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Susan Glaspell's Motives

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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 …show more content…

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.

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Susan Glaspell's Trifles

599 Words | 3 Pages

Hales exclaims: “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 1044). Mrs. Hale clearly admits that the canary represents Minnie Foster, who once was that sweet, fluttery girl that was transformed into the lonely, depressed Mrs. Wright by years of her husband's neglect and emotional abuse. Additionally, the word “dead” next to bird suggest that Mrs. Wright is emotionally and mentally “dead.” For example, in the beginning of the play, Mrs. Wright displayed some usual sense of emotion or feelings towards her death of her husband, such as, her laughter and fearful look (Glaspell 1039-40).

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Mrs. Wright In Susan Glaspell's Trifles

699 Words | 3 Pages

The scene begins to unfolds in their minds. Mr. Wright yanking open the cage door, taking out the bird, and breaking its fragile neck was enough to make Mrs. Wright lash out, and in a heat of passion, kill her husband. As the trifles collect,  the women worry that the men will see their findings, and have what they need to prove Mrs. Wright guilty. Though the men believe her to be the murderer, the women are trying their best to hide the evidence that will prove it.

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Comparing 'The Yellow Wallpaper And A Jury Of Her Peers'

1006 Words | 5 Pages

The 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.

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Loneliness In Susan Glaspell's A Jury Of Her Peers

874 Words | 4 Pages

Wright 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.

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A Jury Of Her Peers Symbolism Analysis

734 Words | 3 Pages

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

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How Does Susan Glaspell Use Irony In Trifles

821 Words | 4 Pages

The quilt at first seems like a regular quilt by both parties. The difference is that the men continue to joke about the quilt as quilting comes across as just a simple woman’s activity to them while the women look further inspect the quilt, and relate back to the suspect, Mrs. Wright. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale notice the quilt has terrible stitching compared to Mrs. Wright’s previous works which were done flawlessly and they begin to discuss this strange occurrence: MRS. HALE. What do you suppose she was so nervous about?

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Meaninglessness In Trifles

802 Words | 4 Pages

Meaningless Clues Oscar Wilde once said, “A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it.” In the play “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell, Mrs. Wright in the beginning, disgusts the reader. Her demeanor, described as queer many times, she seems emotionless about her husband’s death absolutely. In the early 1900’s women were fighting for their rights as American citizens and workers – hoping to obtain equal respect and opportunity that the men had. Glaspell displays an unexpected outcome through misleading the reader by showing more professionalism in the male law enforcement, expanding on the actual trifles the women discover, and how the women put their emotions and empathy first even though one is the wife of the Sheriff.

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Perceiving Evidence In Susan Glaspell's Trifles

796 Words | 4 Pages

She 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

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Social Injustices In Susan Glaspell's A Jury Of Her Peers

935 Words | 4 Pages

He 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

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Why She Killed In Susan Glaspell's Trifles

554 Words | 3 Pages

Wright's actions towards Mrs. Wright made the whole situation very clear. The discovery of the dead bird opened Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters eyes to the truth. They figured Mrs. Wright loved that bird, because she used to love singing, and Mr. Peters hated singing so he must have rung the birds neck. This quote particularly shows the connections they are making. Glaspell says in the story, “No, Wright wouldn't like the bird- a thing that sang,”(848).

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Bias In Trifles By Susan Glaspell

218 Words | 1 Pages

In 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).

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Analysis Of Silent Justice In A Different Key: Glaspell's Trifles

980 Words | 4 Pages

Mr. 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

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What Is The Evidence In A Jury Of Her Peers

690 Words | 3 Pages

In “A Jury Of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell, Mr. Wright is found dead in his home with a rope around his neck. Mrs. Wright is the prime suspect, as she acts calm and seems unphased by the incident, though she is fully aware of her husband’s death. When men come to investigate they bring along Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, and while the women are waiting they find interesting evidence. Although at first glance Mrs. Wright does not seem capable of murder because of her calm demeanor, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale conclude she strangled her husband to death as evidenced by the crazily sewn quilt patch, mutilated canary, and unhinged birdcage.

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Gender Norms In Susan Glaspell's Trifles

1231 Words | 5 Pages

The idea of Mr. Wright killing the bird went into the idea of him killing Mrs. Wright’s happiness, then that eventuating into the murder of Mr. Wright and the type of injury that caused it. Luebering states, “They represent two opposite ideologies; patriarchy and feminism delivered by the male and female characters. The discourses show personal power, debate ideas, and building solidarity. The male character uses the discourse to display personal power. Meanwhile, the female characters use the discourses to debate ideas and build their solidarity as women” (Luebering 8).

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Trifles By Susan Glaspell Essay

875 Words | 4 Pages

The dead bird represented the main suspect Minnie Foster a.k.a Mrs. Wright, it represent the life of Minnie before she became subordinate to her husband. “She used to wear pretty clothes and be lively, when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls singing in the choir. But that—oh, that was thirty years ago”, the birdcage represented how trapped Mrs. Wright felt and how her husband kept her secluded from the world. The dead bird was the motive for crime; Mrs. Wright killed the bird to represent freedom from her husband’s authority.

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