In 1916, Edith Wharton and Susan Glaspell coincided in each telling the story of a different fictional murderess. Although both works are written within different genres, there are striking similarities between the situations of these women who murdered their husbands. Even more arresting is the choice of the plot device of judicial examination of the facts to give textual representation to the reality of these women's experience. Both writers explore the relation between official, legal narratives and suppressed, illegitimate stories, in which male and female versions conflict to such an extent, that the ascendancy of one over the other determines the fate of the women on trial. **********
