Loneliness In Susan Glaspell's A Jury Of Her Peers

The number one clue, the bird. One example of what the bird symbolizes would be Minnie’s, the wife of the murdered man’s, freedom. Birds have a choice to soar up into the sky and still have the freedom to return to earth again when they please. Minnie used to have freedom when she was able to make her own decisions about life before Mr. Wright was introduced. “...she used to sing real pretty herself” (Glaspell 185).

The dead canary and its cage was a pivotal piece of evidence that the women discovered. The dead bird represents the old Mrs. Wright— Minnie Foster and its cage represents how she was

In Susan Glaspell's play “Trifles,” there is a difference between the men and women’s way of perceiving evidence to Mr. Wright’s murder case. The men spend most of their time searching for solid evidence upstairs where Mr. Wright's murder takes place. However, the women spend most of their time in Mrs. Wright’s kitchen. Instead of seeking tangible evidence, they inspect the condition of the items and acknowledge how they have been muddled around. Different perspectives lead to a variety of discoveries such as the women’s way of perceiving evidence.

Authors, especially female authors, have long used their writing to emphasize and analyze the feminist issues that characterize society, both in the past and the present. Kate Chopin, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Susan Glaspell wrote narratives that best examined feminist movements through the unreliable minds of their characters. In all three stories, “The Story of an Hour”, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, and “A Jury of Her Peers”, the authors use characterization, symbolism, and foreshadowing to describe the characters’ apparent psychosis or unreasonable behavior to shed light on the social issues that characterized the late 19th century and early 20th century.

In addition, her choice of killing was to the neck with a rope as is similar to the way Mr. Wright killed her pet bird by wrecking its neck. Figuratively in this story, the bird is Mrs. Wright therefore, her killing the bird meant that she was close or already had killed Mrs. Wright’s true personality. The thought of this is what made Mrs. Wright rage vigorous from her cage as the thought of the constant oppression and the murder of her pet that influence her to reach for the rope. This scene is what drove Mrs. Wright to insanity as the constant nagging of abusive behavior and isolation is what made her leave her cage and remove the problem that was impeding her escape to

Mrs. Hale also states later that there is a great deal of work to be done on a farm (971). This is speaking of how hard her life is. Mrs. Hale also later implies that making preserves is hard work and this is why she cares about them so much (972). When it comes to the Wrights bad marriage the women imply that John was to blame. Mrs. Hale implies that Mrs. Wright hardly had visitors, although she was nice, but John wasn’t very cheery, but rather depressing and that’s why people avoided the Wrights place because it wasn’t cheerful (971).

Throughout the play, Reverend Hale serves as the voice of reason in the trials. Hale is well educated and respected, and is initially brought in from Beverly to determine the cause of Betty’s ailment that keeps her inanimate in her bed. He directs his focus to seeking out the presence of the Devil in Salem, and then to cleansing the village. However, when Hale realizes that the Girls were manipulating the trials for their own gain, he seeks instead to undo the actions of the court in the name of truth. Miller develops Hale as a character who is willing to sacrifice what might be moral in the name of truth as a means to show how

Mrs. Peters is a follower in this situation. Mrs. Hale leads by being the first to respond to the county

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we are here today to discuss the murder of John Wright. On November 15, Mr. Wright was found in his bed with a rope around his neck, presumably strangled to death. His body was discovered by his wife supposedly and did not bother to notify to the local authorities. At eight o'clock in the morning, Mr. Hale went to look for Mr. Wright and found Minnie, Mr. Wright’s wife, sitting in a rocking chair inside of the house. Mr. Hale asked Minnie for her husband and she stated that John Wright was dead in the bedroom.

Glaspell directly compares Mrs. Wright to a bird saying “She—come to think of it, she was kind of like a bird herself—real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and—fluttery.” The bird cage is symbolic

Being alone and being in solitude are very different things. In a story about people who seem to be both, Barbara Lazear Ascher shows how some people chose and enjoy their solitude, while others are left to fend for themselves alone. The author explains the difference between embracing loneliness and despising it through multiple characters who each chose to accept what society has given them or reflect on the life they have chosen. The Box Man enjoys searching for boxes and the boxes comfort him. The lady in the cafe repeat the same routine daily, without emotion. The woman across the street from the narrator lives with her cats and watches her tv into the early morning. Each character in the story has a particular routine and sticks to it, which supports the concepts of loneliness and solitude in this story.

in Schanfield 1656). In the text, Glaspell insist on Mrs. Wright being identification as a “songbird” before she married John Wright (Schanfield 1655). Glaspell chose to do this so the audience can see how an independent woman is happier and better off alone. As her marriage played out with Mr. Wright she slowly morphed into the mold a woman was forced to fit into. In “A Jury of Her Peers” Mrs. Hale (referring to Mrs. Wrights singing and happiness in the context of the bird) said, “No, [Mr.] Wright wouldn't like the bird… a thing that sang” she went on to say “She used to sing.

One of the conflicts in this story takes place between Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale. “Do you think she did it” (Glaspell). Once the men are out of the room the women begin to discuss their own thoughts on whether Mr. Wright is guilty or not. Mrs. Hale offers some reasoning of why she feels Mrs. Wright may be innocent. “I don’t think she did. Asking for an apron and her little shawl. Worrying about her fruit” (Glaspell). She feels that a woman couldn’t be concerned with these things after committing a murder. Mrs. Hale continues to defend Mr. Wright. “Locking her up in town and then coming out her and trying to get her own house to turn against her” (Glaspell). Mrs. Hale doesn’t agree with the way that the investigation is being conducted. “But

The women began to pity Mrs. Wright as they knew her before she married to Mr. Wright. The females felt pity, where the men just accessed the situation at hand. After the women examine the empty bird cage they remember the way that Mrs. Wright use to sing and compared her to her former self as Minnie Foster. “Trifles,” introduced the masculinity here from the Sheriff’s side instantly putting his instinct into saying that there was a murder that happened at the farmhouse, was caused by Mrs. Wright without any hesitation. He didn’t look into the sadness, or let the depressing home get to him as much as what his intentions and his well-being come into play before his

Hale, the wife of Lewis Hale, is a farm wife just like a woman named Minnie. In the story, there is no real direct description of Mrs. Hale, but what shows who she really is by her behaviors that throw some clues of what she experiences in her life. Through her outspoken opinions and how vocal she is with her opinions, you can sense how she feels about her husband, Lewis Hale, being the man who is a farmer who was the only one to witness the aftermath of the murder of John Wright. It is obvious that Mrs. Hale is he husbands “right hand”, and just like Emilia, is very obedient to her husband when he asks her to collect all of Minnie’s belongings. Compared to Mrs. Peters, Mrs. Hale is the women who the one to feel free to express her feelings, though she is looked to be less “sophisticated” than the others.