Hale and Peters say that the death of her bird would have been her motive if she actually was her husband’s murderer, but the author utilizes the bird and its broken cage to be a comparison to Mrs. Wright’s life. The bird is Mrs. Wright. It was locked up in a cage as was Mrs. Wright when her husband was alive. He wasn’t a very “cheerful” man, therefore, people didn’t come to visit them. Over the twenty year time period of their marriage she became lonely, which resulted in her buying a bird and the drastic change in personality.
Wright can be the victim that made her commit the murder is because of the loss of her pet canary. Getting back to the birdcage, Mrs. Wright could relate to the bird trapped in the cage because it was similar her living conduction of being stuck inside the house. “One can say that Mrs. Wright is like a bird herself, “sweet and pretty, but kind and timid and fluttery.” Being caged up and defenseless like the canary, Mrs. Wright becomes enraged enough to kill Mr. Wright (Zaidman).” Mr. Wright probably strangled the bird to death for the fact that Mrs. Wright was singing with the bird keeping her from working and making too much noise. In one reported study, abused women stated that their male partner had threatened to hurt and kill one or more of their pets, about 57% was reported that the man did harm or killed the animal(s) (Forell 56). The death of the canary shows a significant motive for why Mrs. Wright committed the killing of her husband because she can see herself in the bird and when Mr. Wright took the bird's life, a part of Mrs. Wright life was also taken away.
Minnie’s quilt, the dead bird and its cage, and the kitchen show that living in a man’s world is not easy. In the end, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale recognize that they too have experienced the same loneliness and mistreatment that led Mrs. Wright to murder her husband. The men don't value the women in this story and they don't see them as being very intelligent either. It is for this reason “A jury of her peers” is created. Peers being the women themselves as they stand up, united against the subjugation they have all experienced.
In the story, Mrs. Hale often recalls Minnie Wright as being a joyful girl who loved to sing, much like the songbird. Then they found that the songbird had its neck wrung by who they presumed was John Wright. Mrs. Peters then recalls a similar act of cruelty done to her by a neighborhood boy killing her kitten, she states, “If they hadn’t held me back I would have hurt him.” (679) The cruel act symbolizes how he had treated Minnie throughout the years that they had been married. While the bird was trapped in a cage, it symbolizes how Minnie likely felt trapped in her marriage where the bird’s singing gave her hope and happiness. Therefore, when John killed the bird it killed what remaining hope and happiness Minnie had.
In “A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell, the sheriff, Mr. Peters, is struggling to find a motive for Mr. Wright’s murder case due to his sexist views. However, Mrs. Peters, the sheriff’s wife, along with Mrs. Hale is able to discover significant clues that lead to the revelation of Mrs. Wright’s motive because they relate to her living conditions. Although Mrs. Wright claims to have been asleep during her husband’s murder, the women conclude she strangled her husband, Mr. Wright, as evidenced by the slaughtered canary, the broken birdcage, and the errant quilt patch. The slaughtered canary wrapped in silk is the first significant clue which provides a motive for Mrs.Wright. When the women unwrap the bird, Mrs. Peters notices that “somebody wrung its neck.” It does not make sense for Mrs. Wright to kill her own bird because it was the only thing that brought light into her
Mr. Hale, who is a witness, his wife, Mrs. Hale and Mr. Peters wife Mrs. Peter who are also introduced to the audience as they were gathering belongings to bring to Mrs. Wright to jail. During this investigation the prime and only suspect is John Wright’s wife, who claims she did not kill her husband. As soon as the characters are introduced in the play it is noticeable both the male and female gender have a role, the men must go find evidence and the females need to make themselves at home and keep to themselves. As the play moves along the males find evidence based on what seems evident and
The Salem witch trials were a time period when any individual could be accused of witchcraft for numerous reasons. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller focuses on the deviation of the trials and how the town’s most religious and honest members of the community are tried with witchcraft. John Proctor, the town’s most honest man, is accused of being a witch and must decide if he should confess or not. Proctor’s confession will stop the town from rebelling and uphold the reputations of Deputy Governor Danforth and Reverend Parris. Hale also wishes for Proctor’s confession so he does not have to feel responsible if Proctor were to be hanged for his witchcraft accusations.
“A Jury of Her Peers,” by Susan Glaspell is a narrative about a murder that happened in a rural county. Mrs. Martha Hale is asked to accompany her husband, the county attorney, the sheriff, and the sheriff’s wife, to the house of Mr. and Mrs. Wright. Once the five of them arrive at the crime scene, the Wright house, they settle inside the house and Mr. Hale begins to tell how he discovered Mr. John Wright was dead. After Mr. Hale tells his story, the men head upstairs and leave the women alone to gather clothes for Minnie Wright. In this time, the women discover the telling clues for Minnie’s motive in killing John but decide to not reveal this information to the men.
The murder weapon happened to be the leg of a lamb, and Mary offered up some lamb for the cops, as a sign of thanks for all their hard work, looking for her late husband. Whereas in, “A Jury of her Peers,” the woman suspect, wife of the victim, had help hiding her motives to kill her husband. Second, both stories’ victims, were husbands of high power. Both men had done something to their wives that pushed the women over the edge, and the women cleverly getting away with it. For example, in “Lamb to
Peters did not want to be the only woman among men in the gloomy home where a tragedy occurred. As they drive up to the farm, which had “always been a lonesome-looking place” that was “down in a hollow,” Mrs. Hale is not in the mood to share small talk with Mrs. Peters (Glaspell 202). Many times in the past, she had had thoughts of guilt about how she “ought to go over and see Minnie Foster,” but was too busy (Glaspell 202). They enter the home and the wives spend most of their time in Mrs. Wright’s kitchen, which is where the story is centered since the majority of Minnie’s life is spent there. According to the excerpt from the essay "Small Things Reconsidered: Susan Glaspell's 'A Jury of Her Peers' " by Elaine Hedges, the Wright’s farm was isolated, Minnie was confined to her work as a farmer’s wife, and they did not have a telephone because Mr. Wright refused one (Hedges par.