Discussion Topic
Analysis of Characters, Symbolism, and Title Significance in "A Jury of Her Peers"
Summary:
"A Jury of Her Peers" by Susan Glaspell explores themes of gender inequality and justice through the story of Minnie Wright, who is suspected of murdering her husband. The title highlights how Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, understanding Minnie's plight, act as her jury by concealing evidence. The characters' names and symbols like the telephone and birdcage reflect Minnie's isolation and loss of identity within her oppressive marriage. The story critiques societal norms, emphasizing women's empathy and insight into Minnie's motives.
Why is "A Jury of her Peers" a fitting title for the short story?
The title is effective for this story as Mrs Hale and Mrs Peters decide to conceal the evidence which would indicate Minnie’s guilt in the murder of her husband.
The men are unable to work out that the domestic evidence around them is an indicator of Minnie Wright’s state of mind. As they are nor her ‘peers’ they cannot appreciate how the lively, singing young woman has become a drudge: that the girl who loved ribbons and singing is confined to a miserable life with a miserable man.
Mrs Hale notices that Minnie had left putting away the sugar halfway through. She knew that this indicated an interruption: to leave such a job was not the way farmer’s wives worked –
What had interrupted Minnie Foster? Why had that work been left half done?
Together Mrs Hale and Mrs Peters see that Minnie’s erratic sewing shows a change in mood,...
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and the strangled canary was probably what made her snap and choke her husband to death. The men did not see any of these clues, as they had no understanding of Minnie’s life.
The women make themselves the ‘jury’ by choosing to conceal the evidence so Minnie will not be charged with the murder of her husband. They decide that her actions were understandable, and that she has been punished enough.
There is also an irony in the title as at the time of writing, women were not allowed to be jurors. Glaspell apparently based the story on real events, where a woman was acquitted of murdering her husband in their bed due to lack of evidence.
What is the significance of the women's names in "A Jury of Her Peers"?
The names of the characters from the story "A Jury of Her Peers" are significant, lending added meaning to Glaspell's narrative. It is interesting, too, that all three of the female characters have names derived from the Hebrew language; that is, they are traditional names.
--Martha Hale
The name Martha means "bitterness" in Hebrew. This meaning can easily apply to Mrs. Hale, who certainly harbors bitter feelings toward Mr. Wright for having figuratively caged Minnie Foster after he married her. He kept her at the isolated house and denied her the enjoyment of a telephone. Mrs. Wright has also been deprived of a badly-needed new stove as well as new clothes (judging from the worn clothing that Mrs. Peters gathers to take to the jail). Finally, Mrs. Wright has been deprived of socialization as she no longer has had opportunities to go to town and visit with friends.
--Mrs. Peters
The only name given to the sheriff's wife is the genitive form of her husband's surname. The author's manner of naming this character suggests that Mrs. Peters comes to the Wrights' house only as the wife of a public servant who has the assignment of performing some minor tasks for her husband. Mrs. Peters gathers the items which Mrs. Wright has requested be brought to her at the jail. When Mrs. Hale takes the initiative to correct the erratic sewing on one of Mrs. Wright's quilts, Mrs. Peters becomes nervous and fearful, saying, "I don't think we ought to touch things." Later, however, Mrs. Peters asks Mrs. Hale, "What do you suppose she was so--nervous about?" as she considers the environment in which Mrs. Wright has lived. Then, when they find the poor bird whose neck has been wrung, Mrs. Peters becomes stronger and is complicit in hiding the bird from the men. Perhaps, then, Mrs. Peters's hesitations and denials are somewhat similar to the denials of Peter the apostle, who later fulfills the meaning of his name as he becomes strong in his faith and is the "rock" upon which Christ builds His church (Matthew 13:18).
--Minnie Foster Wright
Like the other women's names, Minnie's is also an old name from the Hebrew language. The Hebrew meaning of this name is "rebellion." Another meaning comes from Minnie as the diminutive of Wilhemina, the feminine form of William, which means "warrior" and "resolute protection." Certainly, the meaning of "rebellion" applies to the recent actions of Mrs. Wright against her husband. Mrs. Wright's love and enjoyment of life have not been fostered after years in a loveless marriage with her husband, whom Mrs. Hale calls "close." As a result, Minnie may have become rather resentful about her repressed condition, and when her only joy, the little songbird, was killed, she rebelled against the repression of Mr. Wright. Perhaps, in her desperate grief at the loss of her one joy in life, she became "resolute" in rebelling. We could also say that she was resolute in protecting what was left of her spirit when she repaid Mr. Wright for ending the life of her pet.
References
Who kills Mr. Wright in "A Jury of Her Peers"?
“The Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell concerns a crime: the murder of John Wright, found in his bed with a rope around his neck. This summary will lead us to the answer to your question: Who is guilty of the murder of John Wright?
Mr. Hale, a neighbor who stopped to talk to the victim, knocked on the door and thought he heard, “Come in.” He discovered Minnie Wright in a rocking chair. Mr. Hale told her that he wanted to talk to John. Minnie told him that he could not because he was dead upstairs in his bed. She told him that she had been asleep next to him and that she did not wake up until the morning when she found him dead.
The story begins the next day when the county attorney, Sheriff Peters and his wife, and Mr. and Mrs. Hale come into the Wright house. The men are there to investigate the murder, and the women are there to get some things for Minnie who has been taken to jail.
The men go upstairs to look over the crime scene. The women stay in the kitchen and downstairs area. From Mrs. Hale and the search around her house, the reader learns about Minnie Foster Wright:
- She was pretty as a girl and could sing well.
- She changed after marrying Wright.
- Her clothes were old and shabby.
- They had no children.
Mrs. Peters discovers a bird cage. Mrs. Hale did not know that she had a bird; however, she does remember that a year ago a man came around selling canaries. They also notice that the door of the cage had been pulled out of its hinges. Both women wonder what happened to the bird.
Suddenly, Mrs. Hale asks Mrs. Peters if she thought that Minnie killed her husband. Mrs. Peter said that she did not know. Mrs. Hale said that she did not think that Minnie could kill anything. Mrs. Hale describes John Wright as a hard man.
Mrs. Peters picks up a pretty box. She opens it and discovers the bird wrapped in some cloth. The bird’s neck had been wrung. Now, they both know what happened the night that John Wright was killed.
The two women conjecture that Wright did not like the bird. It was noisy and sang. He probably told Minnie to keep it quiet or get rid of it. Obviously, Minnie loved the bird. In their minds, they can see John Wright and Minnie struggling over the bird. He rips the door of the cage open and grabs the bird wringing its neck. Minnie who is grief-stricken snaps. In the night, Minnie repays her husband’s abuse by doing the same thing to him: Minnie killed John Wright.
Mrs. Peters remembers as a child a boy at taken an axe and cut up her kitten. Mrs. Hale imagines that it must have been very quiet around the Wright house with no children. Minnie probably needed the bird as a companion.
When the men return, the women exchange knowing looks. Mrs. Hale hides the box with the bird in her pocket. The men tease the women. The attitude of the men has been that women are incapable of investigating something as serious as this crime.
‘No, Peters,’ said the county attorney, ‘it's all perfectly clear, except the reason for doing it. But you know juries when it comes to women. If there was some definite thing--something to make a story about. A thing that would connect up with this clumsy way of doing it.’
The two ladies know the truth, but they also know the kind of life that Minnie Wright had lived. They will keep what they have learned to themselves. Together, they take the things to Minnie.
Since the plot centers around the discovery of a motive to explain the murder in "A Jury of Her Peers," and the clue to this motive is apparently discovered by Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, it certainly seems that Mrs. Wright has, in fact, murdered her husband.
Mrs. Wright has apparently murdered her husband because the canary in the pretty box has had its neck wrung; similarly, Mr. Wright has been killed by having a rope placed around his neck that was tightened until he died. Also, there are indications that Mrs. Wright felt affection for this little songbird who brought music and her only joy in her spartan life. While Mrs. Hale talks to Mrs. Peters, she comments on Mr. Wright:
"...he was a hard man....Like a raw wind that gets to the bone......I should think she would've wanted a bird!"
Hers is obviously a dark world devoid of human companionship and joy because Mrs. Wright has shabby clothes and, without children, she is alone most of each day since Mr. Wright must work all the fields and feed all the animals on their farm. Even when he is home, Mr. Wright is a stony man who rarely talks.
What does the telephone symbolize in "A Jury of Her Peers"?
The telephone is a symbol of communication with the outside world, something Minnie Wright is solely deprived of during her unhappy marriage. Minnie's great suffering came in part from her loneliness. Her husband neglected her, other women in town would not call upon her, and she was too humiliated by her poverty to call on them, so Minnie lived a solitary existence. While going through the Wright household, Martha Hale wonders if contact with other people might have prevented Minnie from resorting to murder. She surmises the last straw for Minnie was her husband's killing her pet bird, her sole companion during her long and lonely days.
The phone would have allowed Minnie to have some contact with the world outside her miserable home and perhaps even given her access to resources that would have allowed her to leave it, but John refused to put in the money for a share in the party line when Mr. Hale came by to ask about it the day before the killing. When Mr. Hale returns the next day and informs Minnie about his plans to ask John about the party line a second time, she laughs abruptly, perhaps realizing the irony that this offer has come far too late. As such, the telephone represents a narrowly missed opportunity for Minnie as well, increasing the dramatic irony of her plight.
What does the birdcage symbolize in "A Jury of Her Peers"?
In Susan Glaspell's story “A Jury of Her Peers,” the broken, empty birdcage symbolizes Minnie Wright's broken, empty life.
Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters find the birdcage as they are looking around Minnie's home after the murder of Minnie's husband. They are trying to discover why Minnie might have killed her husband. They catch sight of the birdcage and notice at once that there is no bird in it. Mrs. Hale suggests that perhaps the cat got it, but Mrs. Peters knows that Minnie Wright does not have a cat.
The cage's door is broken, twisted off its hinges as if it has been violently wrenched open. Minnie certainly never would have done such a thing, so the culprit must have been her husband. A little while later, the two women find a dead canary, wrapped in silk and placed in a pretty box. The bird's neck has been wrung.
It doesn't take Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters long to figure out what must have happened. Mr. Wright got tired of the canary's singing and killed the little creature. This bird symbolizes Minnie herself. As Mrs. Hale recalls, Minnie was once a cheerful, singing girl, pretty and ruffled, filled with life. But when she married Mr. Wright, that changed. After her marriage, Minnie became isolated. Her clothing grew shabby. She no longer sang or went out in public much. She was trapped in a cage, its door shut tight by a miserly, abusive husband. Minnie's life has been drained from her, and Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters understand that the malicious killing of the canary (a symbol of Minnie's former life) was likely the last straw for Minnie. Something snapped, and she killed the man who was tormenting her.
Who is Mr. Wright's wife in "A Jury of Her Peers"?
Mr. Wright is the man found dead in his home. His wife is Minnie Wright, the main suspect in his murder. But Martha Hale also refers to her as Minnie Foster. This was her maiden name. Her married name is Minnie Wright. This is symbolic because Mrs. Hale remembers her as the more vibrant person she knew before she married Mr. Wright. Note the irony that this man was a lousy husband and his name is Mr. Wright, a homophone for "Mr. Right."
Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters conclude that Mrs. Wright (formerly known as Mrs. Foster) was like a caged bird in her marriage to John Wright. They suggest that John Wright was a hard man to live with and Mrs. Wright's freedom and happiness in life suffered as a result. In examining the dead bird, they confirm that somebody had wrung its neck. Most likely, it was John Wright. Although Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters do not approve of killing a man in his bed, they sympathize with Mrs. Wright. This is why they hide the dead canary. As dense as the sheriff and attorney are in their investigation, finding a bird with its neck wrung would be evidence and a motive that they could use against Mrs. Wright who essentially killed Mr. Wright in a similar way.
What is the significance of the broken door and bird cage in "A Jury of Her Peers"?
Both symbolize the motive for the murder of John Wright and the means to freedom for Minnie Wright. Because John Wright isolated his wife and stifled everything cheerful out of their home (including wringing the neck of her precious bird), Minnie struck back by strangling the life out of him (just as he did literally from the bird and figuratively from her). Although Minnie is in jail for the death of her husband for the duration of the story, her actions before the story's action begins have set her free emotionally and psychologically.
How does the ironic title "A Jury of Her Peers" shape the story's meaning?
The famous short story "A Jury of Her Peers" by Susan Glaspell tells of a murder investigation in a remote farm area. Martha Hale accompanies her husband, the county attorney, Sheriff Peters, and Mrs. Peters, the sheriff's wife, to gather evidence. John Wright is the victim, and his wife, Minnie, has been taken into custody as the possible murderer. The men behave condescendingly and all but ignore the women's opinions while they search the house and talk among themselves. In the meantime, the two women find subtle clues in the kitchen area that Minnie was lonely, deeply unhappy, and neglected and abused by her husband. Ultimately they find a dead bird that Minnie hid. Evidently it was the only thing that brought her joy, and her husband had killed it. The women conclude that the abuse she suffered caused Minnie to murder her husband.
The title "A Jury of Her Peers" indicates that the two women who have come to the house have the power to pass judgment on Minnie by exposing or withholding the evidence of her guilt that they have uncovered. Minnie's peers in this case are the other women, Martha Hale and Mrs. Peters, who are able to comprehend what she has gone through. The title is ironic because normally the term refers to a collection of random citizens at a jury trial in a courtroom and not two women waiting for their husbands at the scene of the crime. In the end, the two women feel that the abuse that Minnie endured from her husband justified the homicide, and they hide the evidence from the men.