Mischief – In the account of Owen Syllavan it was written in the front page that the following narrative was to show the “Manner of Life he led from Infancy.” The account is written in the first person perspective and Syllavan beigns by characterizing his youth as a continual state of mischief where a fear of God did nothing to stop his winful nature. The characterization of Syllavan as being of criminal since infancy ignores any role of nurture in his life. Instead it is believed that this inherent nature of mischief begot a life of capital crimes.
accomplice -Here the idea of bad company again rears its ugly head. Syllavan seems to be fairly proud of his accomplishments as a counterfeiter but he never once claims that he attempted to spend the money that he made. Instead Syllavan counterfeited the money for the use of others who had approached with the idea. He took no pains is selling them the fake money but was adamant that even though his accomplices were as guilty as he , he would not give them up to the authorities. He even warned them to rid themselves of any evidence of counterfeiting so they too would not have the same fate as he.
terror - In his dying speech syllavan warns his accomplices to make sure they do not meet the “King of Terrors”. I am inclined to believe that this “king” is God, who is the only one that can strike such drastic amounts of fear into a human. Likening God to terror is exemplary of the times because fear was the force that the masses believed could control the masses.