Chapter 43 – Grace Confesses (or Constructs) Her Story in Court
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.
Summary
Dr. Jordan has left for Toronto, and Grace wonders what to tell him when he returns. She decides to narrate the events from her arrest onward.
She and James McDermott were arrested at the Lewiston tavern early in the morning. McDermott tried to blame Nancy, but the authorities soon found her body. Back in Toronto, Grace was jailed and examined separately. The inquest was packed with spectators and journalists. Grace testified that she heard a shot, saw Kinnear’s body, fainted, and later tried to escape McDermott’s threats. She was bound over for trial in November.
During three months in jail, Grace suffered isolation and jeering jailers. She could only sense the changing seasons through light and scents. Her lawyer, Kenneth MacKenzie, told her not to recount her fragmented memory but to shape a plausible, coherent story. Grace also recalled a conversation with Dr. Jordan about Mrs. Susanna Moodie and about seeing red peonies, not eyes, following her.
At the trial, Jamie Walsh testified that on the afternoon after the murders Grace wore Nancy’s dress, ribbons, tippet, and parasol. The courtroom erupted. Despite MacKenzie’s defense—painting Grace as a poor, ignorant orphan easily led—the jury found her guilty. The judge sentenced her to death. Grace fainted and was impaled on a spike in the dock.
Key Events
- Grace and McDermott are arrested in Lewiston; McDermott tries to blame Nancy.
- They are taken back to Toronto; Grace is examined separately.
- The inquest is held; Grace testifies she heard a shot and fainted.
- Grace spends three months alone in jail, experiencing seasonal changes only through her cell window.
- Kenneth MacKenzie becomes her lawyer and coaches her to tell a coherent, plausible story.
- Grace recalls seeing red peonies, not eyes, following her—contradicting what MacKenzie wrote down.
- Jamie Walsh testifies that Grace wore Nancy’s clothes; the courtroom reacts with outrage.
- The jury convicts Grace of murder; the judge sentences her to death.
- Grace faints and is wounded by a spike on the dock.
Character Development
Grace Marks – She shows growing awareness of how memory fails her and how narratives can be manipulated. She alternates between fear, defiance, and a protective self‑awareness. Her decision to tell Dr. Jordan the “peony” version suggests she is reclaiming her own story after MacKenzie’s editing.
Kenneth MacKenzie – The young lawyer presses Grace to fabricate a linear account. He is more concerned with courtroom plausibility than with truth. His condescending “comfort” reveals the power imbalance between male lawyer and female defendant.
Jamie Walsh – Once infatuated with Grace, he now testifies with “sorrowful anger.” His identification of Nancy’s clothes on Grace transforms him from admirer to accuser and becomes the pivotal piece of evidence.
Dr. Simon Jordan – Though absent from the action, his off‑stage presence as an audience shapes Grace’s narration. His puzzlement at the peonies hints at his inability to understand her inner life.
Themes, Symbols, and Motifs
Memory and Narrative – Grace openly admits she cannot recall the murders clearly. MacKenzie demands a story that “hangs together,” forcing her to replace memory with performance. The chapter asks whether any trial can ever recover truth.
The Gaze of the Courtroom – Spectators, journalists, and jailers consume Grace’s ordeal as entertainment. The “broadsheet poem” and the crowd’s hunger for scandal illustrate how public opinion pre‑judges her.
Class and Gender Prejudice – Grace’s lack of education and her low status as a servant are used against her. MacKenzie’s defense relies on portraying her as a helpless orphan, while the prosecution uses her calm demeanor as evidence of guilt.
Red Peonies vs. Eyes – Grace insists she saw red spots, later peonies, not eyes. This small correction challenges the official narrative. The peonies may symbolize both natural beauty and the blood of violence, or a private truth the world refuses to believe.
Why This Chapter Matters
Chapter 43 is the hinge of the novel. It delivers the legal climax—Grace’s conviction—while simultaneously undermining the certainty of that outcome. Her halting memory, MacKenzie’s coaching, and Walsh’s dramatic testimony all demonstrate how a “true” story is constructed rather than recovered. Atwood forces readers to question whether Grace is guilty, mad, or merely a victim of social forces that have already written her role.
Study Questions and Answers
1. Why does Grace insist she saw red peonies rather than Nancy Montgomery’s eyes?
Grace claims she originally saw red spots, which MacKenzie misheard or exaggerated into “eyes following her.” For her, the peonies were a real, ordinary image. She resists the Gothic, supernatural reading of her experience, asserting a mundane truth over a sensational one. This also echoes her earlier love of flowers and her need to control how her story is interpreted.
2. How does Jamie Walsh’s testimony seal Grace’s fate?
Walsh identifies the specific items of Nancy’s clothing that Grace is wearing—dress, ribbons, tippet, parasol. This concrete evidence (she is literally clothed in the dead woman’s identity) ignites the courtroom and makes the murder seem premeditated and callous. It destroys any lingering sympathy for Grace and turns Walsh from a potential supporter into a devastating witness.
3. What does Grace’s fainting and injury on the spike reveal about the trial’s effect on her?
The spike wounding her “right next to my heart” physically inscribes the death sentence onto her body. The fainting shows she is overwhelmed—not the cold‑blooded accomplice the press depicts. The scar she can show Dr. Jordan later becomes proof of her bodily trauma, a tangible marker of the injustice she endured even before execution.