I was listening to some old time music today while it snowed out side. Several of the songs were murder ballads. I'm sure that the origins of these songs came from England or Ireland. What struck me about them were that they all were about lovers who for one reason or another couldn't be together. What was their solution? Kill the lover.
This got me thinking about all the Child Ballads that were murder ballads. What was their about society at the time, that lead to somebody murdering their lover because they couldn't be together? Why so many murder ballads to begin with. Anybody have any insights?