How Is Martha Hale Portrayed In A Jury Of Her Peers

“ A Jury of Her Peers,” a short story, and “Trifles,” a play, both provide the same story line of finding out the culprit in a early twentieth century murder scene but also differentiate by delving into different aspects on how to showcase the narrative. Both stories center around finding out if Minnie Wright murdered her husband and if she did, her motives for doing so. While the men in both stories simply care about finding out the culprit of the murder, the women fit their stereotypes by fiddling over small details but in the end piece the details together to look at the bigger picture. In “ A Jury of Her Peers” Martha Hale takes the stand as the dominant character of the play revealing how women must take their own stand during

Hale is simply seen as another woman trying to put together how things left half done have any correlation with the murder. Martha reveals her compassion for Minnie’s lack of freedom in her marriage when she pleads, “ I wish you’d see Minnie Foster when she wore a white dress with blue ribbons, and stood up there in the choir and sang (Glaspell 1917 15).” Martha addresses how Minnie felt liberated and was free to do what she pleased before marriage. She also focuses in on her white dress, because now Minnie doesn’t go out because she has worn out clothing. This alludes to how her life changed dramatically after marriage, and how Minnie must’ve felt oppressed and felt as if she was in a cage like the canary in her house for twenty long years. Mrs. Hale demonstrates this through her dominant trait in the short story because the audience is exposed to all her thoughts while in the play, Mrs. Hale is just another

Hale has for Mrs. Wright because the men categorize all the women into one category so they all seem like one speaker. The County Attorney says, “ Ah, loyal to your sex, I see. But you and Mrs. Wright were neighbors. I suppose you were friends, too(Glaspell 1916 4).” This was in response to Mrs. Hale defending something as simple as why there are no roller towels in some farmhouses, which demonstrates how the women have to answer to the men for everything, from why the preserves might have frozen to if the jars in the cupboards are in order. The women though unite together as one in discovering the small traces of clues that lead to Minnie’s case. Mrs. Hale questions, “She-come to think of it, she was kind of like a bird herself- real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and-fluttery. How-she-did-change”(Glaspell 1916 10). Mrs. Peters supports Mrs. Hale’s observation that Minnie’s marriage changed her for the worse, and talks about her childhood trauma when she herself was put in a similar situation as Minnie, when she had to be restrained from hurting a boy who was going to kill her cat. Also the stage direction provides further evidence of how the women stand together as one when it says: “ the two women sit there not looking at one another, but as if peering into something and at the same time holding back (Glaspell 1916 11). This exemplifies how the women don’t have to acknowledge each