Minnie's husband has been murdered, he was found strangled with a rope around his neck. The first three characters who enter the room are the three men involved in the investigation of the murder at hand. The purpose of their visit is to find evidence of motivation of murder, the women, however, are concerned with the appearance of the house, especially the kitchen. The men presume the women to be harmless for a couple of reasons one being. The women are left in the kitchen where, according to the Sheriff, there are “nothing but kitchen things”(Glaspell 1070).
For instance, while the county attorney and sheriff are making their observations of the home, they do not take into consideration the awful state of the house as a possible clue of the everyday struggles in Mrs. Wright’s life. Instead, they blame Mrs. Wright right away for "not being a good housekeeper". Also, the men laugh at the women's assumptions in a way that seems pretty rude. This is also because, to the women, this is a normal form of treatment: they are simply to be seen and not heard; they are pretty much invisible. There is definitely a tendency to mock the remarks made by the females of the play just because they are women.
Neither Blanche nor Stella knows about the code, which reinforces this stereotype. Although Blanche partially goes against this image by having a full education and even a job prior to coming to New Orleans, she is almost broke when she arrives which suggests that women cannot gain financial stability without men. Although perhaps intentional to some extent, Blanche also conforms to this general image of women by not showing any interest to the paperwork of the plantation, referring to them as a “bunch of old papers” and handing them to Stanley to keep in his “big, capable hands” (Williams 141). Stella follows the general stereotype of the period of women
Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale decide to hide the evidence and the men are unable to find any evidence from the murder. Before the first dialogue the entrance of each character demonstrates and highlights the superior and firm outlooks of the men. The women are given weak physical and emotional features “the two women—the Sheriff's Wife first; she is a slight wiry woman, a thin nervous face. Mrs. Hale is larger and would ordinarily be called more comfortable looking, but she is disturbed now and looks fearfully about as she enters.” The men unlike the women are buddle up and go straight to the stove with no nervous feelings except keeping warm near the oven. The men cause the women to defend not only Mrs. Wright by their comments “Well, women are used to worrying over trifles” but they also defend themselves and how they are observed.
And they stood by the door where there might be some cold air came in from outside. 2) Women could just stay in the kitchen while the men were looking for clues and evidence upstairs. Women were trapped in it and not allowed to go upstairs. I think from the image that the men spent most of their time “upstairs” and women in kitchen “downstairs”, we can also perceive the concept of hierarchy. Men stepped women under their feet.
Through the choice of words by the author in these references from the book, the reader is led to believe that women were generally portrayed as passive individuals, known to stay at home, cook for their husbands and care for the children while the men were active at work. Once the girls came to the cash register and paid for their items, the foreshadowing thoughts of the elder, less attractive women in the store is realised as the manager of the store approached them and told them that the girls were inappropriately dressed for a grocery store. After being approached by the manager Queenie instinctively started to make excuses for the way that they were dressed, stating “My mother asked me to pick up a jar
Their manipulative and over exaggerated ways of complaining has landed them a husband, a house, and a ring. All she has to do is work is keep her house tidy, but not even that suffices the housewives. They laze around reading and watching soap operas. It’s like they live each day out of their beloved soap opera episodes. Though, not all housewives act that way.
Another way she exhibits her motherly nature is she goes behind a screen and could not see Roger. Obviously she expects him to not do anything he would regret later, if she leaves the room with him and the purse unattended. “The women did not watch the boy to see if he was not going to run nor did she watch her purse” (3). This shows that she trusts Roger as if he was her own son. The last way Mrs. Jones shows her maternal ways is when she asks Roger if he has ate yet.
While at dinner Holmes enrages Watson’s fiancé by pointing out she had been married once before from what he deduced using deductive reasoning. It cuts away and then Holmes is shown being beaten up in an underground fight type thing. Holmes sees a woman from his past, Irene, and picks up her handkerchief before beating his opponent up and getting his money. It then shows the prison where Blackwood tells the guards he wants to see Holmes. The next scene shows Watson arriving at Holmes house where he informs Holmes that Blackwood has asked that he be there for the hanging.
When Annabelle is in the Head’s office, she seems insensitive towards the Head and the issue. The Head sends a letter to Annabelle’s mother, where she tells about the incident, her mother just laughs – not the reaction Annabelle expected. That clearly shows that she doesn’t care about her daughter’s feelings. Annabelle doesn’t like to admit that her life has changed a lot since her parents got separated. Now she feels unsecure talking to her mother and their conversations have become a routine.