Comparing The Epistle By Arthur Grey And On Murder

The depiction of crime evolves as time goes on, especially in 18th and 19th century England. Numerous characteristics of literature change, including different influences, the time it is written, and the style the author writes in. Although people can see many changes, there was not a shift to aesthetics in the Romantic period because this philosophy is in works before the Romantic period even started. This is specifically present in poems, where aesthetics take a primary role in a work before the 19th century. By comparing and contrasting specific language that references the beauty of aesthetics, the personal perspective and the witness perspective of the speaker, the author’s intended audience that can comprehend aesthetics, and views of
This essay will serve to argue that the aestheticism of criminality is evident prior to the Romantic period.
The perspective of the reader is vastly different in The Epistle from Arthur Grey and On Murder, one being a personal account and the other an eye witness, but both focus on the beauty of murder. Montague begins the poem by letting Arthur, the murder, speak for himself and the motive behind his crime. She does this to display Arthur’s logical process to appeal to the aesthetics of her readers. In the poem, Montague communicates through Arthur’s language that “my only hope of ease” (64) is to murder the woman, his victim, because she is too much for Arthur to endure not having. Arthur’s observations of the woman come forth with great passion and focus and he describes her with “beauteous eyes” (19) and “cheeks all glowing with tempting red” (77) to showcase her beauty. Montague’s language is precise when writing this poem because she wants the readers to see the woman as a representation of aesthetics by describing her by her looks and beauty rather than her personality and characteristics to show how important Arthur’s vision is of the
In Montague’s poem, she is writing this for her inner network of associates because it is an account of one of her friends that is attacked. Although this poem eventually is published, initially, it only circulated throughout Montague’s friends. There is a divide between the two individuals in the poem, one being a woman of a better social grade and the other a man that is there to “serve you well” (23). By doing so, Montague is creating separation in the readers and developing the concept that only a specific group can understand what has happened to this woman. The employment of precise language and the specific audience of the poem is meant to focus on a certain class that has the ability to grasp the concept of taste. An additional aspect of the work is the elevated form of an epistle that Montague utilizes in her poem. By implementing this form, Montague is displaying that this poem is meant for her friends and people that can comprehend the style that Montague is telling the story in. Similarly, in On Murder, De Quincey writes to a fictional social group that can appreciate and understand taste. By doing so, De Quincey creates an audience of refined society in his work in order to convey the satirical message on society’s twisted view of murder. He utilizes precise language to describe an instance where a “poor