Make Way for the Female Murderers!

                                                     Make Way for the Female Murderers!

Judith Knelman explores the fascination with female murders in Victorian Britain in her article “Women Murderers in Victorian Britain'' published in History Today. Her exploration of the public attitudes towards women murderers reveals the different views between male and female murders which speak to the larger social confines for women. While the Victorian Era public recognized the horrific nature of murder, the increased sevarity in the treatment of female murderers focuses more on the social and moral crime of breaking Victorian values and confines for women. The intense lens on the disruption of social conventions lessens the importance and attention on the crime. Knelman observes this trend through newspaper articles focusing on female perpetrators that beg the question: does society punish women murderers for the crime of taking a human life or for breaking social codes? Knelman focuses her article on published articles of female murderers as the media plays a huge role in shaping the attitudes of society. 

Knelman opens with the discussion of the impact of domestication which limited female duty and place in the world to the household. Domestication painted women as loving, nurturing, and submissive beings which directly contrasts with the presentation of a murderer’s characteristics. Domestication made the thought of a woman with murderous thoughts and actions impossible as such a gentle human could not possess the dangerous and violent qualities of a murderer. Yet, when the British public faced a woman murderer, the prevalence of domestication ideals removed the female murderer from her sex, not only was she what Knelman calls a “traitor to her sex” (9), but she was stripped of her female identity as the public was incapabile of seeing the murderer as a woman. For female murderers, not only did they take a human life but they turned against their families, husbands, society, by revolting against the “natural” role of a submissive woman. Knelman asserts that the air of impossibility with regards to female murderers quickly turned into disgust, “While male villainy was dismissed as an unfortunate regression, the same sort of behavior in females particularly when it was directed at males, was condemned as a hideous perversion” (Knelman, 10). Here, Knelman highlights society's disgust with female murderers for taking a life and breaking social norms as well as the difference in the views between male murderers and female murderers. Society views murderers in a negative light but as Knelman points out, the degree in severity based on sex differs. Further, Knelman observes the increased disdain for women who murdered men as they not only broke the social codes but they challenged and threatened male dominance. 

Many newspaper articles featuring female murderers painted the female as a cold-blooded monster to frame the female murder as an outsider, unnatural to Victorian society. Knelman highlights this monstrous portrayal by providing newspaper articles and illustrations which fed the Victorian public's obsession and disgust with female murderers. The images of the execution of female murderers served two purposes, the first being that the sensationalization of crime sold copies. The second, Knelman asserts, has a darker purpose which was to hold up the execution of a female murderer as a representation for those who break Victorian norms. Such executions are published to show the dominance and preservation of Victorian dedicated gendered roles. 

Knelman’s observations and arguments examine the differences between the societal views of female and male murderers. Though, she points out that 85% of murderers were male, the portrayal of female murderers received more negative attention as the female murderers rebelled against gender norms. Through her analysis of Victorian era newspaper publications, Knelman notes the fascination and disgust with female murders. Her observations demonstrate that the punishment for female murderers goes further than penalizing on the basis of their crimes, it is retribution for their abandonment of domestic ideals.