"She who is stepping from time into endless eternity" The social function of Scottish 'last speeches' on infanticide concerning women (1650-1800)
This master’s thesis examines the gendered constructions carried out by eighteenth-century Scottish gallows speeches from women condemned for infanticide. By analysing Lowland broadsides it argues that broadsides could contain authentic traces of lower class women’s voices. By confessing and making a ‘last speech’, women simultaneously made themselves subservient to authorities and acquired an agency to articulate their own opinions on their crime and sentencing. Moreover, they acquired a spiritual authority on the brink of their death, serving as an example on the gibbet which should not be followed, being able to warn others as they had confessed their sins and were about to face a higher judgement. Thus, this thesis argues, Scottish gallows speeches did not only serve to reinforce the judgement of authorities, but also to spread lower class, female opinions on the early modern justice system.
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