Symbolism In A Jury Of Her Peers

“A Jury of Her Peers”, published in 1927, written Susan Glaspell, is a short story based on the 1900 murder of John Hossack. The short story was originally written as a one-act play in 1916. In 1950, the short story then became an episode of the television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Years to follow, in 1980 the short story became a short film that was nominated for an Academy Award. Growing up in a town that did not believe in women’s rights to employment and education, Glaspell still attended college at Drake University (Ben-ZVI). After college, Glaspell took the position as a journalist. While working this job, Glaspell was exposed to a historical case on which the short story is based upon. Through the use of irony and symbolism, Glaspell depicts the role that women are projected to play in society. Glaspell shows that this orthodox role can create oppression for women as well as men. In today’s society men and women are typically recognized as being equal. In 1916 when the one-act play was written, women and men were not seen as equal. Women were not usually educated and had no economic or political power, thus women were seen as being the inferior sex. The ironic situations in this short story exemplifies that Minnie Wright is fairly judged by “a jury of her peers”. Minnie Wright is one of the central …show more content…
The central characters of the story are John and Minnie Wright. The name Minnie is originated from minimized or mini, which exemplifies the oppressed relationship between John and Minnie and the male thoughtlessness towards the majority of women in society. All of the women throughout the story are referred to by the husband’s last name such as Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters. The role that society has given to women is well defined by the husband. Mrs. Peters is married to the sheriff and is seen in those terms. Mr. Peter states, “for that matter a sheriff’s wife is married to the law” (Norton