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Susan glaspell role in feminist literature
Critical Analysis of On a jury of her peers
Glaspell’s “A Jury of Her Peers”
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"A Jury of Her Peers" by Susan Glaspell proposes a justice system based on empathy. Glaspell takes the concept of the word peer far beyond its original meaning in the short story. In the context of the story, there is a fundamental disarticulation between genders, classes and geographic settings. One who qualifies as one's peers render’s the traditional legal system. The men in the story wish to capture the killer of John Wright. However, the women empathize with the accused murderer, the Wright’s wife. From this perspective death, however death cannot be investigated in isolation. Instead of constituting the starting point for the investigation, death may be the midpoint, or even the conclusion.
Wright's marriage was childless and overt reference to physical abuse. Glaspell made two other significant changes in her use of the Hossack court case, is that she reported on over 16 years earlier. All of her revisions in the translation of the case were reported from a murder trial into literature that was exploring the investigation to help guide the reader to the perspective of Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters. Glaspell's changed the "murder" weapon from an axe to a rope, ensuring at the end of the story that Minnie Foster/Margaret Hossack will never be tried in the court of law. Both of these are the most substantive alterations because they change Minnie's role in the story from that of murderer to the executioner in the midnight assassin case.
At the closing of "A Jury of Her Peers," Minnie Foster Wright is exonerated. Although Minnie Foster does indeed cause her husband's death, she was not responsible for it, rather than being innocent, she was justified. Whereas the men thought that slipping a rope around her husband neck was a funn...
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...n to a rope to make it not that horrific. Glaspell really captured the audience attention because by changing some of the information from the original Hossack case, she made it us believe one thing and come to find out it’s a little different from what we believed it to be.
The genres that Glaspell used to focus the attention and thinking of her audience/ readers in different ways and different social issues and or concerns because Glaspell did this because her works of art made us believe that the case was actually real and the fact that why would a wife of a husband that she love would kill him at night and pretend like nothing has happened. Each genre shows different ways and perspectives of how the case actual case went down in the court room. By doing so Glaspell could tell the case as the way she visualized it and or how she heard it in the court room.
Minnie Wright, John’s wife, is the main suspect. This time, Sheriff Peters asked to bring his wife Mrs. Peters, the county attorney George Henderson, and his neighbors Martha and Lewis Hale to the crime scene. He intended for Lewis Hale, Mr. Henderson and him to solve the case. While Lewis Hale tells the group the details of how John Wright was found, Mrs. Peters and Martha Hale begin looking around the house to judge the state of the crime scene. Before even looking for evidence, Lewis Hale says “Oh, well, women are used to worrying over trifles” (160) to the dismay of Martha Hale and Mrs. Peters. Martha Hale notices that the Wrights’ house was unkempt and sad-looking, which was strange because Minnie Wright used to be a cheerful and meticulous homemaker. Again, Lewis Hale dismisses this as an inconsequential detail, stating that Minnie was just not a good homemaker, even though his wife Martha already told Mr. Henderson that “farmers’ wives have their hands full” (160). A few moments later, the men explore the house, but not before Mr. Hale ironically questions “But would the women know a clue if they did come upon it?” (161). The women began to
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.
On a cold northern morning the body of a man lay still in his bed. His blood did not flow, his heart did not beat, and his chest didn’t fall with breath. His wife sits still downstairs in the gloomy house that she views as a cage. Her stare is blank and her hands move slowly as if she is in some trance that shows absolutely no remorse. Minne Foster is guilty of murdering her husband which becomes apparent through the evidence and details given by Susan Glaspell in “A Jury of Her Peers”. Glaspell gives evidence and shows the realization that both women in the story also know that Mrs. Foster is guilty. Minnie Foster is guilty of murdering her husband, but a defense could be made to protect her.
Symbolism is a literary device in which words, phrases or actions allude to something more than their literal meanings. In the short story “A Jury of Her Peers”, a major example of symbolism is the quilt. The quilt is perhaps the biggest example because it can be tied to many other examples of symbolism within the story, and can also be interpreted in different ways.
Up to this point, she had always thought that murder was murder and there were no exceptions to the law. Mrs. Peters says, “The law has got to punish crime, Mrs. Hale” (278). Now, for the first time in her life, she sees that Minnie might have had justification for killing her husband. Minnie has every right to kill her husband. John Wright put her through enough misery and pain for a lifetime.
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.
In the story, “A Jury of Her Peers,” by Susan Glaspell, we see how women are subjugated to stereotypical gender roles, where men are superior over women. The two main characters, Mrs. Peters and Martha Hale arrive at the Wright residence, with the men to investigate the crime scene. Minnie Foster-Wright has been arrested for allegedly strangling her husband with a rope. Mr. Hale (Martha’s husband), is a witness, who found Minnie sitting in a rocker and her husband dead upstairs. The attorney general, Mr. Henderson asks Mr. Hale and the sheriff, Mr. Peters to help him investigate the crime and explain what he had seen that day. As the men go upstairs and into the barn to investigate, Martha and Mrs. Peters are left in the kitchen to gather
Twentieth century society places few stereotypical roles on men and women. The men are not the sole breadwinners, as they once were, and the women are no longer the sole homemakers. The roles are often reversed, or, in the case of both parents working, the old roles are totally inconsequential. Many works of literature deal with gendered roles and their effect on society as a whole or on an individual as a person. "A Jury Of Her Peers" and Trifles, both written by Susan Glaspell, are works of literature that deal with socially gendered roles during the early nineteenth century. The two works are almost exactly alike in that the dialogue from "A Jury Of Her Peers" becomes the actor's lines in Trifles. The gendered roles in the early 1900s place the woman in the kitchen, serving meals, baking bread, and canning fruits and jellies. She was also expected to be a mother to her children and a caretaker to her husband. The man, on the other hand, was expected to take care of his family, providing the home and the food that the wife would prepare. Often when gender plays too much a part in a household, communication is lost. The husband can not see a person when he looks at his wife. This was the case in "A Jury Of Her Peers" and Trifles. The men totally ignored their wives' thoughts and roles, and, therefore, they missed the entire point of the real motive behind Mr. Wright's murder. The social gap between men and women in the early 1800s provided the basis for Glaspell's story, "A Jury Of her Peers" and her play, Trifles.
Ortiz, Lisa. “ A Jury of Her Peers.” Short Stories for Students. Ed. Kathleen Wilson. Vol. 3. Detroit:
The film A Jury of her Peers, is similar to the play, Trifles because it highlights similar points that are referenced in the text and is clear it was used as a basis for the foundation of the film. The names of Mr. and Mrs. Wright are changed to Mr. and Mrs. Burke. The use of facts to outline the climax, are the same as used in the play. Such as the building of suspense of the discovering of the bird and its strangulation and whether Mrs. Burke or Mr. Burke is to place blame. However, as an adaptation, opinions are added into the original framework of the play to add a touch of personalization. The film interprets the drama as a murder mystery, as the attorney and the sheriff search the household to find evidence to place blame on Mrs. Burke. A jury of her Peers, works to portray the emotions of Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, as they discover items that would, (if found by the men) possibly prove her guilty (Bourne, 2013).
As the jury, you all have come to the conclusion that my client, Minnie Wright, is guilty of murder, but this crime was not premeditated, it was a crime committed while Minnie was unaware, and in a psychotic episode. Minnie Wright was a lively and carefree spirit before her husband John Wright entered her life, and everything changed for the worse. He kept her from her friends by moving her to a more isolated location, and kept her from calling people, because John Wright did not approve telephones due to the noises they made, and lastly he even went as far as killing her main source of social interaction, her little canary. These factors affected Minnie’s mental health, and she soon broke into a episode of insanity, unknowingly killing her
Mrs. Hale describes Minnie as formerly singing “real pretty herself” (Glaspell p666). The connection between Minnie and the canary is established here, and in the bird’s physical death parallels Minnie’s emotional death (Russell). Mrs. Hale’s keen wit and patience contributes to her embodiment of The Fate sister named Clotho the Spinner, which even more evident in her correcting of Minnie Wright’s improper stitching (Russell). Mrs. Peters begins the process of investigation deeply devoted to keeping the law. She doesn 't want any disruption in the house saying, “I don 't think we ought to touch things” (Glaspell p 666) when Mrs. Hale began searching for clues. Upon finding the dead canary, Mrs. Peters view on the situation changes drastically, and she decides with Mrs. Hale to hide the tiny dead bird from the men. They both figure that if the dead canary was discovered, Mrs. Wright would be thought to be a mad woman, though it was likely Mr. Wright who killed it. Mrs. Peters sympathizes with Minnie remembering back to an old memory of her childhood, where a menacing boy killed her small kitten with a hatchet (Russell). Mrs. Peters then realizes that the justice to be served is to conceal evidence and find the answers for themselves. These
The death of John Wright, to some, might seem tragic and unacceptable, but for one person in particular, Minnie Wright, it was beautiful and freeing. When you are oppressed and treated poorly your entire life, and your husband takes away everything that you hold dear, then something has to give. Can justice has been served in an unusual way? With the help of Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, Minnie just might get away with serving up her slice of justice.
Susan Glaspell wrote two different forms of literature that have basically the same plot, setting and characters. This was during a period in which the legal system was unsympathetic to the social and domestic situation of the married woman. She first wrote the drama version “Trifles” in 1916 and then the prose fiction “A Jury of Her Peers” in 1917. The main difference was the way the prose fiction version was presented. Glaspell effects emotional change in the story with descriptive passages, settings and the title. The prose fiction version has a greater degree of emotional penetration than the drama version.
Catherine Mackinnon’s radical feminism theory argues that societally is patriarchally dominated by males (MacKinnon 16). The legal system therefore has an inherent male bias. As seen in Susan Glaspell’s short story, “A Jury of Her Peers,” the male-dominated jury would not have acknowledged the psychological trauma of Mrs. Wright’s situation. The facts of the case would have proven her guilt, but the male-dominated legal system would not have accounted for the experiences of Mrs. Wright. As domestic women, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters were able to identity with Mrs. Wright and understand her