Short Story Of Martha Hale

     The short story and the play written by Susan Glaspell are very much alike.  The story takes place in an old country town in the early 1900’s.  Mr. Hale has found his neighbor, John Wright, strangled upstairs in the Wrights’ house with Minnie Wright, John’s wife, sitting calmly downstairs.  With John Wright dead and his wife in jail,

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

As the women walk through the house, they begin to get a feel for what Mrs. Wright’s life is like. They notice things like the limited kitchen space, the broken stove, and the broken jars of fruit and begin to realize the day-to-day struggles that Mrs. Wright endured. The entire house has a solemn, depressing atmosphere. Mrs. Hale regretfully comments that, for this reason and the fact that Mr. Wright is a difficult man to be around, she never came to visit her old friend, Mrs. Wright.

People seen that “she use to wear pretty clothes and be lively- when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls and [sung] in the choir” (A Jury). It was noticeable to others that she had hanged after getting married. People in the town knew about Mr. Wright's character. They said that he was a good but cold man. He liked to keep his personal life and house quite, giving off a unhappy feeling to others. Mrs. Hale said, “Yes- good; he didn't drink…kept his word…and paid his debt. But he was a hard man, Mrs. Peters. Just to [spend] the day with him (Shivers.) Like a raw wind that gets to the bone” (Trifles 1417). They did not have any children or pets and that also added to Mrs. Wright loneliness. He was also gone off to work for most of the day, leaving Mrs. Wright at home by herself.

Sheriff Henry Peters and county attorney George Henderson visit the Wright home to investigate the murder of John Wright. His wife, Minnie Wright, has been arrested for the murder, and the two men have come to collect evidence against her. To that end, they have brought Lewis Hale, Minnie Wright's neighbor, who was the first person other than Minnie to see John's dead body. Hale will be a witness for the prosecution at the trial. With the three men are Mrs. Peters, the sheriff's wife, and Mrs. Hale, Lewis's wife, who have come to collect some of Minnie's personal effects to bring to her in prison. The sheriff is the first to enter the Wrights' little farmhouse. He and the other two men gather around the hot stove for warmth while the women

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.

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. Hale and Mrs. Peters were only in Minnie's home for a short period of time yet this revealed to them that Minnie was much like them. As Mrs. Hale was leaving her house to go with the others to Minnie's house she noticed

Mustazza states within the article that Mrs. Hale, as well as the other women involved, have learned to distance themselves away from the men within the story. It's argued that Mrs. Hale is attempting to free herself from the restrictions of her husband, and tries to affirm her independence intellectually. She does this by hiding evidence and defending Minnie Wright. Mrs. Hale relates to Minnie Wright in a sense because they are both expected to be the homemakers of their families. Due to Mrs. Hale relating to Minnie, Mrs. Hale becomes increasingly defensive in Minnie's case. Mrs. Hale even begins to argue with others involved in the investigation to defend Minnie's honor, says Mustazza.

Mrs. Hale begins the play with a greater suspicion of the designs of the men in their investigation of Mrs. Wright's crime. However, not until she compares the state of the Wright kitchen to her memory of Minnie Foster does she articulate that "we all go through the same things--it's all just a different kind of the same thing," and she comes to accept her portion of blame for not alleviating Minnie Wright's loneliness (Glaspell pg. 1046). On the other hand, Mrs. Peters commences with the assumption that because she is married to the sheriff, she must uphold male definitions of duty and law. By the end of the play, she protects Minnie because she has chosen to empathize with someone who reflects her own needs rather than with the identity imposed

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

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

Hale her neighbor says that the only time Minnie wright seemed happy was when she was not married. Mrs. Hale says, “I heard that she used to wear pretty clothes and be lively, when she was Minnie foster. But with thirty years of marriage, Mrs. Wright is now worried about her canned preserves freezing, and not having her apron whilst she is in jail. Mrs. Peters, the sheriff’s wife suggested that Mrs. Wright wanted her apron so that she can “feel more natural”; because that is what she is use to.

Mrs. Wright is referred to when Mrs. Hale speaks of her by using her maiden name, when saying ?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.? The old rocking chair symbolizes Mrs. Wright as she has allowed herself to depreciate, just as the rocking chair has depreciated. ?The chair sagged to one side,? Mrs. Hale stated that the chair was not anything like she remembered, referring to the fact that Mrs. Wright has also changed since she