Chapter 37. Juliet, the Model
Sometimes violence is predation by the strong upon the weak. Other times it’s justice exerted by the weak on the strong. The trick is discerning the difference. It’s not always easy.
Take outlaws, for example. What are outlaws but those who rise up when the normal paths to justice no longer work, when people have nowhere to put their pain, when their cries for help are ignored?
The outlaw steps outside the sanctioned lanes of justice to do what must be done.
Are they villains or heroes? Agents of private vengeance or public good?
Did the women of Our Ladies of the Dark intend to make history, or was this simply a personal tale of vengeance gone wrong?
Did they seek glory, or—like practicing actors on whom the curtains are drawn to reveal a surprise audience—did they find themselves suddenly thrust onstage, with the whole nation tuning in to their intimate drama?
—Frances Vogel, “Our Ladies of the Dark: A History,” PhD dissertation presented to the UCLA Department of History