What ironies does the play contain? Comment on Mrs. Hales ...

[Yolanda]

What ironies does the play contain? Comment on Mrs. Hales closingspeech: We call itknot it, Mr. Henderson. Why is that little hesitation before knot it such a meaningful pause?
 
  What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

In what places does Mrs. Peters show that she is trying to be a loyal, lawabiding Sheriffs wife? How do she and Mrs. Hale differ in background and temperament?
 
  What will be an ideal response?

[ntsoane kedibone]

Answer to Question 1

• Mrs. Hales comment that Mens hands arent always as clean as they might be could be taken as an ironic observation on John Wrights character and behavior. The County Attorneys request to Mrs. Peters to keep an eye out for anything that might be of use to us is ironic on several levels: the usefulness of the evidence she turns up is lost on him and the Sheriff, and in the end she helps to ensure that this evidence will not be of any use to them. The largest irony, of course, inheres in the plays title: what the law officials consider trifles are the very details that could seal their case for them if they had the wit to realize their significance. The pause before knot it reminds us of the reverberations of the phrase in the context of the play: Minnie Wright has knotted not only the quilt stitches but also the rope around her husbands neck, and, thanks to the actions of the two women in the play, she will be spared having a rope knotted around her own neck.

Answer to Question 2

Mrs. Peters shows her loyalty as a law-abiding sheriffs wife by stating, The law is the law, Mrs.Hale (page 814) and at one point she was defending the fact that the men were doingtheir duties when they were parading around the kitchen. The two women differ inbackground because Mrs. Peters is a Sherriffs wife, she is thinner in frame. Mrs. Hale isa farmer, and a little more heavy set. They are both from different social groups in town.They differ in temperament because Mrs. Peters is kind of nervous and hesitant, whileMrs. Hale is more comfortable and is prone to bend the law.