Capital punishment, also known as “The Death Penalty,” is the act of legally killing somebody who has committed a crime in place of punishment. Capital punishment could be carried out by firing squad, hanging, gas chamber, lethal injection, or electrocution. The death penalty was banned in Canada in 1976. In the short story, “Two Fishermen” by Morley Callaghan, Thomas Delany is sentenced to capital punishment for killing a man who molests his wife. One can assume that Callaghan’s short story was set in the United States, in a state where capital punishment was legal, sometime in the 1940s. If the story were to take place in Canada, Thomas Delany would still be dead, because the death penalty was still invoked on people who committed murder until 1961.

Thomas Delany should not have been killed for his actions. Firstly, Delaney was only defending his wife’s integrity and well-being. Everyone in town knew that, as they knew “[t]here had been a struggle” between Delany and Rhinehart, after Rhinehart was caught molesting Delany’s wife (Callaghan 1). Delaney’s only intention was to protect his wife, not kill. Secondly, it can be argued that Thomas Delaney was defending himself from his attacker, Rhinehart. Although Delany started the fight, we know that it had been a fair fight because “Delaney had taken a bad beating before he had killed Rhinehart” (Callaghan 1). The “struggle” could have gone in either man’s favor. Lastly, no person, no matter what the crime they committed, should be sentenced to death. Capital punishment is not an adequate form of punishment, but rather an inhumane way of dealing with people who break the law. Who are we to decide when and how somebody else is going to die? Solving murder with more murder does not make sense; two wrongs do not make a right. In conclusion, capital punishment should never be carried out, especially in Thomas Delany’s case of pure protection and self-defense.