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The True Crime Story of Giulia Tofana - Coggle Diagram
The True Crime Story of Giulia Tofana
Gender Roles: 17th Century Italy
Arranged marriages
Once married, men had complete control over their wives
Husbands would beat their wives without any consequences
Even the most aristocratic (upper-class) of daughters were seen as items; all women were seen as property
Marriages were loveless and horrible
Women were powerless, essentially
Men ruled over their families
People were deeply religious @ this time
Since Aqua Tofana works so slowly, men had time to repent their sins and guarantee their place in heaven; this made it easier for women to not feel as guilty when they gave their husbands the poison
Tofana's Crimes
Aqua Tofana: deadly concoction laced with arsenic, lead, and belladonna
Belladonna was used to dilate women's pupils; it would give them a "luminous, striking" appearance
Lead and arsenic were being used in facial powders at the time; they would lighten the skin
Made to look like a typical women's cosmetic product; no one would suspect it
She first disguised it as a powdered makeup; the second disguise included Tofana selling the poison in small vials of "Manna" (special healing ointment that looked like a devotional object)
Her daughter also helped
Why?
Tofana was sympathetic toward low-status women
She mostly sold to wives in troubled relationships; it was their only way out
Giulia Tofana's Early Life
Spent a lot of time with apothecaries; she found a lot of interest in this
Some say she taught herself how to make poison, but others believed that her mother may have gave her a recipe
Mother: Thofania d'Adamo
Executed
Described as being very beautiful
Information of her is very sparse
There are no known portraits of her
Justification?
Giulia had a good heart; she wanted to help these women get out of the miserable lives they had
These women were being abused and were afraid of dying from childbirth; they had no say in
anything
Nowadays, there are so many ways to get out of a marriage, but these women had no options
Was Giulia Tofana even real?
The only evidence there really is of her includes various journals and mentions of her throughout history
Some believe she was completely innocent; she may have just been a woman dabbling in cosmetics at a time when there was a witch hunt sweeping through Europe, so she could have just been killed because she was a "suspicious woman"