Emma was more involved

snokkums · Post by **snokkums** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 11:03 am

I have always felt Emma was more involved than people think. I know she was out of town when the parents were killed, but that to me doesn't mean she didn't have anything to do with it.

She hated Abby as much as Lizzie did, and Lizzie only had what Emma told her about her mother.

She would have sided with Emma on everything, after all, she never new her mother, just what Emma told her.

I think maybe Emma might have put the idea in Lizzie's head. Maybe helped plan the deed.

What does everyone else think?

Nadzieja · Post by **Nadzieja** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 11:09 am

In my own opinion I think Emma had alot to do with it. Abby came to live there when Emma was in her teens, so I'm sure they clashed on many issues. On top of it I'm sure Emma was the one who instilled a great dislike of her in Lizzie. I'm sure that Emma was jealous of the fact she was there and she didn't (or couldn't stand) the thought of Lizzie getting close to her. So I'm sure over all those years she just fed that hatred & dislike.

twinsrwe · Post by **twinsrwe** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 1:56 pm

I also think Emma had a lot to do with it. It is my understanding that Emma disliked Abby even more than Lizzie did. It is my opinion that if Emma wasn't directly involved in the planning of Andrew and Abby's murder, then she planted the idea in Lizzie's head. I think Emma had a strong resentment of Abby taking over the role of mother to Lizzie. After all, Emma had promised Sarah that she would take care of 'baby Lizzie'. So, for Abby to come into the family and take that role away from Emma must have been highly resented by Emma. Mostly likely, Emma felt she had broken a promise to her mother, and there was nothing she could do except hate the person who made her break that promise. I also think the two 'girls', and especially Emma, resented their father for bringing Abby into the family and putting them in a secondary position to Abby. I think Emma probably 'brain-washed' Lizzie into developing a hatred for Abby.

Yooper · Post by **Yooper** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 8:59 pm

I think Emma was responsible for the division in the Borden household. There is only so far I can see the "devil made me do it" concept, though. If someone else is responsible for an individual's actions, then that person is not an individual. Why is Andrew not responsible for Emma's and, in turn, Lizzie's actions? He insisted upon marrying Abby after all. Why is Sarah not responsible if she made Emma promise to look out for Lizzie? Sooner or later, everyone has to choose to do something on their own and take responsibility for their own actions. Lizzie was thirty-two years old at the time of the murders, did she do everything she was told to do? Would the court have excused her if she said "Emma told me to do it"?

I think Emma was at odds with Abby from the start. She was still a kid when it began, but she never outgrew it. Winning Lizzie over to her "side" was probably her way of irritating Abby.

If Lizzie killed her parents, Lizzie was responsible for it, she made the choice.