Marital Expectations, Fail

Several of the characters Susan Glaspell incorporates into her books deliver a look into the way someone’s live can be stifled by society’s expectations of the correct way to live their lives. One of the characters whose life was stifled by the responsibility of maintaining marital expectations was Minnie Wright in "A Jury of Her Peers." The marital expectation was to serve your husband in any way that he needs.  In the book, this includes taking care of oneself properly, always looking presentable, cooking and keeping the house clean and tidy, never leaving anything unfinished, and keeping your husband happy.

Throughout Minnie Wright’s marriage, she changed dramatically. According to those who knew her, she used to be, “real sweet and timid” (96). Another one of her peers had said, “I wish you’d seen Minnie Foster when she wore a white dress with blue ribbons, and stood up there in the choir and sang” (99).  Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters discussed that way she used to be before marriage; lively and she loved to sing.  Now, everyone criticized her, especially the men, saying things like, “Dirty towels! Not much of a housekeeper, would you say, ladies?”(88). Or how Mr. Hale “kicked his foot against some dirty pans under the sink” (88).  When Mrs. Hale had looked around the kitchen, she also noticed how it was not “slicked up” (89).  Mrs. Hale’s eyes couldn't stop looking around noticing things like the “bucket of sugar on the low shelf, the cover was off the wooden bucket, and besides it was a paper bag- half full” (89).  Although, they didn't only notice how she changed and stopped keeping things clean, they also noticed how she stopped singing, too.  After finding the canary dead, they realized that this was all Minnie had left of the live she loved before married.  The canary held her hope and love for singing. They knew Mr. Wright was the reason she has killed the bird.  Mrs. Hale had stated, “No, Wright wouldn't like the bird, a thing that sang. She used to sing. He killed that too” (98).  This statement clearly explains that Mr. Wright isolated Minnie from everything she loved and forced her to confirm with society's expectation of the way a woman should act.

When Mr. Hale had found Mr. Wright upstairs dead, they noticed he had been strangled to death. They instantly thought it was Minnie Wright. What kind of person would not have woken up when their husband, who was sleeping right next to them, was being strangled to death by someone? The fact that when asked what had happened, Minnie only laughed and showed no emotion to losing her husband doesn't help take her off the suspect list. Minnie Wright’s life had been so stifled by societal expectations that it cause her to snap. She had such a hard time giving up her singing life, for the man she had married. She had a hard time conforming to everything a married wife was supposed to do, such as take care of her husband and clean the house. Minnie was eventually so stifled by how unhappy Mr. Wright made her, she snapped and killed him.