Women attacking their lovers

In a number of films and TV series, powerful female protagonists attack their lovers/partners, shooting, stabbing, or physically destroying them. The contexts and significance to the plot are different, but it's a recurrent theme/plot device/trope. What does this mean? Anything? Nothing?

In each of these incidents, the woman kills or attacks someone close to her in a way intended to be shocking or highly emotional.

This list is meant to trigger reactions and thoughts. Add to it, flesh out the discussions of the works, add counter examples or notes about related , or thoughts about why writers/directors use this plot device/theme -- what it means to them, what they expect it to mean to the audience.

Other questions: Are there comparable examples of men killing their lovers on screen, or same-sex couples? Is there something unique to the emotional flavor and context of a woman killing her lover/soulmate? Has a man ever killed his female lover-turned-apocalyptically-evil demon as a sacrifice to the world? Or has it happened so many time that it has little emotional resonance? as in, abuse against women depicted so frequently, or so prevalent in the real world, that Mulder shooting Scully, or Angel stabbing Buffy, would have a different flavor, possibly resonating with themes of domestic violence or misogynystic hate crimes? Spike threatening to stab Drusilla was not comparable, despite their Sid-and-Nancy love/"literally soulmates", because he wasn't the protagonist. Season 2 of Angel where he has to take on Darla is ... closer ... in emotional resonance. Season 4, it appears that Angel was willing to kill demonically-possessed Cordelia.

List of works

• Alias Season 3x05 "Repercussions" - directed by Ken Olin; written by Jesse Alexander. Sydney stabs Vaughn (actually Alias is rife with double agent women betraying their men one way or another)
• Buffy Season 2x22 "Becoming Part 2" - writer & director Joss Whedon - Buffy stabs Angel
• The X-Files Season 2x25 "Anasazi" - writer Chris Carter, director R. W. Goodwin - Scully shoots Mulder
• X-Men: The Last Stand (XMen movie 3) - directed by Brett Ratner; written by Simon Kinberg and Zak Penn - Phoenix kills Scott
• Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Temple of Life - directed by Jan de Bont; written by Dean Georgaris - Lara kills the bad guy
• Xena: Warrior Princess
  • S1 episode "Mortal Beloved" - Xena stabs her lover Marcus (consensually)
  • S5 episode "Antony and Cleopatra" - Xena stabs her would-be lover Antony during combat
• Witchblade, episode "Lagrimas"; Sara's new-found lover says that she is the only one who has the power to kill him and end his eternal misery.