Susan Glaspell's A Jury Of Her Peers

Throughout the early 1900’s, women were viewed by society as inferior to men. Those of the female sex were expected to cook, clean, and only speak when spoken to. Susan Glaspell criticizes these concepts in one of the earliest forms of feminist literature, “A Jury of Her Peers”. The story focuses on the murder of John Wright committed by his wife Minnie as the Hales and the Peters investigate the crime scene. Despite the women finding valuable evidence towards the crime, the discoveries came into the husbands’ views as petty trifles that only women worry about. While some argue that Glaspell’s novel explores the idea that women were overlooked by men in the post-WWI times, and others suggest the story is a criticism of marriage, Glaspell describes

the reality of both male condescension and abusive marriages to amplify why women faced systematic oppression due to the male dominance.

Throughout many centuries the condescension and assumed superiority of men resulted in the oppression of women. Susan Glaspell amplifies this through her use of negative connotation and condescending dialogue. The story is told through Mrs. Hale’s third person limited point of view, giving the reader a look into the thought process that Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters have. Before the men begin their investigation, they let their wives know that if they find any clues to let them know because, “No telling; you women might come upon a clue to the motive…” (Glaspell 6). This quote employs extreme irony due to the fact that any time the women give valid clues, they become brushed away by their husbands, revealing the reality of how women were viewed during this time; overlooked. As Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale begin to bring more pieces of evidence to the men, their husbands simply respond with “‘Oh, well,’ said Mrs. Hale’s husband, with good natured superiority, ‘women are used to worrying over trifles.’” (Glaspell 5). The condescending dialogue in which Mr. Hale uses towards his wife is amplified through the use of the words ‘good

natured superiority’, he simply viewed their thoughts as child’s play. The husbands brush off what the women investigated and continue their investigation. Mr. Hale and Mr. Peters don’t view the women’s thoughts as valid because in this time women didn’t have voices, they were subordinate to their husbands. Lisa Ortiz analyzes the situations women faced as “The men’s objective approach to the crime is not by their own ideas of what has happened, but by a set of assumptions…” (Ortiz 164). Mr. Hale and Mr. Peters would rather make assumptions about the truth behind the murder than take their wives evidence seriously because they assume the wives are just being over dramatic. Glaspell’s use of condescending connotation and irony reveals the bitter truth of this time period; women existed without a voice. Despite having a mind of their own, their actions remained dictated by their husbands. The combination of these forms of condescension, mockery, and domestic dictatorship resulted in the overall systematic oppression of those of the female sex.
Additionally, in the rare occasion that a woman stepped out of the cycle of cooking and cleaning, repercussions followed. Many marriages became abusive due to the male dominance in
society after World War I. Men would lash out when their wives if they didn’t do what the men wanted them to, such in the case of John and Minnie Wright. Susan Glaspell amplifies this fact through her use of chilling similes and dark dialogue. In the eyes of society, men were to be the dominant individual of a relationship and provide care and support for their wives. But in many cases, these traits are a facade. Glaspell conveys this concept through the line, “Men’s hands
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aren’t always as clean as they might be…” (Glaspell 5).

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

abusive.
Furthermore, the prevalence of male condescension, superiority, and brutality led to the systematic oppression of women in this period. Women of this time were lively, but that was often crushed by husbands. Mrs. Hale looks back on Minnie Wright as, “She was kind of like the bird herself. Real sweet and pretty but timid. How she did change…” (Glaspell 5). At one point Minnie was lively and happy, but John killed that just like he killed the bird. He wouldn’t let her wear her pretty dresses or sing in the church choir, so she had nothing keeping her happy. Elaine Hedges reflects on how inferior a wife was to her husband by explaining that “Married women were defined under law as ‘civilly dead’, their legal existence subsumed within their husbands…” (Hedges 5). This is basically the equivalent to saying without a husband, women were nothing. In this period, women were incapable of having any form of a living without a
husband, they completely relied on the males. As Mrs. Hale reflects on Minnie’s life before John, she contemplates, “I wish you’d seen Minnie Foster...when she wore a white dress with blue ribbons, and stood up there in the choir and sang.” (Glaspell 12). The life Minnie used to have made her feel fulfilled, and John stole that from her. In his eyes, she was meant to be at home doing chores, not singing for the church. Through this form of oppression, women lost their happiness. Glaspell’s deep message behind all analyzations of the era is revealed to be how terrible women were living. They had no voice, no rights, no escape. Women were viewed as inferior, thus never receiving the respect they deserved.
Through Glaspell’s extensive indirect analyzation of the post-WWI era, those of the current eras get a look into how far feminism has come in society. Women now have a voice and capability to make their own decisions without being halted by those of the opposite sex.