The play Jury of Her Peers is relevant to a class on Law and literature. It highlights how different people construe justice and fairness. Determining whether an action is right or wrong is not as straightforward as one may think. For instance, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters did not condemn Mrs. Wright for killing her husband, Mr. Wright (Audio Books, 2012). On the other hand, the men investigating the case would not have excused Mrs. Wright’s actions. The play shows that ethics are subjective rather than absolute. It is relevant to a law class to show that the meaning of justice varies from person to person.
The different titles switch focus from the men to the women. In the original play, Trifles, the men dismiss ideas raised by the women. For instance, when Mrs. Peters suggests that Mrs. Wright was worried about her preservatives, Mr. Hale replies that women worry over trifles (Glaspell, 1920). However, Jury of Her Peers changes the focus and shows that these things are not trivial. Mrs. Wright did not murder her husband due to inconsequential reasons, and the other two women understood and even empathized with her.
The audio enhanced my understanding of A View from the Bridge and made it easier to follow the play. When I first read this classic Arthur Miller play, I was confused by the complex connections between the characters. For instance, I did not clearly understand Mike and Louis’ roles until I heard them speak and act in the audio. Although on the surface they appear insignificant, they help explain Eddie’s concern over Rodolpho possibly being gay. In the audio, Mike and Louis joke about Rodolpho’s sense of humor. This irks Eddie who has always been annoyed by Rodolpho’s blonde hair, singing, and interest in sewing. Listening to the audio helped to elucidate why Eddie thought Rodolpho was gay. Aside from clarifying unclear parts of the book, the audio also helped me follow the storyline better. For instance, hearing voices assigned to the characters of Eddie and Catherine highlighted the age difference between them. The audio underscores just how predatory Eddie’s actions towards his niece were.
There are certain insights that one can only get from the audio. In the audio, one can hear Rodolpho and Marco’s heavy Italian accents. The two are immigrants from Italy and speak broken English. When reading the book, it is easy to miss their Italian accent because not everyone assigns different voices to characters when reading. However, in the audio version, the accents are pronounced and unmissable. In particular, Rodolpho’s Italian dialect contrasts sharply with Catherine’s fluent American English. For instance, when the two lovers converse, it is easy to see that although they are both Italians, they had different upbringings. Rodolpho’s accent is also noticeable when he sings “Paper Doll” for Catherine (Miller, 1955). Additionally, the audio shows that Eddie is not as fluent as Beatrice or Catherine. He speaks English inarticulately indicating that he was not well-educated. The audio gives a deeper insight into the personalities, quirks, and mannerisms of the characters in the play.
Despite the usefulness of the audio, certain elements of the play are only perceivable in writing. Although the audio attempts to capture some of the stage directions in the play, other important stage directions present in the writing are not read out loud in the audio. For instance, in the scene where Catherine shows off her new heels to Eddie, the stage directions say that she was “almost in tears because he disapproves” (Miller, 1955, p. 14). This sentence serves to show the relationship dynamics between Eddie and his niece. There are many other instances where the play utilizes stage directions to convey the characters’ thoughts, emotions, and actions. Furthermore, certain elements of the play, such as the setting, depend heavily on the parenthetical remarks contained in the reading. Consequently, the reading provides more contextual information than the audio. However, I found that listening to the audio while reading the text provided the best experience.
The Broadway production of A View from the Bridge was humorous and brought the characters to life. While I enjoyed Scarlett Johansson and Liev Schreiber’s performances, I think that Jessica Hecht was outstanding (BroadWay World, 2011). She played the part exactly as written by Miller. For example, in the scene where Beatrice confronts Eddie over his impotence, Hecht aptly portrays Beatrice as persistent yet powerless, a theme clearly shown in the book (BroadWay World, 2011). Another aspect of the Broadway production that I found fascinating was how humor was incorporated into the play. I found myself chuckling at some of Eddie’s actions even though he is an otherwise obnoxious person. The Broadway play expanded my understanding of the book, and I was able to see the multidimensionality of the individuals. The live production brought out the personalities of the characters in a way that the audio could not.
A View from the Bridge and Trifles both raise the issue of gender roles. In the former, men are portrayed as the breadwinners and women as the homemakers. All the men in the play, including Eddie, Marco, Rodolpho, Louis, and Mike work outside the home. On the other hand, Beatrice is a housewife, and Catherine has been instructed not to work by Eddie. Additionally, women are treated as extensions of the men to which they are related. Eddie actively controls both his wife and niece and commands their every action. For example, in reference to Catherine and Rodolpho’s relationship, he questions, “If you wasn’t an orphan, wouldn’t he ask your father’s permission before he run around with you like this?” (Miller, 1955, p. 69). This statement highlights the fact that men feel they have incontestable control over their female relatives. More importantly, the women do not feel they have the option to defy men in their lives. It takes a great deal of persuasion by Beatrice for Catherine to realize that she could get married without Eddie’s approval. It is evident that gender roles still define social structure in A View from the Bridge.
The play Trifles also highlights the theme of gender stereotypes. Mr. Wright restricted all of his wife’s movements and interactions. He isolated her from society and dictated every aspect of her life including what she wore. He felt he had the power to control Mrs. Wright because she was his wife. According to Mrs. Hale, “She [Mrs. Wright] used to wear pretty clothes and be lively, when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls singing in the choir. But that—oh, that was thirty years ago” (Glaspell, 1920, p. 14). This is an indication that upon marriage, Mr. Wright uprooted his wife from the life she had and created a new, unhappy one for her as substitute. Additionally, the belief that women occupy a lower place in society is emphasized by the men, such as Mr. Hale, who consider women’s worries to be “trifles” (Glaspell, 1920). In both A View from the Bridge and Trifles, gender roles are strictly enforced by society.
The two plays also highlight the theme of family and relationships. They urge the audience to reconsider views on family such as the belief that family relationships create strong ties. In A View from the Bridge, Eddie mistreats his wife and niece. He regularly disappoints his wife and frustrates Catherine and Rodolpho. At the end of the play, Eddie intends to kill Rodolpho, but this plan backfires when Marco stabs him instead. Marco is Beatrice’s cousin, which means that he is Eddie’s relative by extension. Similarly, in Trifles, family relationships are fragile and eventually the cause of one character’s death. Mr. Wright treats his wife so poorly that she finally snaps when he kills her bird (Glaspell, 1920). She ultimately kills her husband because he had subjected her to cruel treatment. The two plays relay the message that some people, such as Eddie and Mr. Wright, use family as an excuse to be abusive to others without realizing the ramifications their actions could have.
A View from the Bridge and Trifles are both relevant to modern day. Although some gender roles have since been abandoned, society is still not free of gender stereotypes. For instance, even though women now work outside the home, they still perform the larger share of domestic labor compared to men. Additionally, in some societies, women are still treated as second-class citizens. Aside from being highlighting gender roles, another connection that the two plays have to current times is the place of family in a person’s lives. Similar to the play, people today navigate complex familial relationships. Overall, despite the two plays having been written decades ago, they still fit in the modern world.
References
Audio Books. (2012). Trifles by Susan Glaspell [Video]. YouTube.
BroadWay World. (2011). BWW TV: Broadway beat at ‘A View from the Bridge’ opening night [Video]. YouTube.
Glaspell, S. (1920). Trifles. Small, Maynard & Company.
Miller, A. (1955). A View from The Bridge. Coronet Theatre