Family is Family.

          Our script focused on one of the most famous murders of the late 1800s. In the year 1892 Lizzie was accused for murdering her father and stepmother with an axe. Not a lot is known about the murder, but Lizzie was eventually acquitted and spent the rest of her life in the same town. Grace proposed that we make a story around Lizzie’s sister, Emma. It is thought that Emma may have had something to do with hiding evidence from authorities, so we played off of that theory. We even decided to use their maid, Bridget, in our story as well.

          Biography.com suggests that the relationship between Lizzie Borden and her stepmother was strained. Both Lizzie and her sister thought the stepmother had only married their father to obtain his immense wealth. We used this hatred of the stepmother to further our story. Their relationship was further pushed to a breaking point by the fact that Lizzie and Emma remained unmarried into adulthood. For this time, this was a great shame for the Borden family, and their father would often remark on their finding a husband. We used this detail to further explain why Lizzie murdered her father and stepmother, and why Emma was so willing and even eager to help in any way.

          “The Trial of Lizzie Borden” is an article by Doug Linder found online. The article goes through various pieces of evidence and why they are important. We decided to use these evidence pieces. Emma goes through each of them, and disposes of them in an eerily elegant way. We wanted to incorporate the lady like culture of the time, with the strong, independent woman culture that the world was trying to move towards. We believe this correlation between the two stories works perfectly to give this story just the right amount of impact. Emma is scary in the story, but she is also strong and determined.

          The story itself is small, and of little grand historical significance, but we believe these small pieces of history can be the most fascinating. This one was especially intriguing because it shows the possibility of rebellion in a culture so focused on the “perfect lady-like housewife.” It was also interesting to look into a culture so different from ours, and try to figure out what someone from that time would do. We believe this venturing into another culture and then creating a unique perspective is what makes historical stories so interesting.

Grace Taylor 

Jase Van Meeteren