21st Century: Query 177 (John Wilkes Booth & Abraham Lincoln)
“I have
too great a soul to die like a criminal.”
How might Booth’s assertion be ironic, given the manner of his own death?
~ John Wilkes Booth was an American actor who assassinated President Abraham
Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14,
1865. A member of the prominent, 19th-century Booth
theatrical family from Maryland, and a famous actor in his own right, Booth
was also a Confederate sympathizer who, denouncing President Lincoln, lamented
the recent abolition of slavery in the United
States.
How might Booth’s assertion be ironic, given the manner of his own death?
How might
Booth himself view the historical record of his life, actions, and “great soul”?
What current person
of note expresses a similar high opinion of him or herself? How does this
person act out in the public area?
How might this
ignoble figure end up dying “like a criminal” despite his or her assertion of greatness?