Jailor's Wife

A detailed Summary of Jailor's Wife

After reading Michael Kunze's The Highroad to the Stake , I feel that the Ironmaster's wife has a very unfortunate life, yet she did not look for pity, she made the best of the situation. Her lifestyle is one that is not glorious or even desirable, yet the way she lives it is almost admirable. She has to deal with certain appalling facts about herself and her husband that most l people normally don't even think about and she did it the best way possible. I feel that she solely responsible for maintaining some type of sanity in her entire household.

To be a member of the lowest caste of society during the early modern period in Europe meant that you were involved in some type of lowly profession. A few examples of these professions included things such as gravediggers, beggars (which was considered a profession as you needed a license to do this at the time) and a jailer. When one was a jailer they were excluded from society, people turned their heads away from them. Reasons for this may have been that people didn't want to see the man that carried out the brutal punishments the courts concocted. The people had no problem with torturing a man and his family, but they couldn't actually face the man who had done it.

The only thing worse than being a jailer, is being a jailer's wife. She had to try to raise a healthy family under these harsh conditions, while being ignored by society. "People in the street did not see her simply as a housewife; they avoided her as "dishonorable" on account of her husband's occupation." (Kunze 292) Her family lived in Falcon Tower with the prisoners and that is where she had to try and meek out some sort of existence. I believe she had done everything in her power to make her life seem as normal and stable as possible. "On the Northeast side of the building she had laid out a little garden which a few vegetables and some wild flowers transplanted from the meadows struggled to exist." (Kunze 292) I believe living in Falcon Tower had definitely took a toll on the Ironmaster's wife. I feel that it is next to impossible to raise a family in such a harsh and violent surrounding. Kunze stated that the screams of the tortured and dying could be heard during supper time. "...conversation about everyday things always had an undertone of terror." (Kunze 292)

Michael Kunze goes on to state that the Ironmaster's wife was the only person to show the prisoners a bit of comfort in Falcon Tower. Although she did not make it her mission to improve the lives of the people in the tower, she did go above her expected duties and responsibilities. I feel that deep down inside she felt sorry for these people that her husband was going to or in the process of maiming and torturing, but she did nothing fo

Some common words found in the essay are:
Falcon Tower, Highroad Stake, Hansel Pappenheimer, Michael Kunze, ironmaster's wife, falcon tower, kunze 292, jailer's wife, , highroad stake, kunze 293, prisoners bit, society people, family harsh,

Approximate Word count = 1028
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous