Delope

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Delope (French for "throwing away") is the practice of throwing away one's first fire in a duel, in an attempt to abort the conflict. According to most traditions the deloper must first allow his opponent the opportunity to fire after the command ("present") is issued by the secondary, without hinting at his intentions. The Irish code duello forbids the practice of deloping explicitly.

The delope could be attempted for practical reasons if one's opponent was thought to be superior in ability, or for moral reasons if the duelist had objections to attempting to kill his opponent.

For one's opponent to insist upon a second shot after a delope was considered bloodthirsty and unbecoming. Often, it would fall to the secondaries to immediately end the duel after a delope had been observed.

Contents 1 Notable uses 1.1 In popular culture 2 In game theory 3 References 4 Notes

[edit] Notable uses

• Alexander Hamilton, a 19th-century American politician, is thought to have perhaps attempted to delope during his infamous duel with Aaron Burr, then the sitting Vice President of the United States, during their duel on July 11, 1804. Rather than firing into the ground (as was customary for deloping), Hamilton fired into the air; Burr, perhaps misunderstanding his opponent's intent, fired directly at Hamilton, mortally wounding him. However, Burr's animosity towards Hamilton was such that it is not out of the question that Burr understood what Hamilton was doing and intentionally shot to kill, or at least draw blood.

• William Pitt, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, chose to delope to indicate "moral superiority", having been forced into a duel with another Member of Parliament.^[1]

[edit] In popular culture

• In Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon, Lyndon attempts the delope only to have his opponent insist upon a second fire, resulting in Lyndon's leg being amputated.

• In Woody Allen's Love and Death, Allen's character Boris, having been wounded in one arm, delopes by firing his pistol straight up. The descending bullet then wounds him in the other arm.

• In George MacDonald Fraser's novel Flashman, the title character appears to delope in a duel, though the matter is a little more complicated than that.

• In John Jakes' novel (and subsequent miniseries), North and South, Charles Main delopes into the air during his first duel after proving this challenger, Whitney Smith, was "a coward"; Main also took pity on Smith's attempts to hide from the bullet after Smith's shot missed.

• In the Star Trek episode "The Squire of Gothos", Captain Kirk challenges Squire Trelayne to a duel. Trelayne insists on firing first. Kirk reluctantly agrees, then Trelayne delopes.

[edit] In game theory

Deloping is the best strategy for a duelist with lower accuracy than both his opponents in a truel (against rational opponents) who is given first fire.

[edit] References

• Flemming, Thomas. 1999. The Duel: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and the Future of America. New York: Perseus Books. ISBN 0-465-01736-3, p. 8-9.

[edit] Notes