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Stephens 1
Shaquita Stephens
Dr. VanNostrand
Engl 1302
01/26/2023
Twelve Good Men or Two Good Women: Concepts of Law and Justice in Susan Glaspell’s “A
Jury of Her Peers”
In this article by Mary M. Bendel-Simso “Twelve Good Men or Two Good Women: Concepts of Law and Justice in Susan Glaspell’s “A Jury of Her Peers” the story is a murder mystery. Throughout the story, three men and two women investigate the murder of John Wright. “While the story raises many ethical and legal questions, most critical readings of the story focus on the social bonding of women and the viability of a justifiable-homicide defense in the case of domestic abuse in rural America 80 or 90 years ago” (Bendel-Simso, p 291-292). The
story also poses a conflict between seeking justice and the law. Throughout the story, you can see a very different meaning of the term per versus the traditional definition of the term. As the story continues it analyzes the various ways each gender confronts the crime scene
investigation. The men believe that they are more capable to process the crime scene. They also believe that the women may miss critical clues. The women process the scene and find very important clues that they feel exonerate Mrs. Wright. The women not only find a motive, but they also find probable cause that they feel outweighs the crime of murder itself. In my opinion, the story raises a very good point on two different aspects. These points are ethical and legal. As far as ethics I believe that it was unethical to believe that women could
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not produce equal or better results than men. It is very clear that the women on the jury located all of the important clues of the case. These clues could have either convicted or exonerated Mrs.
Wright without question. As far as the legal aspect goes it is very clear that the men wanted to condemn Mrs. Wright without fully knowing the surrounding facts. In the men’s eyes, murder is murder and regardless of the circumstances, Mrs. Wright broke the law. On the other hand, I believe that the women broke the law by concealing evidence. The empathy that the women provided Mrs. Wright is what allowed her to win the case. I believe that if the woman would have provided this evidence Mrs. Wright may have lost her case because that would have provided a motive for the men.
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Works Cited
Bendel-Simso, Mary M. "Twelve Good Men or Two Good Women: Concepts of Law and Justice in Susan Glaspell's "A Jury of Her Peers.." Studies in Short Fiction, vol. 36, no. 3,
Summer99, p. 291. EBSCOhost.
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