Brakenbury knows perfectly well that his prisoner has not received a trial, fair or otherwise, but, handing the keys to the murderers, he asks no questions and offers no protest: “I will not reason what is meant hereby/Because I will be guiltless from the meaning” (1.4.93–94). By multiple acts of this kind, taken by respectable people eager to be “guiltless from the meaning,” tyranny is enabled.
