I enjoy death scenes in fiction. Death in general, in my opinion, can often have a very positive effect on a character. It adds instant drama and emotion. It’s usually the most intense episode in any storyline. No other event can get more theatrical without approaching self-parody.
However, some deaths are better than others. Death scenes can be supremely grand and lofty and dramatic, or they can be straight nastiness—Emma Bovary’s disgusting drawn-out death after taking arsenic shows how utterly unromantic a death scene can be. That’s not at all what I mean when I say I enjoy death scenes. It’s not the death itself that I find attractive; I’m not morbid. What I like is the emotional intensity that surrounds the best death scenes, both in literature and in film. I’ve made a list, in no particular order, of the best ways to die for maximum dramatic effect. BEWARE! It’s laden with spoilers of the worst kind!

1. Martyrdom at the stake.

Joan of Arc did this perfectly. So did a good many of the entries in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. This death is laden with nobility and extreme sincerity of conviction. The person dying is almost always virtuous. In literature at least, it’s completely impossible for a villain or even a morally grey character to be burned at the stake. If you end up burned at the stake, you’re dead; but congratulations! History will vindicate you and whatever you stood for. Instant heroism!

2. Defeat in duel. (Bonus points for a swordfight. Extra bonus points if you never intended to win.)

If Valmont hadn’t died in the duel at the end of Dangerous Liaisons, he couldn’t possibly have ended his story as a tragic hero. Survival of any sort would have let him remain a disgusting rapist and all-around reprobate, no matter how passionate and pure his love for the Presidente. Death by another means than this duel might have elevated him to the neutral level. But the duel is just romantic enough, and his final words and actions elevated enough, to make him decidedly sympathetic. Hamlet is another instance, although he was also poisoned and is thus an arguable example. With the bonus points, people usually don’t really go through with it—someone always gets wind of it and puts a stop to the duel. Yes, I’m pointing at you, Edmond Dantes! That death would’ve been awesome if Mercedes hadn’t tattled!

3. Slow, chronic illness that involves pallor and deathly thinness. (Bonus points for pulmonary tuberculosis, suitably romanticized.)

Hippolite Terentyev and Smike get all their allure out of this. And it works—they’re both absolutely loaded with pathos. Hippolite even dies “offscreen,” as it were: the actual death gets one sentence of the book. No matter; his lingering decline is plenty to make him tragic and interesting. Prince Andrei in War and Peace doesn’t get any of the bonus points, but the way he adds the sublime to his slow and smelly death from gangrene of all things is really extraordinary.

4. Execution by decapitation. (Bonus points for a noble resigned attitude on the way to the scaffold. Extra bonus points for being guillotined.)

A Man for All Seasons” couldn’t possibly end better, even though More doesn’t get all the bonus points. Sidney Carton gets all the bonus points, with the greatest possible results! He has one of the best deaths on this list. The way he comforts the timid woman standing next to him in the cart is heartbreaking in the best possible way.

5. Execution by firing squad. (Bonus points for awesome last words.)

Enjolras—just—Enjolras. His death is perfect. Hugo obviously knew how beautiful and perfect it was while he was writing it. The overblown style doesn’t detract from the scene, but adds to it—a testament to how amazing it is!

6. Assassination in public, such as while giving a speech.

Okay, I can only think of one for this, but it’s superlative: Malcolm X’s assassination in Spike Lee’s “Malcolm X”. He has this slight hint of a smile just before he’s shot. The scene is shocking and horrifying and beautiful, all at the same time.

7. Suicide. (Bonus points for philosophical suicide.)

Loads of characters in Dostoevsky, but Smerdyakov, Stavrogin, and Kirillov are the best, I think. The first two are clear villains, and their deaths don’t redeem them at all, but their death scenes are nonetheless moving and contain pathos; this is unusual and impressive.

8. Going down shooting an AK-47 or similar at a horde of attackers.

Mouse in “The Matrix” dies this way, and it’s easily his best scene. He’s wearing a beautiful outfit and sunglasses, while firing the bullets straight at the camera. It’s over in a very few seconds, but it has maximum visual effect.

So, if you plan on dying dramatically, consider a death from this list! Your biographer will thank you, and so will his readers!

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