Forgiveness is generally defined as “as a conscious, deliberate decision to release feelings of resentment or vengeance toward a person or group who has harmed you, regardless of whether they actually deserve your forgiveness.” Forgiveness is a lot of things; it is love, affection, and it is peace. Forgiveness has the power to give one peace in one’s heart and soul– just like Helen Prejean gives to Matthew Poncelet In the movie “dead man walking”, however, how can forgiveness affect a person?
Helen Prejean is a catholic nun from Louisiana, who grew up in an affluent, loving home. Helen Prejean devoted her life to helping others, and through her work she has gained firsthand knowledge to the hard consequences that people are suffering under. When she received a letter from an inmate sitting on death row – convicted for brutal murder and rape, she was led into the state penitentiary’s death house. Where she meet Matthew Poncelet, she becomes his spiritual adviser and friend. Prejean helps him to accept his crime, and shows him the kindness of love, which in the end, saves his soul. Matthew Poncelet is sitting on death row, awaiting an execution by lethal injection. Poncelet reaches out to Helen Prejean, by writing her a letter, and after a few visits they establishes a special relationship. Poncelet is racist, arrogant and sexist, he claims himself to be innocent – and does not feel or express any kind of remorse. There is a change in his character throughout the movie; Sister Helen changes him – through her love she gives him peace in his last hours, making him admit to his crimes.
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