What is the relationship between the punisher and the punished when the punished outlasts the punishment?

What does it tell us about the nature of authority that the person who exercised it paid no price for its exercise, while the person it was exercised upon paid with years of her life and the lives of those she cared for?

These questions were relevant in 1542 and they remain relevant today, which is why the story keeps finding new readers and new interpreters.

The Historical Woman And The Fictional Versions