The Yellow Wallpaper Essay: The Murder Of Edna Perkins

“He [Billy Weaver] pressed the bell… it must have been at once because he hadn’t even had time to take his finger from the bell button--the door swung open and the woman [Edna Perkins] was standing there” (Dahl, 11). From the beginning, Edna Perkins has the entire murder planned out. Ms. Perkins knows Billy is coming, she is certain about her first move, and she is assertive about her last move (first degree murder). It is close to impossible for Ms. Perkins to be insane and have successfully committed murder in the way she did. Not only did she commit this crime on Billy, but also two other guests. Edna Perkins outlined each individual detail such as when Billy would arrive, getting Billy downstairs to sign the guestbook, serving him tea,

When Billy goes downstairs to sign the guestbook, he can not help but notice there has only been two other guests in the past two years (Mr. Temple and Mr. Mulholland) sign this guest book at the Bed and Breakfast . Billy starts to become slightly suspicious of this. He fails to realize this woman’s dangerous plan at first until later in the evening, but before Billy got the chance to go back up to his room, the Landlady invites him to sit down for tea. With respect, Billy sits down and accompanies Ms. Perkins for a cup of tea. “The tea tasted faintly of bitter almonds” (Dahl, 19) Billy thought after several whiffs and sips of the beverage in his cup. This bitter almond taste was proof of Ms. Perkins sane plan to murder an innocent man. The bitter almond taste was no accident nor joke, it was poison. It was deadly cyanide. Cyanide that could kill someone. According to study.com, “Cyanide is a fast acting, potentially deadly chemical… people can detect the distinctive bitter almond smell” (study.com). This proves this was the poison in Billy Weaver’s tea. Edna Perkins plans the murder of Billy Weaver so descriptive and exact, it is impossible to think she didn’t know what she was doing. Edna Perkins knew she was murdering Billy Weaver, and she knew well in the back of her mind she murdered Mr. Temple and Mr. Mulholland in the same way-- through the act of deadly

However, Edna is guilty of using cruel art of taxidermy. For example, Billy says, “You know something? It [the fake and stuffed parrot] had me completely fooled when I first saw it through the window. I could've sworn it was alive” (Dahl, 21). This shows that Edna was extremely precise with her taxidermy skills, and Edna made the parrot and dog look quite realistic. The animals being so realistic, Edna had to of been sane in order to complete this action. If she was insane, her taxidermy couldn’t have been concise. It takes a long time and is hard to do this. According to psychology today it could take up to six months for the process of taxidermy. Ms. Perkins had to of had some intelligence to do this. Edna’s taxidermy skills fooled the human eye whether it was the animals or other people. In addition, others say she is insane for talking to her animals, but how can she be insane if she knows they aren’t alive? She can’t be. Edna Perkins is not insane and there is no other choice rather than the fact that she is guilty for a cold-blooded murder on innocent Billy