Women Who Murder Essay, Research Paper
Women who Murder
Marriage is a life long commitment between two people.
Vows are taken as a promise to one another, ? Till Death Do us
Part? may be the most well known vow, but with the two women I
will be discussing they take it into their own hands to speed up
the process. The following stories are about two women who commit
murder in some form, perhaps intentional or not who are not
punished as far as the story tells us. Fortunately, we have a
legal system that is designed to prevent these homicides and
programs specifically designed to help women in cases like these
that feel they have no other choice but to murder their husband
to achieve freedom. As you will see these women were so desperate
that they felt murder was their only option. One woman did it for
freedom, and the other for companionship, both are murderers any
way you put it.
Emily Grierson, lived alone in an old ? eyesore? of a house
that no one had been inside of since she stopped giving china
painting lessons ten years ago. She was considered a tradition in
her town, and was shown special treatment thanks to a former
mayor who?d pardoned her from the rules that applied to negro
women at that time. However, the next generation didn?t look upon
Emily so kindly. Tax forms were constantly mailed to her home,
the townspeople found the smell that seeped from her home so
unbearable that they snuck onto her property to correct the
situation. Emily had no contact with the townspeople, Until she
met Homer Barron, a Northerner foreman, notorious for drinking
and taking a liking to younger men.
Within a few days, Emily and Homer were seen
riding together in a buggy, and spending alot of time together.
The townspeople thought that the they would marry, but
when they heard that Emily bought arsenic they assumed she would
kill herself and were happy for her, they said ? it would be the
best thing ?. When the streets were done Homer disappeared, it
was assumed that he went to prepare for his marriage to Emily. He
returned a few days later and was never seen again. Miss Emily
was seen buying a men?s toiletry set along with men?s clothing
including a night shirt, from that point on it is assumed that
they are married . Some time after that, Miss Emily passed away.
A funeral was held, and once she was in the ground, the
townspeople opened up the room that noone had seen in nearly
forty years, what they found was quite disturbing. A room set up
for a bridal with a man?s suit and shoes looked almost as if it
were just placed there, with the exception of the dust and
discoloring. They found the man it belonged to laying in the bed
decomposed with traces of an embrace that had long been
unreturned.It was Homer Barron, and the pillow next to him had an
indentation with a long strand of iron gray hair resting on it.
Miss Emily was unavailable for
questioning due to her death, so it is assumed that the arsenic
from earlier in the story was not used for rats, but to keep
Homer there with her, for fear of loneliness or perhaps she was
insane, the author does not disclose this information. I think
that she killed him in fear that he would leave her, and this is
the first man she would be permitted to see since her father?s
watchful eyes were no longer around. This is truly a case of
homicide, unlike the next story I will discuss where intentional
murder is committed in a different way.
Delia Jones is a washwoman in a poverty
stricken area of Florida. She is married to a man named Sykes who
is abusive to her in more ways than one. The verbal abuse is more
evident than the physical aspect of it. Delia had to endure years
of Sykes comments on her weight and profession, along with being
assaulted and tormented by his cruel jokes. Sykes openly has an
affair with a fat woman named Bertha. He was paying for her to
stay in town, even though Delia was at home cooking and cleaning,
trying to make a living. Sykes preys on Delia?s fear of snakes
from the beginning of the story, first with the whip resting on
her shoulder, then he takes it too far and brings home a real
snake. After asking him numerous times to get rid of the snake
Delia finally voices her aggression and hate for her husband. He
doesn?t hit her this time, he makes a few threats and retreats
out the door. When Sykes didn?t return that night, Delia felt
great, thinking maybe he was really gone for good, freedom at
last. While she is finishing her wash she spots the snake in a
basket, somehow it escaped from its soap box in the kitchen.
Without a second glance Delia ran out of the house and climbed
onto the roof of the haybarn. She slept there, too scared to go
back into the house. In the morning she sees Sykes go into the
house and doesn?t warn him of the loose snake, and after a few
minutes she hears screaming that doesn?t sound of human nature.
She watches from the window as a struggle ensues, and as she
approaches the door she sees Sykes dragging himself half dead to
get help, but she just looks, turns away and waits for death to
take its toll; comforting herself with the feeling that the
doctor was too far to save him.
In both of these stories the women committed murder. Emily
poisoned Homer Barron . Delia watched her husband die, but didn?t
do it with her own two hands. Both are at fault morally but
legally is another question. Emily Grierson was of sound body and
mind when she purchased the arsenic she later used on Homer. Her
killing him was premeditated, however I don?t think that she
fully understood the consequences of her actions. According to
the modern penal law which is based on U.S. vs. Brawner,471 F.2D
969(1972), if she did not possess ? substantial capacity to
either appreciate the criminality of her conduct or to conform
his conduct to the requirement of the law?. I personally think
she knew what she was doing, but with all the loop holes in the
criminal justice system Emily could easily slip through with the
insanity defense. If that did not work for her, she could also
use the ? diminished capacity ? defense which also examines
mental competence,but it is merely pleading to a lesser
crime.Unlike Delia, who did not intentionally murder Sykes. She
didn?t place the snake in the house, nor did she lure him into
the house. Delia watched her husband die which is not a murder
charge because she didn?t actually commit the crime. According to
Article 63 of Frances Penal code ? Any person who willfully fails
to render or to obtain assistance to an endangered person when
such was possible without danger to himself or others, shall be
subject to imprisonment…?, in the U.S. we have a similar law,
called the ? duty to aid ? law, but it is hard to prove that the
witness in question really heard or saw the endangered person.
There was a famous case of a woman who was stabbed 38 times in
the doorway of an apartment building in broad daylight with over
thirty witnesses and not one person called the police or tried to
help the woman who died of blood loss. This woman laid there for
forty minutes and bled to death before the police arrived, when
all it would of took was simple phone call to save her life.I
think that is very similar to what Delia did and if she were
prosecuted all she would have to say is that she arrived after he
was already dead. I don?t think the insanity defense applies to
Delia in any way. She was fully aware of what she was doing.
Unlike Emily who knew what she was doing, but somehow saw
justification in keeping Homer?s corpse in her bedroom, Emly
doesn?t appear to be the most mentally stable woman. Delia hated
her husband and saw this as her chance for freedom, so she let
him suffer and die. Emily just didn?t want to lose him whether it
be to another woman or whatever other dillusional ideas she had.