Graduate Program
History
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Semester of Degree Completion
2008
Thesis Director
Newton Key
Thesis Committee Member
Mark Voss-Hubbard
Thesis Committee Member
Unknown
Abstract
Crime held a certain fascination for eighteenth-century Londoners. They devoured case summaries, ballads, broadsides, pamphlets, and collections of criminal biographies. In addition, they flocked to Tyburn Tree to witness the malefactors hang for their crimes. Then, like now, murders were appalling, but murders committed by women were especially shocking. While part of the interest in murderesses is attributable to their relative rarity, eighteenth century Londoners were also concerned with the implications of deviant women on the state of their society. This was a culture that firmly believed that women's subordination to men was critical to the maintenance of order. In a society without an official law enforcement agency, public belief and participation in the justice system was vital. The popular literature detailing the bloody deeds of murderesses acted as a form of law enforcement by educating the public about the dangers of deviant women. These publications showed the unfortunate results of women acting out inherent negative female characteristics, including unruliness, willful independence, and sexual amorality. By studying the reaction to women who acted out of their subscribed roles societal gender perceptions become clearer. This study examines the cases of 42 women convicted of murder in London between 1674 and 1799 and reveals a confused picture of female identity. Women were at once assumed to be naturally unruly and sexually voracious, and at the same time expected to be disciplined and chaste. The independent woman was feared because of her potential to disrupt the social order, and yet women were also depended upon to maintain that order within the household. Murderesses were so feared, not because women were bad, which was assumed, but because they acted out their inherent badness, indicating weakness in society.
Recommended Citation
Tock, Annie, ""I see by this woman's features, that she is capable of any wickedness": Murderous women, public justice, and the social order in London, 1674-1799" (2008). Masters Theses. 3.
https://thekeep.eiu.edu/theses/3
