Susan Glaspell's Trifles

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

Mrs.Minnie Wright does not deserve to be condemned for the crime of murdering of her husband. Mrs.Wright should not be condemned to prison or death because she has already suffered enough although her marriage and needs to have enough room and space to be able to take a breath. There is no concrete evidence that she had a hand in his death. The only evidence that seems to be against her is the fact that she is not acting the way the men want her to. The fact that she is not crying or wailing about the death of her husband seems to upset the men in the play. So much in fact that they seem to ignore

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

Hale to tell his story of how he went over to the Wright’s house on the previous day. Mr. hale then nervously began to tell his story while his wife Mrs. Hale hoped he wouldn’t mix the story up like he usually does with other stories. He explains how he was driving past the Wright’s and he wanted them to install a party line telephone for their houses so it would be cheaper in price for him. When Mr. Hale entered the house, Minnie Wright was in her rocking chair and asked if he could speak to her husband John. She replied to Mr. Hale by saying he was there, but he could not speak with John because he was dead. Mr. Hale went to their bedroom to find John Wright there dead, he was strangled to death. Minnie claims she was asleep while the murder took

Mrs. Hale has known Minnie since they were kids. Mrs. Hale regrets never visiting Minnie at her new home. While she is getting Minnie her apron, she reflects on Minnie as a child: "she used to wear pretty clothes and be lively, when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls singing in the choir" (Glaspell, 151). This quote shows that Minnie was happy before she took the last name of her now deceased husband, John Wright. The canary the women find later,

There were several signs that Minnie Wright could have been quilty. However, these signs were nothing significant that could tie Minnie Wright to the murder of her husband. The first sign is the nervousness she presented when the neighbor, Mr. Hale, entered the house that morning to ask John about setting up a telephone. Mrs. Wright was nervously rocking back and forth in the rocking chair. pleating her apron and hysterically laughing at odd moments. Under the circumstances, these actions could represent signs of being guilty. Secondly, the women noticed a bird cage that had been tampered with. Soon after the dead canary was found in Mrs. Wright's sewing box. Surprisingly, the bird had died of nearly the same death as John Wright. This information

In a time when women were thought of as airheaded and unconcerned with matters of importance by men, a woman’s compassion and intuition can hold incredible power. “In a Jury of Her Peers”, Minnie Wright is judged by her peers, and by their knowledge of her prior life, her current circumstances, and forced destitution, she is found innocent. In the story, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters accompany their husbands to the Wright home in a quest to find evidence implicating Minnie Wright in the murder of her husband. From the moment they enter the home, Mrs. Hale is sympathetic to Minnie Wright. When the county attorney looks over Minnie Wrights kitchen and states, “Not much of a housekeeper, would you say ladies?” Mrs. Hale’s stiff reply is, “There’s a great deal of work to be done on a farm.” Although Mrs. Peters begins the story with a firm stance of support for her husband saying, “Of course it’s no more than their duty,” in response to Mrs. Hales comment about the men snooping. However; as the story progresses, Mrs. Peters views begin to match with Mrs. Hale.

The sheriff and his wife, Mrs. Gorman, as well as Martha Hale and her husband, had all rode over to the Wrights place, to investigate, the death, - or was this murder? - of Mrs. Wright's husband. When the subject was brought up, it did not seem as if the death of Mr. Wright, even fazed his wife. When Mr. Hale, walked into their house, and asked to see John Wright, Mrs. Wright “laughed” and said no, “‘Cause he’s dead,” as she continued pleating her apron, not getting the least bit excited. The man went on to further investigate as the woman began to look around and talk. They started talking about the way, Mrs. Hale wished she had come to see Minnie (Foster) right, “‘ I could’ve come...I wish I had come over sometimes when she was here. I wish- I had.’” (Glaspell, 677) , although she had reason for not wanting to come, “‘ It never seemed a very cheerful place.’” (Glaspell, 672). This was the way the Wrights lived, and that was that. But was there something more to it? With the murder of Mr. John Wright, and the reactions of Mrs. Minnie Wright are very contradicting. In a marriage, two people are supposed to love one another, but after finding all the clues to the investigation, it lead to question whether Minnie actually loved her husband or

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

Incidentally, circumstantial evidence has consistently proven to be more trustworthy than direct evidence (Zamir, Harlev and Ritov, 2017). Considering this, it is at this point in the story, an eyewitness named Lewis Hale is introduced by the author. Hale states to the sheriff and the County Attorney that he had stopped by the Wright residence to speak with John about going in with him on a party telephone. Hale recounts to the two men that he knocked on the door and thinking that he heard someone tell him to come in he entered the residence. Upon entering the residence, he stated that he found Minnie sitting in a rocking chair not looking at him and just rocking back and forth. In any case, Hale stated that when he asked to see John, Minnie just laughed, or as he stated: “I guess you would call it a laugh” (Kirszner and Mandell, 2012, p. 869). According to Hale, when he asked again to see John, Minnie told him no and stated: “Cause he’s dead” (Kirszner and Mandell, 2012, p. 869). Without showing any excitement, Minnie pointed upstairs when asked where John was at, and told Hale that he had died from a rope around his neck. As a matter of fact, Hale states that he went upstairs after getting Harry, whom he had rode with to the residence, and found John lying in their bed dead with a rope around his neck. Even so Hale learns that Minnie had not

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

Trifles the play is about a world dominated by men. It was a time when men are large and in charge. Women were expected to: stay home, behave a certain way, respect their husband and care for the family. They have little freedom and are oppressed by their husbands. The bird to the story provides Minnie a motive for killing her husband, but it also shows the other women that Minnie husband was cruel and oppressive. He killed her only escape from loneliness and in essence strangling Minnie herself. The others see the dead bird and because they also have faced the same mistreatment they come to her aid. The women took the law into their own hands when they tampered with the evidence. I believe they felt that Minnie would not

The play Trifles takes place in a rural area and centers around a woman, Mrs. Wright, who has been accused of killing her husband by strangling him. The act starts off in Mr. and Mrs. Wright’s home on a cold, winter morning the day after Mr. Wright’s body was discovered by the neighbor; the county attorney, the sheriff and his wife and the neighboring farmer and his wife are all inside the