Susan Glaspell's Motives
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
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Hale and Mrs. Peter discern an errant quilt patch in the middle of the meticulous quilt. The whole quilt is stitched in a uniform manner, except for one section. It is evident that “she didn’t know what she was about” [Mrs. Peters] because quilting is intricate and time-consuming. Even though Mrs. Hales tries to cover up for Mrs. Wright by straightening out the stitches and saying, “I sew awful queer sometimes when I’m just tired,” so the sheriff cannot find any motive that shows anger. Distracted by her thirst for revenge and anger towards her husband, the quality of her sewing went plummeting as represented through tight and messy stitches. Finally, she decides to “knot it” and kills Mr. Wright. Throughout the story, the sheriff asks, “Have you decided whether she was going to quilt it or knot it?” When they refer to this metaphor, “quilt it,” that means she’s going to continue to endure the pain, but “knot it” means she’s going to kill her husband with a rope tied around his neck. The women uncovered what Mrs. Wright decided to do, so they answer, “We call it—knot it, Mr.
Intuition In A Jury Of Her Peers
621 Words | 3 PagesMrs. Peters has realized the cold reality that Minnie Wright had no other option, but instead of telling the truth she says, “We don’t know who killed him, we don’t know” (16).Towards the closing of the crime scene, they all come down stairs. Mr. Hale goes to look after the horses, the sheriff and the court attorney enter another room for a brief moment, and Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale are alone in the kitchen. In that moment, “… she threw back the quilt pieces, got the box,…(18) Mrs. Peters, the wife of the sheriff and a woman that the attorney asked if she’d even know a clue if she came upon it, “knotted” this case, but didn’t the way she would’ve if she still had the same mindset as
Meaninglessness In Trifles
802 Words | 4 PagesPeters noticed that led to her husband’s ironic joke. The quilt, though, is the first thing the women noticed. It was quilted for the most part, but towards the end was very sloppy. Mrs. Hale then questioned whether Mrs. Wright was going to quilt it or knot it. Laughing, Sheriff Peters says to Mr. Henderson, “They wonder if she was going to quilt it or just knot it” (563).
Analysis Of Silent Justice In A Different Key: Glaspell's Trifles
980 Words | 4 PagesMr. 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
Pawn In Susan Glaspell's Trifles
607 Words | 3 PagesThe women were talking about the unfinished and were wondering if Mrs. Wright was going to quilt it or knot it. The men overhear and interject on their conversation and mock them. When the women look at the quilt they notice that for the most part the stitching is neat and precise, but then they see that at some point it started to become messy and erratic. This was peculiar to the women because it’s such a drastic change. Mrs. Hale says that the sewing was that way because of nervousness, but Mrs. Peters disagrees and narrows it down to just being tired.
A Jury Of Her Peers Symbolism Analysis
734 Words | 3 PagesThe 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
What Is The Evidence In A Jury Of Her Peers
690 Words | 3 PagesFrom this aggressive behavior, she could have pulled the string too tight and caused the rest of the pattern to crinkle, like pulling a thread out of a shirt. These small details suggest that Mrs. Wright was angry or uptight at the moment
Jury Of Her Peers Symbolism
740 Words | 3 PagesIn “Jury of Her Peers,” Susan Glaspell outlines the murder mystery of John Wright who “died of a rope around his neck” in bed (204). The spouse of the victim, Minnie Wright, keeps quiet when she is brought to jail as she is the main suspect of the case. The clues surrounding the case portray Minnie and her lonely life living with her husband. Glaspell highlights trivial, yet major, details which lead to Minnie’s motive for strangling her own husband. The rocking chair, quilt, and broken bird cage are all details that eventually lead to the women’s discovery of who murdered Mr. Wright.
Martha Hale Essay
1139 Words | 5 PagesA prominent piece of evidence that was found in the house was a broken bird cage and the question lies within what her personal interpretation of this object was. With a solemn tone, Martha replied, “I believe Minnie’s husband ripped the cage door open when in a rage and snapped the bird’s neck, so she did the same to him.” It is hard to believe that one’s emotions could so greatly influence their actions but in this case, it seems as if the Wright’s were involved in an unhappy, abusive marriage. To connect back to the bird queries, I also asked Mrs. Hale what she did with the deceased creature that Minnie Wright held so dearly. Martha without hesitation mentioned that she “grabbed it without a second thought” and that she wishes to bury it because Minnie would have wanted that.
Bias In Trifles By Susan Glaspell
218 Words | 1 PagesIn the story Trifles written by Susan Glaspell the men are bias towards the women as they are trying to find the motive of a murder. The men don’t think to look in Mrs. Wrights personal things, they believe it's best to look outside, and, in the bedroom that Mr. Wright was murdered in. As they continue to search, the women look through Mrs. Wrights things and find clues that they don’t tell the men about. The men think the women aren't serious and the County Attorney says, “Well ladies, have you decided whether she was going to quilt it or knot it?” (135).
Mrs. Wright In Susan Glaspell's Trifles
699 Words | 3 PagesWright was in the process of stitching. They noticed the beauty of the quilt and how neat the stitching was… up to a certain point. The last piece that had been added to the quilt was poorly stitched. Mrs. Hale points to the bad stitching and says to Mrs. Peters, “Why, it looks as if she didn’t know what she was about,” and continues to tell how she believes Mrs. Wright did the piece while nervous about something (1085). Mrs. Peters then tries to fix the stitching so that no one else notices.
Comparing 'The Yellow Wallpaper And A Jury Of Her Peers'
1006 Words | 5 PagesThe men of the group, much like John in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” consider themselves more capable than the women and refuse to consider Mrs. Wright as anything other than irrational. The men leave the women to their “trifles” on the first floor, where they discover a broken bird cage, and the bird’s body, broken, carefully wrapped in a small, decorative box. They realize that Mr. Wright had wrung the neck of his wife’s beloved bird and broken its cage. Mrs. Wright, once known for her cheerfulness and beautiful singing, she stopped singing when she encountered Mr. Wright. Just like he did with the bird, Mr. Wright choked the life out of his wife until, finally, Mrs. Wright literally choked the life out of her husband.
Perceiving Evidence In Susan Glaspell's Trifles
796 Words | 4 PagesShe then suggests to Mrs. Peters that she should take the unfinished quilt home to “’take up her mind.’” This leads them to search for Mrs. Wright’s patches and sewing accessories. They discover a “pretty box” and assume it is where she keeps her scissors (Glaspell 1417). This is when they discover a dead canary wrapped up in a piece of silk; it was the missing bird. Right away they notice the bird's neck
Loneliness In Susan Glaspell's A Jury Of Her Peers
874 Words | 4 PagesWright it is easy to tell that she is not at all upset about her husband’s death. When being asked about the situation she “laughed and pleated her skirt” (4). Mrs. Wright is compared to a bird that is found later in the story. The bird was found in a pretty box with marks around its neck. 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.
Social Injustices In Susan Glaspell's A Jury Of Her Peers
935 Words | 4 PagesHe killed that too”, which is an exact representation of how women were inferior, muted, and defused (“A Jury of Her Peers 1643). Because the women felt so inferior to the men, they never spoke up when they found the dead bird which explained that Minnie Foster was the murder of John Wright. Another reason for this action was that Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters felt united as women due to their social status and situation. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale chose to hide the dead bird and not to disclose the actual murder clues and details they found as it was their moral duty as
Story Of An Hour And Trifles: An Analysis
704 Words | 3 PagesWright, is the prime suspect in the murder of her husband. The bird’s neck was wrung, just as Mr. Wright’s neck was. They conclude that her reasoning for killing him was that she was fed up with being oppressed by him. Although they find incriminating evidence, the women decide to keep it to themselves because they wish they could do the same in their unhappy marriages. “Getting all stirred up over a little thing like a-dead canary.
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