Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood is based on the infamous double murder in Canada in the1840's. The novel centers on a pretty 16 year-old servant girl who connived with a ranch helper to kill their employer and his mistress and ran off with their belongings. This is a true story which evoke furor in the community when it happened. They were captured several days later. The trial was much-publicized and they were found guilty of premeditated murder. The young man, James McDermott, was sentenced to death, and the girl, Grace Marks, was put to prison due to her age and the fact that she is a girl.


Alias Grace begins after the Grace has served 8 years in prison. She is around 24 years old. A young doctor, Dr. Simon Jordan, who wants to apply a new method of psychology, wants to use it on Grace. A group that has continuously strived to earn pardon for Grace Marks has recruited him with the hopes that he will declare Grace sane and innocent on all counts of murder.


Grace begins her story with her family in Scotland. Grace was sent to Canada as a servant. Here is where Grace meets her first true friend, Mary Whitney. Mary teaches Grace to be independent. Grace looks up to her. Unfortunately, Mary has a horrible death due to a bad surgical abortion and Grace is left alone and troubled by the gruesome death of her friend.


Grace meets Nancy Montgomery the housekeeper of Thomas Kinnear. She takes a job under Nancy mistakenly believing in their friendship. Soon Nancy is overtaken with Grace in the house, she becomes increasingly jealous of her role with Mr. Kinnear. Grace later discovers that the relationship between Kinnear and Montgomery is more than just employer-employee. Kinnear also beds Montgomery. With the proposed dismissal of Grace and the hired hand McDermott, Grace is led with McDermott into killing the two and robbing them for their own escape. Although not long after, in a hotel, Grace and McDermott, even though ironically using the alias Mary Whitney, are arrested.


The setting of Alias Grace is extremely important in the story. The story takes place in the novel and in actuality in the mid to late eighteen hundreds. The murders of Nancy Montgomery and Thomas Kinnear occurred on July 23, 1843. The crime and court proceedings are all dated to their actual time and place.


The irony in Alias Grace exists in the fact that Grace was not aware that she committed the murder. In the past multiple personality or insanity is not an acceptable reason. A murder is simply a murder. It does not matter what the story behind is. Alias Grace reveals that deficiency in the earlier times. We have to consider the fact that the novel is set in the 18th century, in Kingston a small town in Canada. This is important because during this time in history there the theory that "innocent until proven guilty" is not recognized nor practiced.


There was a trial by publicity which means the judge, jurors, and the public had all decided Grace Marks was guilty even before she was tried. There was no sequestering of juries in those days that would filter public opinion and limit its devastating effect to the jurors. False accusations could easily ruin the opinions of those trying Grace Marks. During those times, the sentencing was apparently more brutal than today. If a person was found guilty of murder the sentence was death by hanging. Death penalty nowadays is less brutal and is applicable only in rare and extreme cases such as serial killings.


McDermott was hanged for the murder of two people. Grace even though she escaped the same fate suffered as much though. The life in prisons and asylums during those times were not exactly ideal either. They were even considered barbaric by today's standards. Aside from that, the need to correctly diagnose of mental disabilities was practically nonexistent.


In the novel, Dr. Jordan’s use of hypnosis to ferret out the truth from Grace was not acceptable and was widely unorthodox. When it was found out that Grace has multiple personality disorders which explains her incapacity to recall what happened that fateful day is considered unusual if not weird revelation. During those times, it is not unusual to see a number of cases brought about by insanity that were tried and meted death by hanging while those mentally stable convicts were put into an asylum.