Inadmissible

The story of Lizzie Borden revolves around one of the most sensational unsolved crimes in American history. Andrew and Abby Borden, Lizzie's father and stepmother, were killed in a horrifying double axe murder. Their violent deaths occurred in the nineteenth century, at a time when women were ruled by the heavy hand of patriarchy, and still had no legal rights. Also in this era, the Women s Suffrage movement emerged as a powerful force that began to shift society toward greater freedom and legal protections for women. As I looked deeply into the Borden case, I discovered numerous murderous women in the Victorian era whose circumstances echoed elements of Lizzie s story. They, too, struggled with harshly restrictive laws and cultural norms that deprived them of so much. Did these unendurable pressures and expectations drive all of them to murder?