When “A Jury of Her Peers” was first published in 1917, women were just beginning to question their role in society and in marriage. They began to vocalize what many had thought for years; women are not merely beautiful objects to marry and have children with, and their interests and concerns are not inferior to those of men. Prior to this time in history, equality in marriage was unheard of. Finally, because of a few trailblazers that boldly stepped out to refute this custom, women were finally able to join the ranks of men. Susan Glaspell's “A Jury of Her Peers” mirrors this new feminist perspective perfectly. Glaspell was able to convey and contradict the reasons why women were historically thought of as inferior in marriage through the use of irony and symbolism.

The most blunt evidence is found a few pages into the story in the form of verbal irony. The men are about to leave the two women, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, alone in the kitchen while they search for clues upstairs. The county attorney speaks to Mrs. Peters and tells her to be on the look out for clues. In his cultural perspective, Mr. Hale delivers this line, “But would the women know a clue if they did come upon it” (182). Ironically enough, while the women are speaking in the kitchen and gathering Minnie Wright’s things, considered to be inferior women activities, they discover not only a clue but also the motive for Mr. Wright’s murder. Later in the short story, Glaspell is able to make use of verbal irony once again when the men come down from the second story of the Wright house to find the women studying a quilt that Minnie had been in the process of making. They are discussing whether or not Mrs. Wright had the intention of quilting it or knotting it. Mr. Peters throws up his hands and exclaims, “They wonder if she was going to quilt it or just knot it” (185). The story goes on to say that “there was a laugh for the ways of women” (186). Later in the story, the men return to the kitchen again and question the women as to whether or not they had determined how Minnie had planned to make the quilt. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale had just discovered why Mrs. Wright had strangled her husband, so Mrs. Peters responds with, “We think she was going to-knot it” (189). Although the men interpret this to mean the way in which Minnie was going to assemble the quilt, the women know that what is said has little to do with sewing.

Glaspell is not only able to convey a feminist view through verbal irony, but also through irony of situation. When Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale discover the motive for the murder of Mr. Wright, they realize that it was in large part due to his patriarchal stance with Minnie. Mr. Wright had “killed” the woman that Minnie once was by neglecting to view her as a person whose desires needed to be met. He did not provide proper clothing for her, proper cooking utensils, or even a child to keep her company while he was away. Her one true joy was a canary that would sing to her. It appeared that Mr. Wright had also taken this away from her; he strangled the bird. What is ironic about this situation is the way in which Minnie took his life in revenge. In the same manner as Mr. Wright had killed her last joy, the canary, so she killed him.

Another way in which Glaspell's story displays feminism is through the use of symbolism. The women discover the cage in which the canary was kept and see that the door of it is broken. The cage can be viewed as the restrictions of marriage or the confines of men’s perspective of women. The broken door-a result of a struggle-is what releases the bird from its captivity and oppression. Mrs. Wright is blatantly compared to a bird in the story; Mrs. Hale says, “She--come to think of it, she was kind of like a bird herself. Real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and--fluttery. How-she-did-change” (188). Mr. Wright controlled Minnie as a bird is controlled when placed in a cage. He killed the canary in the story just like he killed Minnie emotionally. The way in which Mrs. Wright broke out of the cage was by physically killing Mr. Wright, thus ending her oppression.

Both the verbal and irony of situation in the story exemplify the flawed perspective in which men once viewed women. Although the men consider the women to be inferior with respects to their intelligence and the manner in which they view things, it is the women who are able to unravel the mystery of Mr. Wright’s murder. In addition, the use of symbolism clearly conveys the oppression of women in the early twentieth century. Thus, the use of irony and symbolism in “A Jury of Her Peers” subtlely conveys the feminist view of the early nineteen hundreds.

Glaspell, Susan. “A Jury of Her Peers.” A Pocketful of Prose: Vintage Short Fiction. Vol. 2. Ed. David Madden. Fort Worth: Harcourt, 1996. 176-92.