Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are the two key characters in
this excellent play by Susan Glaspell as they through their actions and words show an
understanding of Minnie Wright's position and, in their discovery of the motive for the
crime, act together to ensure that she is not punished for what they consider to be a
justifiable murder.
Out of the two characters, it appears
that it is Mrs. Peters who is the more timid and the more subservient. It is Mrs. Hale
after all who shows in her tone of voice that she is not happy with the men-folk
disparaging the role of women and the work that they have to do. Note how she says to
the men, "stiffly", "There's a great deal of work to be done on a farm." Mrs. Peters
doesn't appear to be a character with enough daring to challenge the men, even in such
an implied fashion. Note how she says, when Mrs. Hale begins to finish the sewing, "I
don't think we ought to touch things."
Crucial to the play
is the fact that Mrs. Hale knew Minnie Wright before she married John Wright, and thus
is able to draw the comparison between how she was before, and how John Wright changed
her character, for the worse.
Lastly, it is Mrs. Hale who
appears to be the more observant out of the two and finds the clues necessary to piece
together the motive in the "trifles" that the men so readily dismiss, finding the bird
and then putting herself in Minnie Wright's position:
If there'd been years and years of nothing, then
a bird to sing to you, it would be awful - still after the bird was
still.
Interestingly, in
response to this deduction, Mrs. Peters still continues to present the man's view,
saying that the crime was "awful" and therefore indicating that Minnie Wright should be
punished. However, Mrs. Hale is able to bring her around by describing Minnie Wright's
character and the kind of life she would have led under the thumb of John Wright, and in
the end they become co-conspirators in hiding the evidence from the
men.
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