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Gender Roles In Susan Glaspell's A Jury Of Her Peers

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Susan Glaspell’s short story “A Jury of Her Peers” acts as a commentary on early twentieth century American society, when considering gender-based biases in regards to community. In the story, the characters are divided into groups based on their gender, and must use their own experiences to understand each other, through the investigation of the murder of Mr. Wright. The wife of Mr. Wright, Minnie, is the primary suspect, and despite this, the women of the community come together to empathize with her circumstances despite finding incriminating evidence against her. The insight into Minnie’s struggles in her marriage are relatable to the other women, which displays Glaspell’s critique of oppressive gender roles. “A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan …show more content…

Glaspell makes a point of the characters verbalizing their biases against each gender, specifically emphasizing the men’s negative perception of women. For instance, Mrs. Hale's husband states that ‘“Women are used to worrying over trifles’” (Glaspell). As noted in the article “Legal and Moral Justification for Homicide in Susan Glaspell’s ‘A Jury of Her Peers’”, when the women mention their worries for the condition of Mrs. Wright, seeing the mess that has been made in the house, the men are dismissive, “trivializing them and their concerns.” (Tayler 4). This prejudice is further emphasized by the women themselves regarding their own concerns after finding Mrs. Wright’s dead canary, as shown by the statement ‘“It's a good thing the men couldn't hear us! Getting all stirred up over a little thing like a--dead canary…As if that could have anything to do with--with--My, wouldn't they laugh?’” (Glaspell). Glaspell specifically uses these ideas through dialogue to show that not only do the men hold prejudice against women, but the women also have self-doubt due to these notions of irrationality that have been created by the society in which they live. This idea is further supported by the historical context as well as the story’s general plot. As Stobbs-Wright claims, the “act of killing a husband with unwomanly strength and violence, coupled with the impossibility of justifying this same death, makes this theme of murder a suggestive one for protest against the status quo, especially when combined with the sub-text of the way women are excluded from, or written out of, legal and literary history” (2). Glaspell utilizes the characters’ speech to not only identify the irony of the perception of women in a patriarchal society, but also to suggest the women’s internal conflict with whether or not to make the men aware of incriminating evidence against Mrs. Wright, which subsequently

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She understands that women feel weak and are bullied by men, so she targets the female audience’s delicate emotions toward male oppression to enhance her argument for gender equality. In her introduction, the author employs pathos to engage women’s feelings into her argument, and she uses these emotions to call for women to gain ambition and strength to fight for civil rights. Wollstonecraft tells women that “men endeavor to sink us lower, merely rendering us as alluring objects for a moment” (307). She claims men treat women as “alluring objects,” which expresses her point that men treat women as inferior creatures (307). Also, she directly relates to the female audience when she uses the first person pronoun “us” (307), for she “acknowledges that she too is a victim of oppression” (Smith 559).

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“A Tale Of Two Fed Up Housewives” A housewife is often described as a woman whose sole duty is to take care of the house, kids and their husbands. Susan Glaspell’s “A Jury of Peers” and Roald Dahl’s “A Lamb To The Slaughter” both take place in the 1900’s (Suffragette time period) which is a time where woman had no political rights and few rights in general. What people fail to realize is that women do have desires other than being someone’s wife.

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The diction of the play helps to advance the plot and the theme of this play immensely. The word choice between the genders is different; the women sound more educated whenever the men aren’t around. This goes to show that women were only expected to speak if they didn’t sound nearly as intelligent as the men did. Glaspells use of this gives the reader the impression that the women don’t even want to be speaking properly, for fear of rebuke from their spouse. The author’s use of diction helps us to understand the women and their importance in the society at the time.

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Societal Expectations are not Barriers Two inspiring pieces of literature called Macbeth by William Shakespeare and “The Yellow Wallpaper” written by Charlotte Perkings Gilman share one eminent theme, which is the suppression of the female gender. Societies often place barbaric labels on those who seem unworthy rather than fight the judgments that are concrete and see for themselves. Social ideas during the two diverse time periods demonstrate how women are not seen as powerful figures and insanity progress within those who are stereotyped. Women are seen as creatures that are ineligible to think for themselves in.

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The thrill of life and its mysteries capture the attention of people from all corners of the world, caught in the spectacle. A common idea shared by many around the world, watching a particular show that gives us a taste of the other side of the world out of our reach. In her two works, “The Hossack Murder” and “A Jury of Her Peers” Susan Glaspell is able to present similar messages about justice, gender roles, and the nature of truth during that era without losing their value through different perspectives “The Hossack Murder” is a story based on a true case in 1900 whereas “A Jury of Her Peers” is a fictional take on the same case but with a more entertaining intention. At the very start of “The Hossack Murder” Glaspell states “Sometime around

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In addition, the men also made a claim of “Well, women are used to worrying over trifles” (Glaspell, 187). This shows the men in the play was stereotyping the women’s roles because they assumed that women only worry about the smaller things around the house. However, the women did agree that their role in society was very strenuous. In the Trifles, Mrs. Hale said, “There’s a great deal of work to be done on the farm” (Glaspell, 187). This quote suggests that the women agreed that their duty was mostly domestic work like taking care of the farm and the house and they also defended Mrs. Wright by saying that it takes a lot of effort to keep the farm neat and clean.

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Like the bird, she had to break her own cage before she found freedom. Like Chopin and Gilman before her, Glaspell uses an irrational character to illustrate the way men often rejected and looked down upon women, especially in the 19th and 20th

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Hale and Mrs. Peters, but Lewis Hale, the sheriff George Peters, and the County Attorney George Henderson play an important role in serving as the male attitude during the time period. When paying attention to particular .mannerisms and attitudes of the County Attorney the reader can truly gauge how sexist the environment was in the 1920s. One of the first signs of sexism appears from the County Attorney’s remarks towards the two ladies about the housekeeping. He notes that Mrs. Wright was not much of a housekeeper and turns to the ladies for their opinion because in the setting this was one of their common roles. Hale even states that, “women are used to worrying over trifles” (965).

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In “The Jury of Her Peers”, the author Susan Glaspell aims to defy traditional gender dynamics to expose the societal norms that were prevalent in the early 20th century. In the story, she skillfully employs literary elements such as setting, narrative perspective, characterization, and theme to subvert inequitable notions and shed light on the profound injustices women faced at that time, allowing readers to fully comprehend the impact of such constraints on the women’s lives. The setting of “The Jury of Her Peers” plays a crucial role in enhancing the story’s themes and serves as a reflection of broader societal constraints and established traditions that were prevalent during the early 20th century. Glaspell sets the stage right from the

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This proved when the narrator’s mother always tried to get the narrator to do work that appropriate for a lady instead of outside work, however it was not something that she enjoyed. The narrator also was not considered of real helper to her father because she was a female. This proved when her father introduced the narrator as ‘his new hired hand’ to a salesman, he replied, “I thought it was only a girl” (line 76, paragraph 10).This shows how the society view girl as ‘just a girl’ at that time and it means that their roles are not really significant in the society. As being said by Alexander Pope (1688-1744), “Most women have no character at all.” (Bressler, C.E., 2011).

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