Capital Punishment

A Quick Overview of Capital Offenses in 19th-century England

To some conservative people, the 19th century in England marked the steady erosion of stringent punishments for crimes. In particular, by the end of the century almost none of the capital offenses were still punishable by death. This issue, then was of lively concern not for Japanese people but for British Victorians, for whom it was a matter of much debate, Parliamentary change, and legal reform.

The capital crimes in this operetta are flirting, suggesting Gilbert's sense that the only crimes left as capital offenses were superficial, and suicide -- both, in a way, social crimes rather than really crimes against people. This is, of course, consistent with the crimes Ko-Ko is willing to execute people for -- all of which are social "crimes" -- as well as crimes the Mikado describes punishments for. None of Ko-Ko's or the Mikado's "crimes" are really crimes.

A Few Scattered Facts about Executions

To Act I or Act II of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado.

To the homepage of this Mikado website.

Suggestions, contributions, criticisms, questions? Email Sharon Cogdill.

(c) Copyright 1998 Sharon Cogdill, dramaturg for this production and author of this website.

College of Fine Arts and Humanities

St. Cloud State University

This URL: http://web.stcloudstate.edu/scogdill/mikado/capitalpun.html.

Last update: 18 May 1998.