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A Jury Of Her Peers: by Susan Glaspell
A Jury Of Her Peers: by Susan Glaspell
A Jury Of Her Peers: by Susan Glaspell
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A Jury of Her Peers by Susan Glaspell is a story that reveals how women were subjected to prejudice in the early part of the 1900s. The story revolves around Minnie Wright, who was at the center of a murder investigation, and two other women, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, who decide their own verdict and fate of Mrs. Wright. Even though the women were at the height of sexual discrimination, Susan Glaspell shows how a woman’s bond and intuition far surpass that of any man. The struggle the women faced throughout the story shows how hard it was for women to live in a male dominate world.
When Mrs Hale and Mrs. Peters first walk into Minnie Wrights house, they see how lonely and unkept her house was. The men could not understand why a woman would keep her house in that condition, but the women determine how sad and depressed Mrs. Wright was. "'I might 'a' known she needed help! I tell you, it's queer, Mrs. Peters. We live close together, and we live far apart. We all go through the same things—it's all just a different kind of the same thing! If it weren't—why do you and I underst...
Miss Hancock, her personality and beliefs were contrasted entirely by her character foil, Charlotte’s mother, “this civilized, this clean, this disciplined woman.” All through Charlotte’s life, her mother dictated her every move. A “small child [was] a terrible test to that cool and orderly spirit.” Her mother was “lovely to look at, with her dark-blond hair, her flawless figure, her smooth hands. She never acted frazzled or rushed or angry, and her forehead was unmarked by age lines or worry. Even her appearance differed greatly to Miss Hancock, who she described as,” overdone, too much enthusiasm. Flamboyant. Orange hair.” The discrepancy between the characters couldn’t escape Charlotte’s writing, her metaphors. Her seemingly perfect mother was “a flawless, modern building, created of glass and the smoothest of pale concrete. Inside are business offices furnished with beige carpets and gleaming chromium. In every room there are machines – computers, typewriters, intricate copiers. They are buzzing and clicking way, absorbing and spitting out information with the speed of sound. Downstairs, at ground level, people walk in and out, tracking mud and dirt over the steel-grey tiles, marring the cool perfection of the building. There are no comfortable chairs in the lobby.” By description, her mother is fully based on ideals and manners, aloof, running her life with “sure and perfect control.” Miss
In this play, the women are housewives; responsible for bearing children, and keeping the house. They are often made fun of or made to feel less of themselves when they didn’t perform those duties to the specifications of the men. The city attorney openly criticizes Mrs. Wrights housekeeping skills by stating “here is a mess, dirty towels! Not much of a housekeeper would you say, ladies?” (Glaspell 1109-1110). Mrs. Hale describes Minnie Foster as “real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and fluttery” (Glaspell 1114). But a lot of changes are evident once she marries Mr. Wright. She spends her days in isolation, focusing on her quilts, preserves, and caring for her canary. She didn’t receive any type of appreciation for her hard work. This defeats her mentally and she doesn’t have any joy left in her life. While looking for evidence in the murder, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale find red flags that support her mental decline, such as blocks on the quilt described as “all over the place” (Glaspell 1113), like she didn’t know what she was doing and a “dead bird in a fancy box, wrapped in a piece of silk” (Glaspell 1114). After the death of her beloved canary at the hands of her husband,
A story of murder, fear, and the temptation of betrayal is one that easily snatches up the attention of audiences. In “A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell, the author uses her southern female characters to emphasize the direct relationship between friendship and connection. Her plot circles around the disastrous discovery of their fellow housewife’s marital murder, and the events that unfolded causing their ultimate decision in prosecuting or shielding her from the men in the story. The author implements revealing dialogue with subtle detailing and glaring symbolism to display the coveted friendships among women above other relationships and that the paths they take to secure them stem from inveterate personal connections.
In A Jury of Peers by Susan Glaspell, the story revolves around the sudden death of John Wright. There are five characters that participate in the investigation of this tragedy. Their job is to find a clue to the motive that will link Mrs. Wright, the primary suspect, to the murder. Ironically, the ladies, whose duties did not include solving the mystery, were the ones who found the clue to the motive. Even more ironic, Mrs. Hale, whose presence is solely in favor of keeping the sheriff s wife company, could be contributed the most to her secret discovery. In this short story, Mrs. Hale s character plays a significant role to Mrs. Wright s nemesis in that she has slight feelings of accountability and also her discovery of the clue to the motive.
In "A Jury of Her Peer," by Susan Glaspell, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters realize from the
This makes the reader think that Mr. Wright was controlling and abusive. Mrs. Hale had stated also that it was not a cheerful place. No one has seen much of her in many years. She h...
While Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale are right in covering up for Minnie, Glaspell is wrong in portraying all men as jerks. Now as we approach the turn of another century, we see that there are plenty of men at this day in age that would understand Minnie’s actions and cover for her just like Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale. Surely, there were a few men a hundred years ago that would not have acted as Mr. Peters and Mr. Henderson, and would have covered and understood Minnie’s actions.
The central theme in “A Jury of Her Peers” is the place of women in society and especially the isolation this results in. We see this through the character, Minnie Foster and her isolation from love, happiness, companionship and from society as a whole. Not only does the story describe this isolation but it allows the reader to feel the impact of this isolation and recognize the tragedy of the situation.
Susan Glaspell’s "A Jury of Her Peers" is a view into the lives of farmer’s wives in the Midwest at the turn of the century. These women live in a male dominated world, where the men consider them incompetent and frivolous. The only identity they have is that associated with their husbands. They stay at the farmhouse to complete their repetitive and exhausting chores. The wives have little or no contact with the other people because of the distances between farms. Glaspell uses her female characters to rebel against the inequalities that women face and to prove that women are competent and when pushed too far --strike back. The male dominant society that is condescending, controlling, denies individuality, demands submission, and is abusive toward women, is a society that punishes and deprives itself. It is a society that is harmful and hurtful, not only to the women, but to the men as well.
Social gender separations are displayed in the manner that men the view Wright house, where Mr. Wright has been found strangled, as a crime scene, while the women who accompany them clearly view the house as Mrs. Wright’s home. From the beginning the men and the women have are there for two separate reasons —the men, to fulfill their duties as law officials, the women, to prepare some personal items to take to the imprisoned Mrs. Wright. Glaspell exposes the men’s superior attitudes, in that they cannot fathom women to making a contribution to the investigation. They leave them unattended in a crime scene. One must question if this would be the same action if they were men. The county attorney dismisses Mrs. Hale’s defenses of Minnie as “l...
Feminism in Trifles and A Jury of Her Peers As a strong feminist, Susan Glaspell wrote “Trifles” and then translated it into a story called “A Jury of Her Peers.” These works express Glaspell’s view of the way women were treated at the turn of the century. Even though Glaspell is an acclaimed feminist, her story does not contain the traditional feminist views of equal rights for both sexes. The short story and the play written by Susan Glaspell are very much alike. The story takes place in an old country town in the early 1900’s.
Mrs. Hale feels a natural responsibility to defend and protect Minnie Foster Wright through her connection as a fellow woman and housewife. Upon her introduction to Minnie through her home, Mrs. Hale finds an immediate connection. She understands Minnie’s life as a homemaker and a farmer’s wife and is quick to defend her when her skills as a wife and woman come into question. When the men recognize Minnie’s lackluster cleaning of kitchen towels Mrs. Hale retorts “[m]en’s hands aren’t as clean as they might be” (Glaspell 160). She asserts her loyalty to Minnie and notes that men are not always perfect or without blame, without “clean hands”. As a woman, Mrs. Hale easily sees herself in Minnie’s place and comes to her defense as if she were defending herself. It is easier to share her loyalty with a woman so much like her than it is to be loyal to men that act superior and do not understand the challenges of being a housewife. The men find a woman’s chores as petty, nothing but “trifles” (Glaspell 160).Scholar Karen Stein argues that it is these commonalities that create the responsibility of everywoman to defend one another (Ortiz 165). Mrs. Hale sees herself in every...
At the start of the play, all of the characters enter the abandoned farmhouse of John Wright, who was recently hanged by an unknown killer. The Sheriff and County Attorney start scanning the house for clues as to who killed Mr. Wright, but make a major error when they search the kitchen poorly, claiming that there is nothing there ?but kitchen things.? This illustrates the men?s incorrect belief that a kitchen is a place of trivial matters, a place where nothing of any importance may be found. Mrs. Peters then notices that Mrs. Wright?s fruit froze in the cold weather, and the men mock her and reveal their stereotype of females by saying ?women are used to worrying over trifles.? The men then venture to the upstairs of the house to look for clues, while the women remain downstairs in the kitchen where they discuss the frozen fruit and the Wrights. Mrs. Hale explains that Mrs. Wright, whose maiden name was Minnie Foster, used to be a lively woman who sang in the choir. She suggests that the reason Mrs. Wright stopped being cheerful and active because of her irritable husband.
“All oppressed people seize whatever weapons they can to fight oppression.” This statement,by John Lowe, proves to be an important aspect of the theme in the short story, A Jury of Her Peers. In this case, the weapon that Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters seize is silence. By keeping their silence, they are withholding what the men want most, which is to find evidence that leads them to know that Mrs. Wright was the murderer. The motives for the murder of Mr. Wright in the short story, A Jury of her Peers, are elaborated throughout the use of flashbacks, an oppressive tone, and omniscient third-person point of view.
Hedges, Elaine. "Small Things Reconsidered: Susan Glaspell's' 'A Jury of Her Peers'." Women's Studies 12.1 (1986): 89. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.