Character Analysis: Her Way Out

Her Way Out The early 1900’s was a time when women were still considered second to men and had few rights. In many ways women were looked down upon by society and were literally considered the weaker sex. The unexpected death of John Wright brings many thing into question; was it a murder, could it possibly be a suicide, was his wife to blame, was this an act of premeditated murder or self-defense, or was it his wife’s way out of their long unhappy marriage? Susan Glaspell does a good job of painting to the reader a dark, eerie and messy picture of the isolated home in which Minnie Wright was thought to have murdered her husband John Wright. She tells the readers of the lonely woman in the desolate house at her wits end of an unhappy marriage …show more content…
This is made clear by the dialog between the women and they sat and talked in the kitchen. Mrs. Hale tells the reader that the house “Never seemed a cheerful place”, as if the house had taken into the personality of its residents (Glaspell 764). The Wright’s house down in the hollows was where Minnie spent most of her time, though the condition of the house tells us that she didn’t do much to keep it clean and well maintained. Being left alone so lone in the house must have caused her great distress, as she was once very social. John clearly neglected his wife and seems to have treated her like if she was just another part of his home, not like one should treat their significant other. The fact that they had no children of their own must have made her even more lonely and likely caused more tension between their relationship. In this time, it was expected for her to have children to keep her company, help around the house and farm, and carry on the family traditions. Their inability to have children must have driven resentment between them and likely caused resentment. Minnie was left alone without anyone to keep her company or help with her everyday work, thus fueling her to want a way out of the misery she was living in. The bad marriage and isolation that she was living in led her to find the best possible way out, as divorce was not common nor very acceptable in the 1900’s. Minnie had plenty of time to dwell on how to murdered her husband who so long neglected her and kept her in isolated. She waited for the right moment, as she could not take living another day living as a second-class citizen in her own home and ended brought an end to her failed marriage by strangling her husband while he was sound