Murderous Misery

In A Jury of Her Peers by Susan Glaspell, the most ironic thing in this story is that Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are the better investigators. The men treat the women as inferiors. The county attorney diminishes the role of women and talks to them as lesser people. He makes insulting jokes about them and comments on how terrible of a housewife Minnie is. Mr. Hale makes a comment wondering if the women would recognize a clue if they saw one. Ironically, the women were the only ones who made any progress in finding evidence. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters end up finding the incriminating evidence: " 'It's the bird. . . . Somebody wrung its neck.' " (Glaspell, 421). Ironically, the women keep this to themselves and decide to let Minnie live. This is where the title explains their motive to let Minnie seem innocent. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters judged Minnie to be innocent because her husband was cold and hard. He was a terrible husband and made the house reek of loneliness. The only reason Mrs. Hale did not meet Minnie at her house was because the house seemed cold and lonely. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters were empathetic toward Minnie and decided she had suffered enough in her life.