Female Violence In Caroline Knox's 'Lizzie Borden'

Nowadays, freedom is a fundamental right for each man and woman, but it is not a perfect concept. When one’s freedom is endangered, he can do unimaginable things, especially when love is at stake or can react weirdly when he acquires it. It’s exactly what Kate Chopin, a female American author during the 19th century, did when she treated about women’s conditions in the short-story Story of an Hour in 1894, where a woman falsely learns about his husband’s death. Almost 60 years later, Roald Dahl wrote Lamb To The Slaughter, set in Great Britain, where a woman kills her husband and hide the evidences cleverly. These two short stories are not only comparative on the two female protagonists and the imagery used, but also on the main themes

The Lizzie Borden case has mystified and fascinated those interested in crime forover on hundred years. Very few cases in American history have attracted as much attention as the hatchet murders of Andrew J. Borden and his wife, Abby Borden. The bloodiness of the acts in an otherwise respectable late nineteenth century domestic setting is startling. Along with the gruesome nature of the crimes is the unexpected character of the accused, not a hatchet-wielding maniac, but a church-going, Sunday-school-teaching, respectable, spinster-

In a world where showing a bit too much shoulder was forbidden, came Susan Glaspell. Glaspell was an American playwright, born in the cruel times of oppression. This influenced women’s opinions on certain subjects which caused them to be silenced by fear of rejection from society. “A Jury of Her Peers” was based on an era where women felt as though it was unreasonable to speak up if they felt it was not absolutely dire. Harboring these pent up feelings could cause a person to act antagonistic. Minnie Wright was an example of this. She killed her husband and was subjected to the judgement of her peers. As the group investigated Mr. Wright’s death, there were two stories unraveling. The in depth explanation that the women figured out and the simplistic version the men had seemed to pick up (Glaspell). People would benefit from reading this story to begin to understand the struggle of what this and other women had gone through. Penn Manor American Literature students would benefit from having Susan Glaspell’s story “A Jury of Her Peers” in their curriculum because of how she expressed feminism through her writing at a time when it was new and discouraged; her ability to emphasize the themes with her settings and characters; and her literature that follows a protagonist that navigates through a sexist world.

“Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one.” The grisly murders of Andrew and Abby Durfee Gray Borden remain to be one of the most sensational double murders in American history, rivaling even the likes of the O.J. Simpson trials. The “Lizzie Borden took an axe” rhyme is supposed to chronicle the macabre accounts of the murders. However, the rhyme possesses several historical inaccuracies. Lizzie’s “mother” in this rhyme was actually Lizzie’s stepmother and was “only” struck nineteen times with a hatchet not with an axe. Lizzie’s father, Andrew, received about ten blows to the head ( ). Though the children's rhyme is not quite historically accurate the

On August 4th, 1892, a horrific murder took place. On that day, a young woman named Lizzie Borden was accused for murder, but some think she is innocent. I believe Lizzie Borden is guilty. She did not have good relationship with her step-mother, there were no signs of anyone trying to break into the Borden home, and she was lying about where she was when the murder occurred, she said she was outside in the backyard but there were no footprints or anything to prove she was. Lizzie Borden is guilty and here are 3 reasons why.

Have you ever been so angry you thought about killing your parents with an axe? Well many people think Lizzie Borden did this exact thing. Lizzie Borden was accused of murdering her step mother and father with a hatchet on August 4, 1892. While on trial, the jury found her innocent, but many other people think her to be guilty. I think that Lizzie Borden is innocent of the murder of Andrew and Abby Borden because she loved her father, didn’t have a problem with her stepmother, and there was no physical evidence found at the crime scene. Lizzie Borden was found innocent by law, so why should it be questioned?

The murder of Abby and Andrew Borden has been a mystery for over a century, but I believe I know what happened. The brutal murder of Lizzie Borden’s parents occured on August 4, 1892, it was a normal day until those fateful hours. Many people believed that Lizzie is guilty, but I think otherwise. I believe that Lizzie Borden is innocent because She showed a lot of grief in personal letters, she feared someone would kill her father, and Lizzie cared for her father and step-mother despite what people said about her. The evidence that will be provided will give fresh insight on this topic.

In 1982, Lizzie Borden became publically known for killing her mother and father in their home located in Fall River Massachusetts. Many people believe that this murder is the most notorious murder in America due to the abundance of press. Hitt J states that “Between the telephone and the newspapers, this crime became a worldwide phenomenon.” Countless people weren’t surprised at the crime that was committed, they were surprised at the person that did the crime. HittJ says, “this murder was so significant because of the brutality of the crime and the fact a woman was accused of it, most people do not associate this kind of bloody crime with a woman.”

The author of The Crucible and the author of “Half-Hanged Mary,” both portray how women are treated and looked upon based on their gender roles. Women’s roles back in the Puritan times differ from how women are treated today. During Puritan times, women were considered to be weak and a servant to the male. In Margaret Atwood’s poem, “Half-Hanged Mary,” she shows this by using a main character in the story named Mary. Mary was a woman who gets accused of witchcraft during the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692, and later gets hanged. On the day of Mary’s hanging, men of the community gather around. Not to pity her, but to show their dominance, and hatred towards her.

These three brides represent the femme fatale, the fatal woman. The over sexualised women whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. These women serve as monstrous reminders of what happens if the boundaries of proper behaviour and traditional gender roles are crossed. These women, although beautiful, possess the wrong type of beauty, one of which brands them as evil, openly sexual and seductive women. Who, in addition lack the chaste passivity and fragility of the ideal Victorian lady, thus making them deserving of some form of punishment in order for them to be returned to their pure, innocent, albeit dead, human form.

From beginning to end, Susan Glaspell’s 1917 short story “A Jury of Her Peers,” has several repetitive patterns and symbols that help the reader gain a profound understanding of how hard life is for women at the turn-of-the-century, as well as the bonds women share. In the story two women go with their husbands and county attorney to a remote house where Mr. Wright has been killed in his bed with a rope and he suspect is Minnie, his wife. Early in the story, Mrs. Hale sympathizes with Minnie and objects to the way the male investigators are “snoopin’ round and criticizin’ ” her kitchen. In contrast, Mrs. Peters, the Sheriffs wife, shows respect for the law, saying that the men are doing “no more than their duty”. However, by the end of the story Mrs. Peters unites with Mrs. Hale in a conspiracy of silence and concealing evidence. What causes this dramatic transformation?

The media today, is highly selective in their constructions of offences, offenders and victims. Media representations of crime are moulded and women are portrayed in a way that is entertainment driven and is appealing to the audience. Despite the fact that women seldom stalk, murder outsiders or commit sequential murders- in fact they are rarely vehement, “accounting for only ten percent of convicted violent offenders- those who do so are highly newsworthy because of their novelty” (Jewkes 2011, p. 123) Present day media admits that because fierce women are comparatively uncommon, they are all the more appealing and diabolical to the audience as a result. The essay shall discuss the reason and presentation in the media of female offenders, female victims and women specific crimes.

While most of the violent crimes that happens most are them are belongs to men, women have not been the wilting flowers promoted so heartily by Victorian adorers and (right or wrong) often evident in today's society. Before we get into detail about the fascinating phenomenon of the Black Widow, it is worth a brief overview of women's escalating role in the world of violent crime, particularly in the United States.

Though set in entirely dissimilar countries at different points in history, Margaret Atwood’s ‘Alias Grace’ and Hannah Kent’s ‘Burial Rites’ possess significant comparisons. Both for instance, are fictionalized historical novels following the tribulations of a female protagonist convicted of murder and both have been widely acclaimed for their incredible literary style which merges classic poetry, epigraphs, folklore and historical articles with fiction. The most striking parallel between each novel that can be drawn, however, is the way in which authors masterfully craft the stories of untrustworthy, cunning and deceptive criminals to elicit sympathy from their audiences. Readers of the novel and secondary characters alike are gradually pulled into sympathising with ambiguous and untrustworthy female leads, Grace Marks (Alias Grace) and Agnes Magnusdottir (Burial Rites). Despite the heavy suspicions of others and a lack of evidence to support their claims of innocence, these characters present artfully manipulated features of their defence stories to provoke empathy, sympathy and trust from those within the novel, and those reading it.

The issue of female persecution throughout many of Hitchcock’s films has been fiercely contested, none more so than the controversial issue of assault and the attempted rape of a woman. Views that Hitchcock represents the archetypal misogynist are supported, Modelski suggesting that his films invite “his audience to indulge their most sadistic fantasies against the female” (18). Through both the manipulation of sound and the use of language, none more so than in Blackmail and Frenzy, the idea of rape and violence does effectively silence and subdue not only the women in the films, but the also the women watching them (18).