Martha Hae Case Study

Mr. Hale was not the only male character who demonstrated arrogance and insensitivity toward women. The Sheriff who was investigating Mr. Wright’s murder also demonstrated arrogance and insensitivity, hindering his ability to tie Mrs. Wright to

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’s defense, the men all head upstairs to go over the crime scene to search for clues. The women; Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters knew they were in the center of all the clues. “Women are used to worrying over trifles” Mr. Hale said, and because of that, the women uncovered all the clues that would lead to motive and the men would remain clueless. As for the messy kitchen that the attorney did notice but just chalked up to Mrs. Wright not being a good house wife, the ladies noticed that she was in fact in the middle of cleaning up. That half the table was wiped clean and the other half left as if she were interrupted. They also noticed that the towel that the attorney thought to be just thrown across the room was in fact covering a loaf of fresh bread that was to later be put in the bread box. They also knew that the dirty towel roller was probably that dirty from the man they sent to start the fire in the stove that morning so that the house would be warm by the time they arrived. The ladies were to gather some things to take to Mrs. Wright to the jail. They found her sewing basket under the corner table and were admiring the bright pieces and the log cabin pattern. They wondered if she was going to quilt it or knott it. The men thought this was funny and made fun of them. Unbeknownst to them that the ladies had just found what could be the evidence of Mrs. Wrights’ frame of mind. The ladies noticed that most of the

Cotton Mather had an issue with how Bishop’s case was handled, and how the court proceeded with other cases much like hers during this time. He sought to purge the court system of the use of spectral evidence as grounds for conviction. He felt like a man’s word was not enough to prove someone innocent or guilty, but that one needed hard evidence in order to ensure that the ruling was just. Mather’s “call[ed] for caution in his publications

In the play trifles by Susan Glaspell Mrs.Wright is accused of killing her husband Mr.Wright, by her peers who have to piece together what happened. As the scene opens everyone comes into the house and they start to look over the crime scene. Nobody has an idea of who did it but the main suspect is Mrs.Wright.

Wright's life in their hands to do with what they will.  Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale find the evidence needed to convict Minnie Wright and they suppress it.  They were women who understood the plight of loneliness and the death of a beloved pet.  Mrs. Hale understood that Mr. Wright was a hard man to live with and she knew that he had not only killed Mrs. Wright's bird but he had also killed the real Minnie Foster, the girl she had been.  The men in the story, Sheriff Peters, Mr. Hale, and the young unmarried County Attorney, see only surface things.  They believe that the motive for John's murder lies in the bedroom or in the barn.  The men flounder around ignorantly searching for something they will never find because they can not think as Minnie Wright did.  If the women had told them about the discovery of the dead bird, they would probably laugh and say that the women needed to go back to their quilting and their jellies.  The ragged and uneven sewing that suggests a misplaced state of mind in Minnie Wright would also have been laughed at.  The men wanted to find something concrete that would easily convince an all male jury but they never would.  To men, dead canaries are dead canaries, they would never read into it what Mrs. Hale, Mrs. Peters, and Mrs. Wright did.

Therefore, Mrs. Wright murdered her husband simply because he murdered her pet bird, and she did so the same way he murdered the bird, making the motive is unethical. Mrs. Hale finds a dead bird with a broken neck inside of Mrs. Wright’s sewing box wrapped in a cloth. Obviously as lonely as Mrs. Wright was the death of her bird would have been catastrophic for her. This is evidence of a motive proving Mrs. Wright killed her husband out of sheer revenge of the death of her bird, it was the last thing he was ever going to take away from her. Along with the broken cage Mrs. Peters states, “Why, look at this door. It’s broke. One hinge is pulled apart” (8). Then Mrs. Hale comments, “Looks like someone must have been rough with it” (8). This is how it happened, Mr. Wright came home from work in

The two women are collecting items to bring to Mrs. Wright. It is Mrs. Wright’s house that is being probed through. She is the suspected murderer. There are also three men investigating in the house at the same time. To give credit to the men, one did say, “What would we do without the ladies?” However, he did it in the same breath as accusing Mrs. Wright of being a bad housekeeper. The men leave the women in the kitchen and stop though a couple of times. During one of the passing’s the men laugh at the women. The women were wondering if Mrs. Wright was going to knot or quilt a quilt she was piecing. The men mock this query. Shortly after that, the women piece together the events that likely caused the murder. Incidentally, the women do not reveal the probable narrative to the men. Did they keep it a secret to protect Mrs. Wright? Did they keep quiet because they didn’t think that the men would believe them? Or did the women keep it to themselves for fear of being

This murder is one that the two women can identify with. The reason is that both of the women were farmers' wives and had very similar lifestyles. Mrs. Hale describes John Wright as a hard man, and never let Mrs. Wright do anything. I feel that this is just how she is describing her own life perhaps. The two women also find a quilt that is not stitched very well. This adds to the fact Minnie Wright was under some stress when sewing this quilt. At this moment Mrs. Hale begins sewing the quilt, the way it should have been sewn in the first place. I feel that Glaspell is giving the women a lot of symbols to justify the women's findings, and making it easy for them to foil the investigation.

Wright so deeply that her whole view of right and wrong is distorted. Her decision to murder her husband in the name of her bird shows how corrupted her mind really is. Years and years of silent torture drove this woman to the brink of insanity. Her insanity symbolizes other women in that time that chose to stay in a loveless marriage rather than make a bold move like Nora did and go out into world on their own. Nora’s courageous choice empowered women to think for themselves, while Mrs. Wright’s choice revealed to them exactly how a loveless marriage can damage one’s mind to the point of no repair.

Mrs. Wright was a very strong woman, maybe not physically but mentally. As Richard was growing up life was rough for

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, today we are here for the trial of Mrs. Wright. Mrs. Wright had murdered her husband, John Wright. You will be feeling sorry for John Wright. You will want to hear his story and feel more sorry for him. It doesn 't matter about your feelings for John, what matter is why Mrs. Wright would want to kill her husband. I want you to believe that her crime is justified. What I am asking is for your understand of Mrs. Wright 's motives and for leniency on her behalf. Mrs. Wright could have been enduring years of neglect and emotional abuse by her husband. Mr. Wright may have been suppressing Mrs. Wright 's personality throughout their marriage. One thing to ask yourself is, what kind of husband would want to push his own wife into killing her husband.

Finally, the reader is introduced to the character around whom the story is centered, the accursed murderess, Mrs. Wright. She is depicted to be a person of great life and vitality in her younger years, yet her life as Mrs. Wright is portrayed as one of grim sameness, maintaining a humorless daily grind, devoid of life as one regards it in a normal social sense. Although it is clear to the reader that Mrs. Wright is indeed the culprit, she is portrayed sympathetically because of that very lack of normalcy in her daily routine. Where she was once a girl of fun and laughter, it is clear that over the years she has been forced into a reclusive shell by a marriage to a man who has been singularly oppressive. It is equally clear that she finally was brought to her personal breaking point, dealing with her situation in a manner that was at once final and yet inconclusive, depending on the outcome of the legal investigation. It is notable that regardless of the outcome, Mrs. Wright had finally realized a state of peace within herself, a state which had been denied her for the duration of her relationship with the deceased.

Even with only assumptions, the “comprehension” of Wrights treatment of Minnie “makes the murder totally understandable”, meaning that without any true evidence, the audience and characters find Minnie guilty of and justified in committing murder (Alkalay-Gut 6).

The county attorney is at first unsure and questions, “You’re convinced that there was nothing here—nothing that would point to any motive?” (877). However, the sheriff brushes off the suggestion without a second thought. The kitchen is, in fact, where all Mrs. Wright’s motives are hidden. It is also ironic that the two female characters, Mrs.