Legality vs. Human Bonding in A Jury of Her Peers Essay

First, looking around the kitchen, the women notice that Minnie had left a lot of things “half done.” There was a table with “one half… wiped clean, the other half messy,” and a bucket of sugar half-filled. Minnie must have kept getting interrupted from her work. Maybe it was her husband or maybe it was her own thinking. The women know that to leave something unfinished it must have been something very importimportantnt. The second piece of evidence the women find is the log cabin quilt that Minnie had been working on. All of the quilt squares are sewn “nice and even”, except for one. The square looks as if Minnie “didn’t know what she was about.” It seems as if Minnie was nervous while sewing it. The women find it weird that Minnie was so careless on that square, when she was so meticulous in sewing the others. The final, and possibly most important, piece of evidence is the dead bird that the women found in Minnie’s sewing basket. Mr. Hale, we assume, “wrung its neck,” and it was something that Minnie really cared about. Mrs. Peters remembers a time when, “ there was a boy (who) took a hatchet,” to her kitten. She knows what it feels like to want to hurt someone who hurt something you care about. In the end, the women decide to hide the evidence from the men. Susan Glaspell’s use of logos is

When Henderson's criticism of Minnie's domestic skills rouses a defense from Mrs. Hale about the incredible demands of farm work, the young attorney patronizes her with, "Ah, loyal to your sex, I see" (1392). As the men finally leave the kitchen,

In “A Jury of Her Peers,” Minnie Wright grows up in Dickson county along with: Mr. Lewis Hale, Mrs. Martha Hale, Harry Hale, Mrs. Peters, Mr. Peters, Mr. John Wright, and Mr. George Henderson. Minnie Foster is known to others as a sweet and cheerful young girl. After  marrying John Wright, Minnie Wright is not seen or spoken of throughout the town, “Time and time again it had been in her mind ‘I ought to go over and see Minnie Foster’--she still thought of her as Minnie Foster, though for twenty years she had been

Wright is not known enough and she behaves in Lewis Hale's account is confusing and strange. By the finish of the play, however, the substance of her personality and life has been told in through Mrs. Hale's memories have been on the first floor of her house, and her character becomes the subject of sympathy and finally of empathy. Because of Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, then they discuss between the murderer and themselves, they decide that Minnie Wright is the person of their protection, which has several meanings for the women. They become one with her against the law, but they also protect her by not saying her the truth about her. In addition, Mrs. Hale is upset because of not having protected Minnie from isolation and solitude, and she fixes her inability to protect Minnie earlier to help her. But, Mrs. Hale, the law is the law(15). she decides that protecting Mrs. Wright at the law is the way that shows her personal integrity. 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 Mrs. Hale,(23). Mrs. Peters has her duty to the law and her duty to a fellow

For while the men are looking actively for the "smoking gun," the women are confronted with more subtle clues in spite of themselves and even try to hide from each other what they intuitively know. But they do not fool each other for long, as Glaspell describes, "Their eyes met - something flashed to life, passed between them; then, as if with an effort, they seemed to pull away from each other" (295). However, they cannot pull away, for they are bound by a power they do not even comprehend: "We all go through the same things -  it's all just a different kind of the same thing!...why do you and I understand? Why do we know - what we know this minute?" (303). They do not realize that it is intuition they share, that causes them to "[see] into things, [to see] through a thing to something else...." (294). Though sympathetic to Minnie Wright, the women cannot deny the damning clues that lead them to the inescapable conclusion of her guilt.

She still cherishes her childhood friendship with Minnie Forester. However Martha is troubled by the allegations levelled against her long-time friend. The author describes how Martha still called her friend Minnie Foster even though she was formally known as Mrs. Wright “—she still thought of her as Minnie Foster” though for twenty years she had been Mrs. Wright” (Glaspbell 155). Even though, Martha is well aware of the chauvinistic behaviour displayed the male characters, and she uses that awareness to her advantage. Martha joins forces with the Sheriff’s wife not only because of her female companionship, but Mrs. Peters is also part of Dickson County’s law enforcement.

The men, though, laugh at the women's wonderings about the quilt. To them it is of little importance. Likewise, the bird and its cage are easily dismissed. In fact, the men just as easily believe a lie about this bird and cage. When the cage is noticed, its broken door overlooked, the county attorney asks, "Has the bird flown?'" Mrs. Peters replies that the "'cat got it'" (360). There is actually no such cat, but the men do not know that and never question the existence of it. The bird, however, is vital to the case. Mr. Wright killed the bird, Minnie's bird, which may have provoked her to then kill him. In addition, the strangling of Mr. Wright, a form of murder which perplexes all when a gun was handy, is reminiscent of the strangling of that bird. It is another answer to the men's questions, but an answer they never find. The women, on the other hand, take note of all they see. They notice not only the bird, the cage, and the quilt but other things that the men call "trifles," like Minnie's frozen preserves and her request for her apron and shawl. These women are united; it seems, not only as country wives or as neighbors but on the basic level of womanhood. This is apparent from the start of the play. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters "stand close together near the door," emotionally bonded throughout the play and, here, physically, in a way, too. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters also have a kinship to Minnie, just as to each other. They respect her work as a homemaker. Mrs.

One critic, Leonard Mustazza, argues that Mrs. Hale recruits Mrs. Peters “as a fellow ‘juror’ in the case, moving the sheriff’s wife away from her sympathy for her husband’s position and towards identification with the accused woman” (494). Though this is true, Mrs. Peters also comes to her own understanding. What she sees in the kitchen led her to understand Minnie’s lonely plight as the wife of an abusive farmer. The first evidence Mrs. Peters reaches understanding on her own surfaces in the following passage: “The sheriff’s wife had looked from the stove to the sink to the pail of water which had been

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

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

The men?s prejudice is blatant and although it was easy for Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters to pick up on it, they react to it in a variety of ways. Defensively, Mrs. Hale, replies rigidly to the County Attorney?s remark by stating that "there?s a great deal of work to be done on a farm," (958) offering an excuse for Minnie?s lapse in cleaning. Later, he brushes her off when she explains that John Wright was a grim man. To the County Attorney, the women are just there to collect personal items for Minnie, they are not going to give him any valuable insight into the murder. To their credit, the women do not force their thoughts or feelings on the men when biased statements are made in their direction. They hold back and discuss the remarks later after the men go upstairs. Mrs. Peters observes that "Mr. Henderson is awful sarcastic in a speech and he?ll make fun of her sayin? she didn?t wake up" (960). The fact that she believes the men would laugh if they heard the two women discussing the dead canary reveals how sure she is that the men think of them as concerned with the

As Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale are looking for some paper and string to finish Minnie’s quilt, they run across a broken birdcage. This seems to trigger Mrs. Hale’s first memory of the old, cheerful Minnie, “She used to wear pretty clothes and be lively, when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls singing in the choir. But that- oh, was thirty years ago… She used to sing real pretty herself.” (1096, 1098).

Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale don’t reveal the evidence they discover because it is incriminating for Minnie. Throughout the story the women learn more about

The audience and characters assume that Minnie is guilty, but with due motivation. “Two housewives, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, accompanying their husbands who are investigating the murder of a man by his wife, discover in the kitchen the clues which indicate the motive of the murderess” (Alkalay-Gut 1). The audience assumes that Minnie’s solitude, imposed on her by her husband, has lead her to be depressed. “Alienated from her husband, powerless and silenced by the circumstances of her marriage, and isolated from her neighbors, Minnie is an unseen woman long before she murders John Wright” (Noe 16). What if Minnie’s solitude was self-inflicted? Just as Mrs. Hale could have visited Minnie, Minnie could have visited Mrs. Hale and other women in the area, but chose not to. The audience assumes that John Wright treats Minnie coldly or harshly. Mrs Hale says, “No, Wright wouldn’t like the bird—a thing that sang. She used to sing. He killed that, too.” (Glaspell 1391). “Her life has been made miserable by an individual who has complete control of her” (Alkalay-Gut 3). What