Does vanity play a role?
About thirty years ago, I found myself at a dinner party with one of Britain’s last executioners - he’d done the job back in the 1950s - he was fascinating to talk to. I don’t think he ever hanged a woman (it was very rare in Britain as I understand it - women nearly always got reprieved) but one thing that struck me was him saying he’d never hanged a coward. Men seemed to him to understand that it was inevitable when it came down to it and all they had left was their dignity. The method they used in the UK also gave them little time to panic - he said they were generally hanging less than thirty seconds after their cell door was opened, no last words or any of those trappings - straight from the cell to the trapdoor under the rope and beam through a hidden door, straps on, lever pulled.