Essay about A Jury of Her Peers, by Susan Glaspell

In Susan Glaspell’s, “A Jury of her Peers”, it is the women who take center stage and captivate the reader’s emotions. Throughout the feministic short story, which was written in 1917, several repeating patterns and symbols help the audience to gain a deeper understanding of the difficulty of prairie life for women and of the bond that women share. The incredible cunning the women in the story demonstrate provides insight into the innate independence that women had even during days of deep sexual discrimination. In “A Jury of her Peers”, the hardships women of the early twentieth century must endure and the sisterhood that they can still manage to maintain are manifested as a mysterious, small-town murder unfolds.

The gap between husband and wife is made even more apparent through dialogue.  The men hear that Mrs. Wright was worrying about her preserves, and they laugh at her saying that she should be

It's not what you did, it's why you did it. Susan Glaspell's "A Jury of Her Peers" describes the murder investigation of John Wright. Townspeople assumed Minnie Wright is guilty of murdering her husband and as a result, she is imprisoned so that a group of men can inspect her home for clues. The men bring along two women, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, to gather some personal belongings for Mrs. Wright. The men search for a motive to prove Mrs. Wright’s guilt meanwhile, the women discover why she committed the crime and judge her justified in her action. Through theme, symbolism, and imagery, Glaspell illustrates that oppressed women form bonds and have a different perception of events than men.

“A Jury of Her Peers” is a short story written by Susan Glaspell in 1917 illustrates early feminist literature. The two female characters, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, is able to solve the mystery of who the murderer of John Wright while their male counterparts could not. This short story had been adapted from Glaspell’s one-act play Trifles written the previous year. The play consists of the same characters and plotline as the story. In both works, Glaspell depicts how the men, Sheriff Peters and Mr. Hale, disregard the most important area in the house, the kitchen, when it comes to their investigation. In the end, the women are the ones who find clues that lead to the conclusion of Minnie Wright, John Wright’s wife, is the one who murdered him. Both of Glaspell’s female characters illustrate the ability to step into a male dominated profession by taking on the role of detective. According to Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide, written by Lois Tyson, a reader-response critique “focuses on readers’ response to literary texts” and it’s a diverse area (169). Through a reader-response criticism from a feminist lens, we are able to analyze how “A Jury of Her Peers” and Trifles depict how a patriarchal society oppresses women in the early twentieth century, gender stereotypes confined both men and women and the emergence of the New Woman is illustrated.

From beginning to end, Susan Glaspell’s 1917 short story “A Jury of Her Peers,” has several repetitive patterns and symbols that help the reader gain a profound understanding of how hard life is for women at the turn-of-the-century, as well as the bonds women share. In the story two women go with their husbands and county attorney to a remote house where Mr. Wright has been killed in his bed with a rope and he suspect is Minnie, his wife. Early in the story, Mrs. Hale sympathizes with Minnie and objects to the way the male investigators are “snoopin’ round and criticizin’ ” her kitchen. In contrast, Mrs. Peters, the Sheriffs wife, shows respect for the law, saying that the men are doing “no more than their duty”. However, by the end of the story Mrs. Peters unites with Mrs. Hale in a conspiracy of silence and concealing evidence. What causes this dramatic transformation?

Mrs. Martha Hale in The Jury of Two peers, is a woman that inspected a woman that supposedly murdered her husband. The woman is called Minnie Wright who used to be friends with Martha Hale but lost touch since Minnie marries Mr. Wright. Martha hale prove more outspoken during the jury session. Martha feels like she could have been there for Minnie and mended her wounds if she had still kept in touch. Martha had 20 years to find out how Minnie was doing. So being sorry now won’t help because Minnie is set to be charged for the murder of Mr. Wright her husband. Had she kept in touch with Minnie maybe this occurrence wouldn’t have happened. Martha hale is a person that “hated to see things half done” which can explain how sad she felt for the

ESSAY SAMPLE ON "THE USE OF SYMBOLISM IN SUSAN GLASPELL'S A JURY OF HER PEER"

Written by a an Extraordinary Author, “A jury of her peers” expresses the theme of oppression through the plot, structure, and stylistic elements. “A jury of her peers” is a short story based on the murder investigation of John Hossack. “A jury of her peers” all starts with the abrupt departure of Martha Hale from her farmhouse in dickinson county, Iowa. In her hasty departure Martha left the kitchen unorganized, Martha Hale was called upon to accompany her neighbors on a trip. However the sexism of the setting and time period is apparent, in order for Martha to join her neighbors on this trip, she must follow the rules established by a male authority. During her novel, Susan Glaspell portrays significant aspects of oppression by using amazing

In the short story "A Jury of Her Peers" a woman named Minnie Wright is accused of the murder of her husband. Minnie Wright is a farmer's wife and is also isolated from the out side world. There is an investigation that takes place in the home of the murder. There are three men that are involved on the case and two women accompany, but are not there to really help solve the murder. These two women will

Looking back in life everyone has things they wish they could go back in change. A past relationship, friendship, or just a simple every day decision. The character Mrs. Hale has these same feelings of regret in the short story “Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell. Because of the things that Minnie Foster has been put through during her marriage, Mrs. Hale feels the need to make up for the lost time with her childhood friend.

Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters both understand and get to know each other by piecing together the crime scene and also looking at Mrs. Wright’s empty house. By the women noticing details and Mrs. Wright’s living conditions, they can see how sad and what little enjoyment Mrs. Wright had in her home. Mrs. Hale says, “It never seemed a very cheerful place," and later on she says, "But I don't think a place would be any the cheerfuller for John Wright's bein' in it.", she is revealing the atmosphere that the home had (Glaspell 5). The home was certainly not cheerful, but not

In 1917, Susan Glaspell rewrote her 1916 Play, “Trifles,” into a short story called “A Jury of her Peers.” They both depict a group of townspeople investigating the murder of Mr. Wright. It is suspected that Mrs. Minnie Wright, his wife, is the murderer. As the story goes on, the women in the group figure out she committed the murder but decide to hide evidence to keep her from being convicted. Susan Glaspell wrote a short story titled “A Jury of her Peers” mirroring a previous play that she had written titled “Trifles.” There are slight changes and variations between these two that make them surprisingly different. By comparing the characters point of view, the way the story is introduced, and the plot we can point out key differences between

The attorney looked over the kitchen, and then dismissed it because he thought it was irrelevant to the case. Instead, he scolds Mrs. Wright for not keeping up with her household duties by saying “Not much of a housekeeper, would you say, ladies?” (Glaspell 1394). Mrs. Hale sticks up for Mrs. Wright claiming that maintaining a farmhouse is a lot of hard work and it cannot be done alone. Then, the County Attorney accuses of her of being loyal to her sex and assumes the Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Wright were friends. Mrs. Hale corrects him by selling him that she never says Mrs. Wright and she did not think the Wright home was a cheerful place. One thing that I noticed during this part of the play was that Mrs. Hale never said anything

Both the men and women were looking for what happened to John Wright. The men go upstairs to see if they can pinpoint the motive to see if Mrs. Wright killed her husband, and the women stay downstairs looking through Mrs. Wright’s stuff. Although they are looking in different ways, both the men and women are still looking for what happened to John Wright. Even though the Mrs. Hale states, “Well, I don’t think she did” when asked if she thought Mrs. Wright murdered her husband, they still discuss

The subordination of women was a prominent theme in the 1900’s, during a time when women were often treated as second class citizens to men. Susan Glaspell wrote the play “Trifles,” in 1916, which portrayed how women’s lives were seen as less significant throughout American society. The following year, Glaspell wrote the short story “A Jury of Her Peers,” which was essentially a longer and more detailed version of “Trifles.” The stories are alike in many societal implications, since “A Jury of Her Peers” was based off of “Trifles.” However, they also have some notable differences. The most striking distinction between the two stories would have to be the significance of the titles and the portrayal of the characters. These differences