In class we describe a femme fatale more or less as a beautiful character who leads the protagonist to danger and can end up also betraying the protagonist. In “Double Indemnity” Phyllis definitely fits the role of the femme fatale. She builds up Walter by showing feelings for him and using her beauty and sex appeal to her advantage. Phyllis and Walter go through with the scheme to collect life insurance from the death of her husband and at the end she is ultimately plotting a larger scheme where she would keep all the money for herself. Walter ends up realizing this and confronts her about it. She then ends up shooting Walter in the back. When she realizes she missed she couldn’t shoot again and Walter kills Phyllis. Phyllis fits the femme fatale based on our class definitions because she uses her beauty to lead Walter into the danger of being arrested and at the end betrays him by trying to KILL HIM!!