A Jury Of Her Peers Essay

Susan Glaspell’s short story “A Jury of Her Peers” follows the plot of Minnie Wright and her husband’s death. Its impact as a piece of revolutionary feminist literature is established through her daring choice to explore the depths of morality and justice. She asks us to question ourselves throughout, pleading for us to answer to what we would do if justice failed us throughout the course of our lives.
The story opens with Mr. and Mrs. Peters, the Sheriff and his wife- Mrs. Hale, and the county attorney Mr. Henderson traveling to the Wright’s home to investigate Mr. Wright’s death and find evidence connecting Mrs. Wright to the crime. Mr. Peters recounts entering the home and finding a “queer” (1) Mrs. Wright, in her rocking chair crocheting.
Mr. Peters describes her disposition as “unconcerned”, reverting the reader to seeing Mrs. Wright as the antagonist and her late husband as the protagonist. This idea that Mrs. Wright is a villain, establishes boundaries between who is the hero and villain. This places the reader on the side of the woman. This shifts considerably as the plot thickens. While in the home, the men begin to comment on the display of the kitchen- complaining of its filth, and labeling Mrs. Wright as a bad housewife. The women quickly come to her defensive, but are shut down as worrying about trivial things. Mr. Peters even exclaims, “well, can you beat the women! Held for murder and worrying about her preserves!” (4). At this point in the plot, I got the sense that the men hold a great deal of power over the affairs of the women, and that they have little respect for their duties. Although it bothered me that the men made a mockery of the women, I still saw Mrs. Wright as the villain of the story. Flashing forward a couple scenes: the men now have exited the kitchen, leaving Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale alone to gather some supplies for an incarcerated Minnie. They discuss her as a child as well as who she is currently, both having positive remarks for who she is.