Describe Emily Grierson. Why does she become the kind of woman who can commit murder? How were her feelings about men developed? How do the descriptions of her physical decay mirror a spiritual decay?

From an early age, Emily's been constantly deprived of love and care. She certainly never received any from her overbearing control-freak of a father, who subjected her to a state of domestic tyranny. Worse still, he prevented Emily from being loved by any other man, driving away anyone who showed the remotest interest in his daughter. Little wonder, then, that Emily ends up so terribly damaged.
There's a terrible sense of inevitability about the murder she commits. Killing Homer Barron—and sleeping next to his corpse—was her warped way of gaining some of the love and companionship denied to her for so many years. This was the only way she knew to ensure that, for the first time in her life, a man wouldn't leave her.
Though Emily's physical appearance noticeably deteriorates, the townsfolk choose to turn a blind eye. They've put her on a pedestal for so long that they are to some extent complicit in her crime. In that sense, one could say that their own spiritual decay matches that of Miss Emily herself.

Emily Grierson is a tortured soul, who grows up under her father's oppressive influence and becomes mentally unstable after his death. Emily's father stifled her social life as an adolescent, which adversely affected her ability to develop meaningful relationships with other townspeople. Emily's family also has a history of mental illness, which more than likely played a significant role in her decision to murder Homer Barron. Emily is a reclusive woman who never properly coped with the death of her father and felt the need to hold onto Homer Barron. Emily must have been aware that Homer Barron was not a "marrying man" and believed that in killing him, she would be able to prevent him from leaving her. After murdering Homer, Emily becomes a reclusive, overweight woman whose body resembles a corpse. Emily's physical appearance mirrors her spiritual decay following her crime. She physically and spiritually transforms into a pitiful individual, remaining indoors throughout the day and sleeping with the skeleton of Homer Barron at night.