Lizzie Borden: Female Murderer

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she was looking for fishing equipment in the barn and eating outside during the murders (Lewis), she said, “I am innocent. I leave it to my counsel to speak for me” (Qtd. in Lewis). She did not provide the court with any proof, since she could not, but simply stated she was innocent. Borden was so confident in her story that she did not testify, believing that her counsel would her prove innocence. Another instance of Borden’s guiltlessness includes her instructions she wrote for her funeral: “I wish to be laid at my father's feet. A small head stone to match others of my family” (Qtd. in Langlois). If she had felt any guilt, perhaps she would have wanted to be buried somewhere else, as a murderer, one would not want to be laid at her own victim’s feet. Since Lizzie Borden did not seem to show any signs of guilt toward the people she murdered, one may find it hard to believe that she did, in fact, kill her parents.

Borden was also shown as innocent by how her ...

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stood out enough to be accused. The few that were left then, were proven innocent (Linder). Andrew Borden’s illegitimate son, however was not, and could be the true perpetrator (McNamara). Unfortunately for Lizzie Borden, though, there is not much his son could gain from killing Mr. Borden. Her father did not have a will (Lewis), and so the inheritance went to Lizzie Borden and her sister. Thus, this illegitimate son would have to go through a lot of effort to kill Mr. Borden and his wife, and not gain very much in the end. Therefore, Lizzie Borden was guilty of killing her parents because no one else had a motive to kill them like she did.

These motives are then seen through ...

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