Dolores Claiborne, Directed by Taylor Hackford Abuse

¶ … Dolores Claiborne, directed by Taylor Hackford [...] abuse and victimization as portrayed in the movie, and determine if murder is a justifiable action in the context of a domestic violence situation. Domestic violence is an enduring problem in our society, and this film graphically shows how horrible abuse can be, and how people react to it differently. Some make themselves victims, and some stand up to the abuse. Domestic abuse is never right, and neither is murder, but sometimes, murder is the only way to protect oneself from an abusive situation.

Dolores Claiborne Dolores Claiborne" is a disturbing film about the after effects of domestic abuse and victimization, and both leading women in the film are clearly suffering from living and growing up in a dysfunctional family. Dolores is not a "nice" woman at all, "Sometimes being a ***** is the only thing a woman has to hang onto in this world," and it is clear she is a strong survivor who will not be victimized, while her daughter Selena, has taken on the role of victim quite nicely.

She is repressing the violence and abuse of her childhood with pills and booze, because she cannot confront her emotions about her past. Her father was an evil man, and if anyone deserved to fall down a well, it was him. In one flashback, Dolores remembers him picking up a block of wood whacking Dolores on the back with it. "Why do you make me do that?" he asks her ("Dolores Claiborne"). This is typical of the abuser; they blame the abused for their dreadful actions.

Domestic violence is a growing problem in our country, and because more people are becoming aware of it, more ways to deal with are being established. One expert notes just how prevalent abuse is in our society: Leading advocacy groups for victims of domestic violence claims that more than half of married women (about 27 million women) are beaten by men during their marriage and that more than one-third of married women (18 million women) are battered repeatedly.

On the other end, a survey conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health found that about 3 to 4% of all families-1.8 million-have members who engage in "severe" violence that includes kicking, punching, or using a weapon (Davis 3). The women of "Dolores Claiborne" are walking examples of what violence in the home can do to a person, and how it can affect their entire lives. Selena runs away from her memories, while Dolores confronts them head on, becoming a heroic figure in her fight against abuse.

Did her husband deserve to die? Probably. Thirty years ago there was little help for abuse victims, the public turned their back on the problem and refused to believe it existed, and was as serious as we now know it is. Murder may have been the only way Dolores could save her daughter and herself from continued abuse and violence. They may have been eventually killed by one of Joe's drunken rages, and in effect, she was saving their lives.

Finally, the courts have looked at the problem of domestic violence, and especially when it escalates into murder. In historic times, women were thought of as a man's possession, and he could do just about anything to them that he desired. Today, men cannot lawfully abuse their wives, but many get away with it simply because they intimidate their wives so much that they are afraid to speak out about the abuse.

Women still murder their husbands because of abuse, and the courts often recognize this type of murder as involuntary manslaughter, depending on the circumstances. One legal expert notes: Some courts have ruled that when a woman kills her intimate while believing she is doing so in self-defense, even if legally her situation is not self-defense, she has not committed murder but rather voluntary manslaughter.

Killing an intimate is murder, not voluntary manslaughter, when an enraged spouse kills the other after being provoked by such things as the other's insults, or name-calling, or threats, or naggings, or verbal attacks, or the dinner not being ready on time, or her not submitting to his sexual demands, or financial arguments, or similar lesser provocations. These killings would never be considered as a matter of law to have been adequately provoked. Hence all such killings are murder Buzawa 150).

Clearly, murder is not the best option for any situation, but in some domestic violence situations, it may seem like the only way out. Dolores Claiborne certainly saw it as her only option, and her husband was portrayed so unsympathetically, it was difficult to do anything but cheer when he fell down the well.

Did he deserve to die? No one really deserves to die, but thirty years ago, there were not place available for him to get help, and it was almost a certainty that he would continue to abuse the women in his life. Today, if the evidence had been enough to convict Dolores, she probably would have been convicted of involuntary manslaughter, and perhaps never even served a prison term when the details of the abuse came out.

Back then, Dolores took justice into her own hands, supposedly, and in doing so, saved her life and her daughter's. It is difficult not t see her as a hero, rather than a murderess. This film points out just how horrific domestic violence is, and the lasting effects it leaves on.