1.4 Queen of Hearts
The tyrant who sentences first and tries later
Introduction
The Queen of Hearts runs her croquet ground on a single policy: “Off with their head!” — applied to any infraction, however minor. In practice the King quietly pardons everyone, so no one is actually executed, but the Queen never notices and would not care. She is the logic of authority taken to its conclusion: punishment without appeal, sentence before verdict, power that does not need to be consistent to be absolute.