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A Jury of Her Peers A short story A Jury of Her Peers" by Susan Glaspell is a masterpiece of a short story genre. A woman named Minnie Wright is accused of the murder of her husband. The plot of the story is simple. There are three men to investigate the case.
An author uses the symbolism to justify the murder. The symbolism as the authors method is used throughout a story. It begins with the name of suspected Wright that sounds like right, i. e. either innocent or right in her deed. Lots of things in the story are symbolist ic.
The oppressed position M-m Wright in her relations with the husband is underlined by her name Minnie, which sounds like mini, i. e. insignificant. The theme of relations between men and women is hidden in the names of the main personages of the story. Women are nameless and thus faceless.
They are associated with their husbands only addressing by the names after their husbands. Their roles in the society are defined by the roles of their husbands. The description of the room and kitchen is given by the author as very uninviting. There is a mess in the room as if there is no woman who takes care of the room.
The formal theme of the story is the murder of Mr. Wright and its investigation, but the real theme is the relations between men and women. There is some kind of corporative mutual assistance of women based on their opposition to men which reflects the relations between men and women of the time the story was written. Women are trying to suppress evidence of a murder just to make it in opposition to men. The real reason of a murder is, no doubt, the domination of men in the society which is accompanied by the harsh attitude to women. An author raises the eternal question of justice as a legal category and justice as a humanistic one.
According to Janet Stobbs Wright. Glaspell give fictional form to a harsh female reality and it is the legal world which provides them with the ultimate male dominated institution which enforces this reality 1. A reader never sees Mrs. Wright but he or she may clearly judge on her character. Men can not investigate the case but women can.
Mrs. Hale describes Mr. Wright as a hard man and a reader feels pity for Mrs. Wright. "Yes -- good, " conceded John Wright's neighbor grimly. "He didn't drink, and kept his word as well as most, I guess, and paid his debts. But he was a hard man 2. The murder itself is the culmination of the Minnie's life before the crime.
The atmosphere of her life, her so called family relations are the causes of a murder. Linda Ben-Zvi Linda says, "Minnie herself stayed on the shelf, alone and un befriended on the farm, until the coldness of her marriage, her life in general, broke her apart 3 " The problem raised by the author is similar to those which were raised by the philosophers, thinkers, writers and poets of all the times. This is the problem of the crime and justice; a crime and punishment. It is not a problem of jurisdiction but a problem of a human justice, namely can it extend to the crime in general and to a murder in particular. The difference in the perception of the details by men and women reflects their attitude towards the case and suspected. The mess in the kitchen for men means that Mrs.
Wright is a bad housekeeper thus adding negative nuance to her personality, while for women it is an indication of the mental despair, unhappiness and suffering. The disorder in the room and the kitchen indicates the ultimate mental distress of Mrs. Wright. A justice and a punishment is the main theme of the story. Still as it may seem the story should not be read in terms of approval of the murder by the mental despair or the violence as well as by the harsh attitude.
Bibliography Janet Stobbs Wright, Law, Justice, and Female Revenge in "Kernel", by Edith Wharton, and Trifles and "A Jury of her Peers", by Susan Glaspell, Universidad Cardinal Herrera-CEU (Each), available at web retrieved 1. 05. 2005 Susan Glaspell, A Jury of Her Peers, available at web retrieved 1. 05. 2005 Ben-Zvi, Linda. "'Murder, She Wrote': The Genesis of Susan Glaspell's Trifles. " Theater Journal 44 (1992): 1 - 21 Citation Janet Stobbs Wright Susan Glaspell Ben-Zvi, Linda
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Research essay sample on Jury Of Her Peers Men And Women
