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.