Truth The question is raised what is truth1? The Actress asks, "Did you do it1?" A question to which Lizzie does not—or cannot—respond. Emma asks her regularly, a litany each day. "Did you—did you—did you1?" And Lizzie is again mute. Throughout the play there are more questions raised than answered. The audience would expect empirical evidence, and the play produces the Defense attorney who questions the suspect and her maid. But their authenticity, their authority are in question because the events are being recounted by Lizzie. By presenting the evidence of the case through the memory of the accused, there is no certainty that the events portrayed are real or are figments of Lizzie's imagination.

Although it is based on an actual event, Pollock goes beyond the historical facts to delve into the mind and motivation of her central character. While the end results are the same—Borden and his wife are dead and Lizzie has been acquitted of the crime—Pollock raises questions as to the actual path taken to reach those results. She forces the audience to question their own assumptions and conclusions about the truth of things, about why things may have happened as they did.

Sacredness of Life "Is all life precious'" Lizzie questions Dr. Patrick. She really isn't looking for an answer from him because she rejects immediately the affirmative response he offers. She cannot accept that the life of that "fat cow" (her stepmother) is precious, so she pursues the question further. She poses an ethical enigma to the Doctor If he could only save one of two people injured and dying from an accident, whom would he choose? Would it be the bad person or the one trying to be good?

Lizzie focuses her questioning in a way that leaves the Doctor uncomfortable. In the same way, the spectator may become uncomfortable because it is clear that Lizzie is rationalizing the murder of her parents to preserve a way of life for her and her sister. In Lizzie's mind murder becomes logical and acceptable. An analogy is made to puppies on the farm who must be done away with because they aren't quite right. This is presented to further rationalize Lizzie's assumption that bad elements must be removed so that regularity (in this case her personal freedom) can be maintained.

When Lizzie's pigeons are killed, it is clear something important in Lizzie has been violated. The birds' deaths are symbolic of the fate that awaits her and her sister if they allow Borden and his wife to go forward with their plans. She cannot stand by without any response. The puppy that is not quite right—who is a threat to normalcy—and is killed becomes the people who are obviously sick and must also be removed This allows the audience to understand Lizzie's way of thinking and, in some way, understand her motives for violence.

Women's Roles Lizzie's father wants her to consider Johnny MacLeod as a husband MacLeod is a neighbor who is a widower with three young children and is looking for a wife. With his daughter already in her thirties, Borden is worried that Lizzie will never go out on her own. The only solution for her is to marry. It's only natural, he tells her.

Lizzie resists, saying she won't be around when MacLeod comes to call. “He’s looking for a housekeeper and it isn't going to be me," Lizzie says to her father. Her stepmother sees nothing wrong with such a domestic arrangement. That's essentially what happened with her. She came and married Lizzie's father, who had two young children, and...