What is the relationship between Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale in Trifles?

Mrs. Hale's larger frame reflects her bolder personality.  She is much more outspoken than the smaller, timid Mrs. Peters.  Mrs. Hale shows that she has little problem standing up against the injustices toward her gender and the institutional sexism that permeates the culture.  For example, as the murder is investigated, the County Attorney comments on the lack of cheer in the house, referring to Mrs. Wright by saying "I shouldn't say she had the homemaking instinct," Mrs. Hale replies with "Well, I don't know as Wright had, either."  Here she makes it clear that she believes it is not up to the woman to create the atmosphere of a home, but rather it was the duty of both Mr. and Mrs. Wright to work to create a place of happiness.

Mrs. Peters, on the other hand, begins the play as a very timid woman.  She is defined by her role as the wife of the sheriff, and she fulfills this role dutifully.  For example: at one point Mrs. Hale notices that pattern of stitching left behind by Mrs. Wright appears to have begun neatly, but becomes messy toward the end.  She immediately begins to pull out the last few stitches to fix it, and Mrs. Peters grows concerned when Mrs. Hale evens out the pattern, saying "I don't think we should touch things." Here Mrs. Hale is consciously trying to make things appear more normal, to not allow any evidence that would suggest that something changed in Mrs. Wright's demeanor.  She is essentially tampering with evidence, and Mrs. Peters doesn't like it.  Yet even here, Mrs. Peters does not act like she will speak up and tell her husband what Mrs. Hale as done.  Further, as the play progresses and the two women happen upon the broken birdcage and dead bird, Mrs. Peters slowly becomes Mrs. Hale's accomplice in concealing the motive.  The two women clearly understand that Mr. Wright's killing of the bird was the final act that caused Mrs. Wright to murder him, but Mrs. Hale's description of life at the Wright house, along with the discovery of the bird, helps Mrs. Peters to better understand the life that Mrs. Wright was subjected to.  Both women begin in somewhat different places, but their shared experiences with sexism unite them.  As the play ends, they use the biases of their society to create a subtle, subversive shift in the power dynamic.

Compare and contrast Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters in Trifles.

Both Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale have feminine sympathies for Mrs. Wright and each other, but, as the wife of a lawman, Mrs. Peters is conflicted in her feelings. In the exposition, as everyone stands in the kitchen, Mrs. Peters notices the fruit jars have broken, and she mentions that Mrs. Wright has talked with her at the jail about her fruit jars. She was worried that they might break once the kitchen fire went out.

SHERIFF. Well, can you beat the woman! Held for murder and worryin' about her preserves.
HALE. Well, women are used to worrying over trifles. (The two women move a little closer together.)

Before the men go upstairs, Sheriff Peters mentions something to the county attorney.

SHERIFF. I suppose anything Mrs. Peters does'll be all right. She was to take in some clothes for her, you know....
COUNTY ATTORNEY. Yes, but I would like to see what you take, Mrs. Peters, and keep an eye out for anything that might be of use to us.
MRS. PETERS. Yes, Mr. Henderson.

As the men go upstairs, the two women listen to their steps, and then they look around the kitchen. Mrs. Hale comments that she would not like men coming into her kitchen snooping around. But, Mrs. Peters defends them.

MRS. PETERS. Of course, it's no more than their duty.

Perhaps, because she is the neighbor of Mrs. Wright and has known her before she was married Mrs. Hale is more defensive of the accused woman. Nonetheless, as they talk, Mrs. Peters's sympathies grow for Mrs. Wright, especially as Mrs. Hale relates that when Mrs. Wright was a young Minnie Foster, she was pretty and happy. At that time she wore lovely clothes and sang, too. Now, childless and alone with a man described as "not cheerful," Minnie Foster Wright becomes a tragic figure to Mrs. Peters. Sympathetically, she tells Mrs. Hale that Mr. Henderson will be sarcastic in court and will ridicule Minnie Wright for "sayin' she didn't wake up when a rope was put around her husband's neck."

Mrs. Peters becomes more sympathetic toward Mrs. Wright after having heard about how cold Mr. Wright was and how lonely Mrs. Wright must have been, having no one to sing with and nowhere to go. However, Mrs. Peters is still apprehensive about doing anything that may be interpreted as inappropriate or as tampering with evidence. On the other hand, Mrs. Hale feels a personal responsibility for what has happened.

MRS. HALE. Oh, I wish I'd come over here once in a while. That was a crime!....Who's going to punish that!

However, when both Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale discover the poor, dead canary whose neck has been twisted, their eyes meet with a look of "growing comprehension, of horror." When they hear the men coming, Mrs. Hale hides the box under the pieces for the quilt. After the men depart, Mrs. Peters's sympathy for Mrs. Wright seems stronger as she recalls certain incidents in her life that were difficult for her. She recalls, "I know what stillness is." When the men approach, the women look at the pretty box that contains the canary. Mrs. Peters cannot touch it, so Mrs. Hale hides the box in her pocket of her heavy coat. The sarcastic county attorney makes a joke about quilting, and they all depart. Mrs. Wright's secret is safe.

Compare and contrast Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters in Trifles.

Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are initially depicted in similar ways, in part by being identified only as their husbands’ wives with no first names. Their numerous significant differences soon become apparent. Mrs. Hale’s husband is a farmer, and they are the Wright's neighbors. Mrs. Peters’s husband is the sheriff, and they live in town. Mrs. Hale grew up in the community and knew Mrs. Wright when they were both girls; Mrs. Peters is a relative newcomer who married in to the community, having grown up in North Dakota. Mrs. Hale is bolder and nosier, while Mrs. Peters is more sensitive. One important difference connected to that sensitivity is that Hale, who is older, has several children, while Peters lost her only child; in that respect, she can identify more closely with Mrs. Wright’s childless condition.

What are the inner conflicts of Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters in Trifles?

Yes, both of these women face the challenge of having to choose between submitting to patriarchal authority in the form of the Sherrif, or supporting their fellow female in her time of need. It is they of course who uncover the true motive for the crime in the form of the dead bird that was killed by John Wright. Their decision to hide this evidence makes it clear that they understand and sympathise the kind of hard life that Minnie Wright has suffered and the way that she too has been "strangled" by her husband, just like the bird.

What are the inner conflicts of Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters in Trifles?

The biggest dilemma both these women have to consider in this play is whether or not to report what they know to the authorities. It's true that nearly every piece of "evidence" the women find was also seen--and overlooked--by the men. At the same time, if they had explained their reasoning to the men, Minnie would no doubt have been found guilty of killing her husband. This is an internal conflict for both women, of course. Though she had no relationship with Minnie, Mrs. Peters can understand Minnie's rage and helplessness because of experiences in her own life. Mrs. Hale is a former friend of Minnie's and understands how difficult her life became; however, she is also married to the sheriff and knows she should not be withholding evidence.

What are the inner conflicts of Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters in Trifles?

Both Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters struggle with inner conflicts in Susan Glaspell's Trifles. Let's look at what each of these women is going through.

We will start with Mrs. Peters. Her sheriff husband has asked to her come along to the Wright home to get some things that Minnie Wright has requested now that the latter is jailed for the alleged murder of her husband. This makes Mrs. Peters very nervous to start with. As she learns more about Minnie's situation, she feels sorry for the woman, especially with regard to her isolation. Mrs. Peters mentions that she knows what it is like to be alone.

As the play goes on, Mrs. Peters joins Mrs. Hale in discovering Minnie's motive for killing her husband, if indeed she did. They find the broken birdcage and the dead bird. They notice Minnie's sewing and untidy kitchen. These two women understand Minnie's pain. They feel it within themselves. And they have a decision to make. They can tell their husbands what they have found or not. They decide not to, for they realize that their husbands will not take them seriously anyway, especially after the men have been scoffing at women's trifles the whole time.

We can also look at Mrs. Hale's personal conflicts. She feels deeply guilty that she did not make the effort to visit and befriend Minnie. She knew Minnie when the latter was a girl, but she never cared to go to the Wright place because she never felt comfortable. Now Mrs. Hale knows that she should have gone anyway. She might have helped avert a tragedy.

In Glaspell's Trifles, which character changes more: Mrs. Peters or Mrs. Hale?

In Susan Glaspell's Trifles, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters change, but whereas Mrs. Hale starts off expressing her doubts over the proceedings, Mrs. Peter's change is dramatic because she initially supports what the men are doing.

Mrs. Hale notes how unhappy she would be to have someone rummaging through her house, like the men who are upstairs looking for evidence. However, Mrs. Peters makes the appropriate response—as seen by that male-dominated society.

MRS. HALE. I'd hate to have men coming into my kitchen, snooping around and criticizing...

MRS. PETERS. Of course it's no more than their duty.

And again, as the women collect some things for Minnie in jail, Mrs. Hale is concerned about the sneakiness of searching her house for evidence. Mrs. Peters reminds her that the men are doing their jobs, but Mrs. Hale's response seems halfhearted—as if she doesn't really believe it.

MRS. HALE. You know, it seems kind of sneaking. Locking her up in town and then coming out here and trying to get her own house to turn against her!

MRS. PETERS. But, Mrs. Hale, the law is the law.

MRS. HALE. I s'pose 'tis. 

Mrs. Hale is keenly observant. She notices how the stitching on the quilt Minnie was working on suddenly changes drastically, as if she were nervous about something.

Mrs. Peters, look at this one...look at the sewing! All the rest of it has been so nice and even...look at this! It's all over the place!...

Mrs. Hale looks surreptitiously at the door; then she rips out the crooked stitches and fixes them so no sign remains to indicate that Minnie was upset.

MRS. PETERS. Oh, what are you doing, Mrs. Hale?

MRS. HALE (mildly). Just pulling out a stitch or two that's not sewed very good. 

Of the two, Mrs. Hale knew Minnie when she was young and pretty, with a beautiful voice, and she has seen how much Minnie has changed—guilty now that she never visited her. She also knew John Wright: that he was stingy with his money: Minnie's clothes are worn out, and Mrs. Hale is sure she was embarrassed to come to town. Then when one of the men criticizes Minnie for being a poor housekeeper, Mrs. Hale points out to him that John didn't do anything to help make the house more loving or welcoming... something he should have done. She describes Wright to Mrs. Peters:

...he was a hard man...Just to pass the time of day with him. (Shivers.) Like a raw wind that gets to the bone. 

On the other hand, Mrs. Peters is particularly timid at the start. She supports the idea of duty and propriety. When Mrs. Hale starts to rip out the messy stitches from the quilt, Mrs. Peters suggests that they should leave things alone.

MRS. PETERS. (nervously). I don't think we ought to touch things.

However, slowly, through her conversation with Mrs. Hale, Mrs. Peters recalls her own painful moments of desperation: the boy who killed her kitten with a hatchet—if they had not "held her" back...she pauses...she says she would have "hurt him." However, the pause clearly implies that she wanted to say "killing him." She also understands loneliness like Minnie's—she was living away from her parents and family, on a farm, with no real friends, when her two year old daughter died.

By the end, the women are complicit in their crime of withholding evidence that could convict Minnie: they hide the bird and say nothing. For Mrs. Peters, this is a radical about-face. For Mrs. Hale, we are not as surprised because she has been more vocal from the start.

How do Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters differ in Trifles?

In the play Trifles, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters accompany their husbands to the Wright estate in order to retrieve several items for Mrs. Wright, who is accused of murdering her husband and currently sitting in jail. Despite sympathizing with Mrs. Wright and silently agreeing to conceal the evidence of her motive, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters have several differences.

Mrs. Hale is a heavier, "comfortable-looking" woman, while Mrs. Peters is a "slight wiry" woman with a "thin nervous face." Mrs. Hale is also a bold, forward individual and takes offense to the county attorney's disparaging comments about women. In contrast, Mrs. Peters is timid and submissive. She does not challenge the county attorney and lets the men make sarcastic comments about their gender. Mrs. Peters even defends the men several times, saying that they have "awful important things on their minds" and insisting to Mrs. Hale that "the law is the law."

Initially, Mrs. Hale is more sympathetic than Mrs. Peters and feels like the men are snooping around the Wright estate without permission. She sympathizes with Mrs. Wright's situation, while Mrs. Peters defends the men by saying that it is their duty. As the sheriff's wife, Mrs. Peters is "married to the law" and justifies the men's actions. Also, Mrs. Hale was at one time friends with Mrs. Wright. Mrs. Hale remembers Mrs. Wright as Minnie Foster and recalls her soft, lovely voice and lively personality. In contrast, Mrs. Peters is a relative outsider to the rural community and unfamiliar with Mr. and Mrs. Wright.

Mrs. Hale also takes the initiative to help Mrs. Wright while Mrs. Peters hesitates to act. Mrs. Hale is the first to notice the erratic stitching of the quilt and even attempts to fix it. At the play's end, although Mrs. Peters attempts to pick up the dead canary in order to hide it, she cannot bear to touch it, and it is Mrs. Hale who hides the dead canary in her coat pocket.

Describe the characteristics of Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters in Glaspell's Trifles.

Mrs. Peters is the wife of the sheriff and obviously is torn between her "duty" as a sheriff's wife and her "duty" as a woman who can empathize with Minnie Wright's plight as an abused woman who is married to an apparently cruel man.  Mrs. Peters feels sorry for Mrs. Wright because as they spend time at her home while their husbands are searching for evidence, she learns about Mrs. Wright's life through everyday household items like her preserved jam and her stitching.  Mrs. Hale feels guilty for not spending more time with Mrs. Wright and not coming to visit her more often.  She now realizes that if she had come to spend more time with her that perhaps she would have become aware of the problems that Mrs. Wright was having in her marriage.  Both women eventually find the canary wrapped in a cloth and realize that Mrs. Wright killed her husband because he killed her canary by wringing its neck.