Le syndrome de la femme fatale : « Matricide » et représentation féminine au Québec, 1898-1940

Abstract

Between 1867 and 1976, when the death penalty was abolished in Canada, sixteen women faced the death penalty in Québec for their crime. Five of them found guilty for murdering their husband. In a period where women had a specific role of spouse and mother, the murder of the husband was seen as the worst crime possible because it was seen as a transgression of their roles as women, wife and mother. This article examines the discourses of the judges and prosecutors in the trials of Québec women accused of killing their husbands. The authors tried to find common themes between these trials and clues that could explain why out of the five women executed in the recent history of Québec, four of them were for the same reason, because they had kill their husbands.