What a Thriller

A Jury of Her Peers, by Susan Glaspell, is a classic mystery thriller.  It portrays the women standing in the kitchen while men run around a house looking for clues as to why a wife possibly murdered her husband.  The men mock the women multiple times with sexist remarks, including that they are simply admiring the state of the kitchen and looking at clothing and quilts while the men are working.  At one point, the women "were so engaged with the quilt that they did not hear the footsteps on the stairs.  Just as the stair door opened Mrs. Hale was saying: 'Do you suppose she was going to quilt it or just knot it?'  The sheriff threw up his hand.  'They wonder whether she was going to quilt it or just knot it!'" (Glaspell, 417).  This and other sexist comments of his ultimately prove to be ironic, as this pointless womanly fiddling solves the mystery.  Once they go through her sowing supplies, they realize that Minnie Foster, the woman who may have killed her husband, only had a bird to love, and her husband killed in like he killed Minnie's good spirit.  As revenge  Minnie strangled her husband.  Another example of irony comes at the conclusion, when although the sheriff's wife is called "married to the law," she helps cover up the murder.  They view this murder as justified, and thus outside the jurisdiction of the law.