In search of the phantom misnamed honor’: dueling in upper Canada
This paper does not in favor dueling it sees it as selfish and “perverting” of the whole notion of manly honor. Manly honor was seen as murder, lawlessness, and pride. Dueling was seen as a way to hold onto a mans honor however a true christian gentlemen saw it as the complete opposite. Male physical violence did not relate to male virtue in the eyes of a true gentleman. Dueling would negatively affect the mans family which made it so a lot of men wouldn’t duel because they had a family to take care of and if they died or committed murder they wouldn’t be able to do so.
Pistols at six o’clock
This paper again shows how dueling was for men to settle honor. Dueling remained fashionable but illegal for many years. In this paper you have 2 young men breaking the law and risking their lives in front of superior figures such as doctors and sheriffs, people who should have put an end to the illegal fights however would just stand there and watch for entertainment. The duels had a major impact on the women who were married or in a relationship with the males in the duels. It would tarnish their reputation as well as their significant others. This didn’t last forever, once the men had moved on with their lives and had wealth and a family behind them society seemed to forget that he had murdered someone. In this era it was normal for a man to murder another man in duel, he would be arrested for murder and then eventually released and be able to set up a wealthy high class life for himself.
In my opinion:
Dueling was a way for men to boost their ego and prove that they were better then the person they were dueling. This had a major effect on their lives as well as their families lives because in order for them to win a duel they had to become a murderer. But still no one put an end to this even the sheriff would stand by with the town and watch as this was happening, in my opinion this doesn’t make the town any better than the duelers because they were supporting the murder, and then on top of that the murderer would then serve a small amount of time in jail after ruining a families lives and still be given the chance to have a good life for him and his family. I am grateful that the laws have changed because if this was still an activity that happened I would not be able to support it.