I think that nineteenth century poets, illustrators, and biographers of Brown focused on the “kiss” instead of his violent actions to make Brown seem like more of a martyr. If I have ever studied anything about John Brown I can’t remember anything that I have learned about him, so to my knowledge this was the first time I’ve been introduced to him. The first things that I looked out were the poems and the visual images of him. Although I couldn’t get everything about him just from these sources, I immediately started feeling pity for him. It wasn’t until after I start reading sources from the critics that my views for him change. I didn’t necessarily have less pity for him, but at the same time I didn’t have quite as much pity for him as I did before.
I have a feeling that these poets, illustrators, and biographers were playing on the people’s emotions. I believe that the things that they were saying evoked similar feelings to the ones that I had in the beginning. The things that kind of changed my feelings towards him are what lead up to the point of his death. I understand that his raids and all the things that he lead were for a good cause, but I also know that things can’t go unpunished no matter how good some people think they are because it would make it seem like those actions are acceptable. For example, if today somebody decided that they were going to kill all the serial killers in the world some people might feel that it is a noble cause. But, the bottom line is if that person goes unpunished, it will give other people the incentive to believe that if they went out and killed everybody that they thought was bad, it would be okay. I know John Brown had a noble cause but I also know that he had to be punished. At the same time, I did feel sympathetic towards him because I didn’t feel like he had to be hanged.
Also while I was reading the poems, I was awed by the way that he handled himself knowing that he was being led to death. I know if I was in a similar situation, I would not have been able to handle myself quite as well. His braveness and his ability to stay stoic in his time of death would have impressed anybody I’m sure. This is one of the points where my opinion of him didn’t change from when I read the poems and looked at the pictures to when I read the historian’s account. There is some evidence where John Brown planned how his death will impact the abolitionist’s move. It seems kind of conniving, but at the same time it was all for a good cause. I think he was more worried about people seeing the dangers of slavery, not necessarily about making sure that he was still talked about in the year 2011.
The last part is the kiss. Reading that part of the poem, I felt really humbled by it. It seemed so noble for him to still be dedicated towards his cause even on his way to death. When I read the true story of it my feelings also did not change. The fact that he could get so close to the people who were keeping him imprisoned shows just how strong his character is.
I think focusing on the good things helped push his cause more and helped him to be seen as a martyr more than if they talked about the good and bad things.