would have probably handled the situations in a better way.

The themes of murder in both comparative essays differ from each other. The murder that occurred in The Ballad of Frankie Silver is quite disturbing. Her husband is just nineteen, so they are teenagers (Huff, 2011). However, she kills him using an ax and dismembers his body thereafter. This is quite graphic and tiresome compared to murder by gun. Ellen Smith dies by a shot to the heart when she is the least aware. This probably suggests that Frankie has been quite disturbed to go to that extent, and a coward commits Ellen’s murder.

Conclusion

Both of them seem exact opposites of what people expect. The male offenders are the ones that would probably use brutal force and kill in a more disturbing manner. Therefore, Ellen would have been killed with an ax and Frankie would have used a gun to kill her husband in a normal situation. However, the two situations are still possible from different perspectives. Different views in the themes given show that the people involved have different motives for their actions.