A Killer by Any Other Name

From what I have read so far, Grace is not your “typical” killer.  After reading the story about her mother dying at sea, plethora of siblings in desperate need of care, and her distant father who insists she go out to earn a living, I can’t help but feel empathy for her.  However, we are still left wondering whether or not she did, in fact, take Nancy’s life.  The newspapers collected by the Governor’s wife helps to shed some insight to Grace’s own view on her notorious reputation.  The articles run about the murder captivated society because she is a “celebrated murderess.” 
As Grace says, “Murderess is a strong word to have attached to you.  It has a smell to it, that word-musky and oppressive, like dead flowers in a vase.  Sometimes at night I whisper it over to myself: Murderess, Murderess. It rustles, like a taffeta skirt across the floor.  Murderer is merely brutal.  It’s like a hammer, a lump of metal.  I would rather be a murderess than a murderer, if those are the only choices.”
This quote says so much about Grace’s character.  Her metaphor connecting the word to a vase of dead flowers really struck me a something significant.  With the reoccurring theme of flowers appearing throughout the novel, a vase of flowers represents luxury and beauty.  However, when the flowers die and turn brown, it represents the corruption that taking another human life has on the soul.  The fact that Grace is even contemplating the term cast upon her by society makes me question her guilt.  She seems to take the name personally, grasping to understand how her identity is forever changed by it.  The crime was committed when she was still very young, it is impossible for it not to have affected her personality. 
I also think the last line of the quote reveals much about Grace as well.  She would much rather be deemed a murderess rather than a murderer, due to its more “gentle” nature.  Despite the horrific act that she is guilty of having committed, she is still protecting her femininity.  Since women were second-class citizens during this time, I find it interesting how Grace protects her identity in the scope of gender.  If she had to choose, she would keep the more “compassionate” term!