Off to the Gallows

After reading Daniel Defoe's, The Shortest Way With The Dissenters, I realized how uninformed I truly am on the history of 18th century England. I have picked up a few bits of information here and there (mostly in my English classes) but I find it difficult to grasp the satire and understand the references being alluded to in Defoe's work because of my lack of historical reference. I found myself looking things up for clarification and the reading of this piece became a bit arduous to say the least. None the less, I can understand why this work was misunderstood by its audience at the time it was published; Defoe wrote this piece as a pamphlet and the readers thought it to be true.

In this piece, Defoe mimicked the bloodthirsty rhetoric of High Anglican Tories and pretended to argue for the extermination of all Dissenters (Defoe himself was a Dissenter). In Shortest-Way the speaker's position is an extreme, murderous, and exaggerated version of the High Church attitude towards Dissenters. Although absurd, Defoe's speaker voices an opinion that clearly illustrates the possible conclusions to which such extreme views might lead. The speaker's point is very evident; the "true Enemies" of the Established Church must be "rooted out from the Face of this Land for ever." The speaker feels these enemies should be dealt with in a way that will protect "Millions of future Souls" and that all "the Dissenters in England should be Hanged or Banished."

For publishing the pamphlet The Shortest Way with the Dissenters, Daniel Defoe was placed in the pillory, where an English mob could torment him.

Picture Source: MSN Encarta