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How did Daniel Defoe respond to being sentenced to the pillory?
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Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe, engraving by M. Van der Gucht, after a portrait by J. Taverner, first half of the 18th century.
Although Daniel Defoe was "miserably apprehensive" about his punishment, he responded to his sentencing with remarkable spirit and defiance. While awaiting his time in the pillory, he wrote the audacious "Hymn To The Pillory" (1703).1
This literary response helped transform his public punishment into a personal triumph. Rather than being shamed, Defoe was celebrated by the public: the pillory was garlanded, the mob drank to his health, and copies of his poem were sold in the streets. Later, in his 1715 work An Appeal to Honour and Justice, he provided his own self-justifying account of these events.1