By using her story based on the real-life murder investigation and trial, Glaspell uses
suggestions throughout in order to comment on the dominance of males in society at the time
and supported the women’s rights movement which continued at that time. Her two main
characters are focused on during much of the story as they talk about the woman who is
suspected of the crime, and it is shown that Mrs. Hale clearly believes that she didn’t do it. At one point,
Mrs. Hale asks Mrs. Peters if she thinks Mrs. Wright committed the murder, to which she
responds “Oh, I don’t know” and Mrs. Hale quickly affirms “Well, I don’t think she did.” There is
also reference made to the likelihood that Mrs. Wright was being abused by her husband,
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Wright’s presence there,
and she goes on to say that Mrs. Wright had once been a much more lively, happy person
before becoming reclusive and not as energetic of a personality after being with her
husband. This part of the story both shows female characters who think for themselves and
conduct a sort of investigation of their own, while also suggesting that Mr. Wright was viewed
inaccurately by most people in the male-dominant society.
The meaning that is contained within Glaspell’s story is latent and must be made obvious
by a reader through drawing inferences and knowing what events were happening in America
during that time frame, but unlike The Crucible, this fictionalized tale takes the form of a mystery.
The story is based on the real event that took place in December, 1900 in Iowa and involved a
woman committing a crime, and after her career writing for the local newspaper, Glaspell found
ways of spreading her message implicitly through her fictionalized story of this case. For
example, it is never directly asserted that the men are in control or view the women there as
inferior, but there is evidence seen in their behavior. The men laugh about “the ways of