In “ A Jury of Her Peers”, when the county sheriff and attorney go to the Wright house to investigate a murder. They search for clues to incriminate Mrs. Wright but find nothing. They discover Mr. Wright strangled in his bedroom and saw Mrs. Wright completely unaffected. Although Mrs. Wright claims to have been asleep while the murder occurred, the women conclude she choked her husband, Mr. Wright, as evidenced by the broken bird cage, the strangled canary, and the errant quilt patch. The broken bird cage was a vital clue for whoever killed Mr. Wright. In the text, the author says how, “Mrs. Peters was examining the bird-cage. “Look at this door,” she said slowly. “It’s broke. Someone pulled apart the cage hinge.” Bird cages are pretty easy …show more content…
Wright. The bird had been Mrs. Wright’s last resort of happiness; it represents who she used to be. This bird was very precious to Mrs. Wright, that becomes obvious when the author says this,“ Mrs. Peters drew nearer—then turned away. “There’s something wrapped up in this piece of silk,” Silk was not an easy thing to come by. Considering that the women come to believe Mr. Wright strangled Minnie’s bird, they make the inference that he did not treat her properly and she would not have been able to get expensive things like silk often. If Minnie wrapped her bird in silk, then it obviously means a lot to her. The women finally understand what happened to Minnie’s bird when they take a closer look at it, “But, Mrs. Peters!” cried Mrs. Hale. “Look at it! Its neck—look at its neck! It’s all—other side to. ”She held the box away from her. The sheriff’s wife again bent closer. “Somebody wrung its neck,” said she, in a voice that was slow and deep.” The women know that Minnie liked this bird a lot and there was no way she would have killed the bird. They come to realize that it was not her that killed the bird, it was Mr. Wright, and the bird was not the only thing that he would have been rough with. “When I was a girl,” said Mrs. Peters, under her breath “my kitten—there was a boy took a hatchet, and before my eyes—before I could get there—” She covered her face an instant. “If they had not held me back
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.
Wright 's pet canary with its neck wrung, killed in the same way as John Wright, they immediately put the clues together and discover Mrs. Wright motive of murder her husband that Mr. Wright did murder her canary. According to the play, Mrs. Hale says “if there’d been years and years of nothing, then a bird to sing to you, it would be awful-still, after the bird was still” (Trifles 847). The canary was really important company to Mrs. Wright because it was the only company to her in the dark and childless home. Fatally, Mr. Wright murder the canary, as well as provides that Mr. Wright abused his wife, even not in physically, but certainly in mentally and emotionally. After years of neglect and emotional abuse, Mrs. Wright repaid her husband by giving him a taste of what her pet bird got. Furthermore, the caged bird can symbolize the victim 's wife, Minnie, also is a common symbol of women 's roles in society. As the women note, Minnie used to sing well like the canary before she married John Wright. Unfortunately, she was prevented from singing, or doing anything else which would have yielded her pleasure, by her husband after her marriage. Women in the marriage as the same like bird in cage, they don’t have any right and freedom. Consequently, the strangling of Mrs. Wright’s songbird companion symbolized that her plight and represented her spiritual
Though men and women are now recognized as generally equal in talent and intelligence, when Susan Glaspell wrote "A Jury of Her Peers" in 1917, it was not so. In this turn-of-the-century, rural midwestern setting, women were often barely educated and possessed virtually no political or economic power. And, being the "weaker sex," there was not much they could do about it. Relegated to home and hearth, women found themselves at the mercy of the more powerful men in their lives. Ironically, it is just this type of powerless existence, perhaps, that over the ages developed into a power with which women could baffle and frustrate their male counterparts: a sixth sense - an inborn trait commonly known as "women's intuition." In Glaspell's story, ironic situations contrast male and female intuition, illustrating that Minnie Wright is more fairly judged by "a jury of her peers."
“A Jury of Her Peers,” is about a criminal act. Mrs. Wright is being held in the county jail for murder. John Wright, her husband, was found dead with a rope around his neck. Lewis Hale stopped by the Wright’s home for help with his load of potatoes. He instead found John Wright dead. The story begins with Martha in her own kitchen. Mr. Hale has stopped by the house to pick Martha up. The Hales are joined by the sheriff, his wife, and the county prosecutor, Mr. Henderson. They are on their way to the Wright home. They are searching for a motive behind the murder of Mr. Wright. The Wright home is the setting for the story.
Susan Glaspell's A Jury of Her Peers. The North wind is blowing in Dickson County this cold, March morning, and in Susan Glaspell ’s, “A Jury of Her Peers,” murder brings together a group of men and two women, with two separate agendas. The men’s group, which includes Mr. Hale; a witness, Mr. Peters; the sheriff, and Mr. Henderson; the county attorney, are persistent in finding evidence to ensure a conviction of Minnie (Foster) Wright; wife of the victim, John Wright.
“A Jury of Her Peers” was written by Susan Glaspell in 1917. She wrote this short story based on the murder of John Hossack which Susan Glaspell covered while working as a journalist. In “A Jury of Her Peers” John Wright is murdered. That being said, Minnie Wright, his wife, is the accused killer. Within the story the two women, Mrs. Peters and Martha Hale, friends of Minnie are finding the small minute details that would convict Minnie as the murderer of her husband. The men of the story, Sheriff Peters and Lewis Hale, are trying to find evidence in Minnie’s home but keep overlooking the small details. However, Mrs. Peters and Martha Hale do not want their friend to be proven guilty for the murder
Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters found the pieces, one patch the sewing was different. Mrs. Hale noticed note it appeared her mind had been somewhere else while completing the block. The stitching showed her emotional state, as upset or worrying about something. While Mrs. Hale was looking for the pieces for the quilt they found bird cage, where is the bird? The thought was maybe a cat got the bird. The bird found in a box with here sewing things, dead. The neck had been wrung. The symbolism of the bird, Minnie was a great singer, and canaries known for singing. The cage was a symbol of how she felt in her marriage. Trapped, in a cage no escaping. How the bird died is very important. Mrs. Wright husband had a rope around his
Then, following Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peter’s discovery of Minnie’s quilt pieces, the stitching supports evidence that Minnie was started by something or at least nervous over unknown circumstances. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters then discovered a birdcage with its door ripped out and no bird inside (Glaspell, 1916). Shortly thereafter, the two women discovered a dead canary inside a pretty box, believed to have held Minnie’s scissors. The box, now representing a beautiful coffin for Minnie’s canary, held the dead canary whose neck was snapped, just like
This dark dialogue reveals the cold truth of many marriages; the men appear kind, but their actions say otherwise. Many women were abused and taken advantage of due to the fact that they were to be submissive and did what they were told to do. As the wives analyze the Wright’s relationship, Mrs. Hale describes John Wright, not even personally knowing the man, as “Like a raw wind that gets to the bone...” (Glaspell 10). This chilling simile reveals that even to the public eye, he provoked terrifying feelings. After years of the abuse Minnie Wright faced, she snapped and murdered her husband when he went too far and killed her canary. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are able to rationalize this because they have “...an understanding of female violence in the face of male brutality…” (Ben-Zvi 165). They understand how hard her life was with a man like John Wright being Minnie’s husband because they see the presence of abuse in the relationship reflected through their own marriages. The female subjectivity that Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters have reveals the reality behind many marriages of this time: cold and
Peters finds the bird cage, it is empty. This bird cage never actually had a bird in it. In paragraph 218, Mrs. Hale finds the canary has croaked: “‘There’s something wrapped up in this piece of silk,’ faltered Mrs. Hale. ‘This isn’t her scissors,’ said Mrs. Peters, in a shrinking voice. Her hand not steady, Mrs. Hale raised the piece of silk. ‘Oh, Mrs. Peters!’ she cried. ‘It’s—’ Mrs. Peters bent closer. ‘It’s the bird,’ she whispered. ‘But, Mrs. Peters!’ cried Mrs. Hale. ´Look at it! Its neck—look at its neck! It’s all—other side to.’”(Glaspell). Sadly, the bird was strangled, and I think that Mr. Wright did it. Mrs. Wright clearly loved her feathered friend. After it was killed, she wrapped it in a square of silk. Back then, silk was very expensive even for a little piece like that. Mrs. Hale explains how Millie loved to sing, and this bird must remind her of when she was happy. Mr. John Wright was not very happy with this bird. If he could stop his wife from singing and being happy, he could surely stop a little bird. So Wright goes into the room and snaps its neck, destroying his wife’s most prized
Mr. Hale describes Mrs. Foster as being “queer” or strange. It is know that people in highly stressful situations can behave in a manner that is considered inappropriate such as laughing at a funeral and perhaps Minnie Foster is in such a situation that mental she is struggling to believe what has happened. She may also be in a state of shock causing peculiar behavior and a lack of judgement. Furthermore, the possible motive that Minnie Foster killed her husband over him killing her bird is weak. Mrs. Hale remembers Mrs. Foster as being a normal girl who people adored and yet how could such a normal person commit murder over the death of a bird. Perhaps the bird had died and she simply had not had time to bury the bird. Minnie Foster’s behavior suggest she was in shock over the death of her husband causing her to act strange not because she killed her husband and further the weakness of the suggested motive that she killed Mr. Foster because he killed her bird jumps to a conclusion without clear
In the story “A jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell the main character who the story is turning around is Minnie Wright who is accused of killing her husband when he was sleeping. Mrs. Peters the sheriff’s wife and Martha Hale an old friend of Minnie are the supporter characters of the story that joined their husbands to visit Minnie. The Story is develops around how Mrs. Peters and Martha Hale are trying to find proves about if Minnie killed her husband, which are a dead bird in the box, the dirty and poor clothes of Minnie, and the disordered house of Minnie.
Minnie, who is physically confined to a man-made jail, is also confined in ways not readily apparent. When the two wives, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, are gathering items to take to Minnie in jail, they discover a bird
Wright was described as a beautiful women filled with such joy and life until she married John Wright. Mrs. Peter’s and Mrs. Hale feels sorry for her because her husband treated her so bad. Due to female bonding and sympathy, the two women, becoming detectives, finds the truth and hides it from the men. The play shows you that emotions can play a part in your judgement. Mrs. Peter’s and Mrs. Hale felt sorry that Mrs. Wright had one to keep her company no kids and she was always left alone at home. “yes good; he didn’t drink, and kept his word as well as most, I guess, and paid his debt. But he was a hard man, Mrs. Peters just to pass the time of day with him. Like a raw wind that goes to the bone. I should of think she would have wanted a bird. But what you suppose went with it?” Later on in the play the women find out what happens to the bird. The bird was killed the same way Mrs. Wright husband which leads to the motive of why he was killed. Mrs. Wright was just like the bird beautiful but caged no freedom not being able to live a life of her own. Always stuck in the shadows of her husband being told what to do and
It is amazing how a story written decades ago can still be very applicable today. Many of the injustices in Glaspell's "A Jury of Her Peers" are all too common now. Men and women still do not see eye to eye on many issues, poor investigations lead to unfair trails, and everyone considers their own work much more difficult than anyone else's. It is unfair to the law-abiding citizens to free a murderer, but in the case of Mrs. Wright, a jury of her peers may have done just that.