Why? (Por qué?)

In the middle of a natural setting a man is being subjected to brutal torture. Two French soldiers are holding the legs of a Spanish man they have taken prisoner whose head has been tied to a tree with a rope. The rope is taught, squeezing tight around the neck of the prisoner. His eyes are closed, his mouth open. The figure seems to be screaming in pain, his hair standing on end from the unbearable physical suffering. One soldier pushes his foot into the prisoner's back to ensure that the rope is tight enough to asphyxiate him.

This image continues the theme represented in the previous print, no. 31, That's tough! (Fuerte cosa es), in which a solider pulls on the feet of a hanged man to hasten his death or make sure that he is already dead. The two scenes are equally cruel, depicting torture meted out without pity.

The title of this print poses a question, Why?, asking what is the sense or reason behind such a level of suffering. The question is carried over into the next print, no. 33, What more can be done? (Qué hai que hacer mas?). Goya reiterates his inability to understand the events he depicts, answering his own question in print no. 35 in which he admits that One can't tell why (No se puede saber por qué).

Nature is complicit in this torture: the trunk of the tree, which has a burned, dry appearance, provides a support for this atrocious act of violence.