In 1933, Martin Niemöller, a leader of the Confessing Church, voted for the Nazi Party. What is the meaning of the Hangman’s riddle: “‘He who serves me best,’ said he, ‘shall earn the rope on the gallows-tree’”? How does the poem relate to Germany and the world of the 1930s? How does it relate to society today? What does it suggest about the challenges of speaking out and taking action in the face of complacency and uncertainty? In the poem, what choices are open to the townspeople when the Hangman arrives? What choices are left by the time he has finished his work in the town? Was there a way to stop the Hangman? If so, how? If not, why not?
“Lied to you? Tricked you?” he said, “Not I.įor I answered straight and I told you true: “That your scaffold was built for other men. “You tricked me, Hangman!” I shouted then, Was the yellow twist of the hempen strand.Īnd he whistled his tune as he tried the trap To the courthouse square through the silent town,Īnd supple and stretched in his busy hand
To the Hangman’s tree and the Hangman’s rope. Till they covered the square from side to side Īnd the monster cross-beam, looking down,Īnd thought: “There is no one left at all “It’s a trick,” he said, “that we hangmen knowįor easing the trap when the trap springs slow.” “Have you for the doomed-the doomed and black?” To try the strength of the gallows-beam.” The Hangman smiled: “It’s a clever scheme “What,” said the Hangman, “have you to do The third he took-and we had all heard tell. Than the steps that led to the courthouse door,Īs tall as the writing, or nearly as tall, The Hangman’s scaffold had grown in size. With him that’s meant for the gallows-tree?” Then one cried “Murderer!” One cried “Shame!” To stretch the rope when the rope is new.” With his buckshot eye and his jaw like a pikeĪnd we cried: “Hangman, have you not done, The gallows-tree on the courthouse square. “Shall earn the rope on the gallows-tree.”Īnd we breathed again, for another’s griefĪnd the gallows-frame on the courthouse lawnīy tomorrow’s sun would be struck and gone. Than the capping sill of the courthouse door.Īnd we wondered, whenever we had the time,Īnd he gave us a riddle instead of reply: The scaffold stood by the courthouse side, And he paced our bricks with a diffident airĪnd built his frame on the courthouse square.
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