1. Spot the Odd One Out!
Women keep a special corner of their hearts for sins they have never committed. Cornelia Skinner
A woman is the only thing I am afraid of that I know will not hurt me. Abraham Lincoln
Frailty, thy name is woman! William Shakespeare
Nobody objects to a woman being a good writer or sculptor if at the same time she manages to be a good wife, good mother, good looking, and unaggressive. Leslie McIntyre
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male. Rudyard Kipling
Women are most adorable when they are afraid; that's why they frighten so easily. Ludwig Borne.
Honor women! they entwine and weave heavenly roses in our earthly life. Frederick Von Schiller

2. Countess Erzebet Bathory
Lived from 1560 to 1614 and is thought to be the biggest female serial killer in history known also as the ‘Blood Countess’.
She tortured and killed virgin girls and bathed in their blood in her belief that this would make her young.
The number of bodies removed from the castle where she resided were between while Bathory kept a record of 650 names in her diary suggesting her victims may have been many more.

3. Mary Ann Cotton
Lived from in Durham, England and killed largely for financial profit.
Her preferred method of disposal was arsenic poisoning. She is thought to have killed three husbands, one lover, a friend, her mother, and a dozen children.
After a trial where she was found guilty of murder on several counts, she was hanged from Durham Country Gaol in March 1873.

4. Aileen Wuornos An American prostitute who killed seven men.
After a traumatic childhood, Wuornos became a prostitute at the age of 15 and claimed to have been raped by several men.
Wuornos is thought to have lured the men to their deaths where she robbed them before shooting them.
She was found guilty of six counts of murder and was executed by lethal injection in October 2002.

5. Salome – Carol Ann Duffy
Never again!
I needed to clean up my act,
get fitter,
cut out the booze and the fags and the sex.
Yes. And as for the latter,
it was time to turf out the blighter,
the beater or biter,
who'd come like a lamb to the slaughter
to Salome's bed.
In tile mirror, I saw my eyes glitter.
I flung back the sticky red sheets,
and there, like I said -and ain't life a bitch -
was his head on a platter.
Salome – Carol Ann Duffy
I'd done it before
(and doubtless I'll do it again,
sooner or later)
woke up with a head on the pillow beside me -whose? -
what did it matter?
Good- looking, of course, dark hair, rather matted;
the reddish beard several shades lighter;
with very deep lines around the eyes,
from pain, I'd guess, maybe laughter;
and a beautiful crimson mouth that obviously knew
how to flatter...
which I kissed...
Colder than pewter.
Strange. What was his name? Peter?
Simon? Andrew? John? I knew I'd feel better
for tea, dry toast, no butter,
so rang for the maid.
And, indeed, her innocent clatter
of cups and plates,
her clearing of clutter,
her regional patter,
were just what needed -
hungover and wrecked as I was from a night on the batter.

6. Who is Salome?
Salome is a woman in the New Testament. According to the Bible, Salome danced for Herod on his birthday. He was so impressed by her performance that he said she could have anything she wanted. She was prompted by her mother to ask for the head of John the Baptist after he was executed. The head was presented to her on a plate.
In this poem, Salome is presented as a cold, murderous woman in modern society. Duffy creates a modern persona for Salome.

7. I flung back the
sticky red sheets,
and there…
was his head
on a platter.