Simon Winchester writes “The
Professor and the Madman” to tell the story of the two most important men who composed
the Oxford English Dictionary, and their stories. The thesis conveys that there’s
a fine line between reason and madness, as well as the fact that things in our
past can severely affect our future. Minor’s past had a lot of debt and
thoughts about debauchery. “His mother died of consumption… Two of the sons
that resulted from this marriage died, the first aged one, the second five. One
of William’s stepsisters died when she was eight. His own sister, Lucy, died of
consumption when she was twenty-one.” This, added up with his “lascivious thoughts”
and his job of branding a man sent him off into psychosis. “The flesh sizzled,
the blood bubbled and steamed; the prisoner screamed and screamed.”
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