Sympathetic Mrs. Hale The Characteristics of Female Characters

2. Apathetic Male vs. Sympathetic Female

The male character in this play is also characterized as an apathetic person that is not concerned towards others around, this characteristic is represented by Mr. Wright. Mr. Wright’s thoughts that folks talked too much and his attitude that he does not like to socialize with others show his zero interest towards his social life. Again, here, Susan Glaspell also attributes the female characters with the opposite of apathetic. Mrs. Hale as one of the female character is characterized as a sympathetic person. She is a person who can show her sympathy, in this case, towards Mrs. Wright. She regrets that she did not come to see Mrs. Wright more often just to cheer her up. In this case also, Mr. Wright’s apathetic and Mrs. Hale’s sympathetic depend on one another. Their characteristics give influence on the finding of their meaning as apathetic and sympathetic.

3. Careless Male vs. Incisive Female

Susan Glaspell presents the male character as a careless person that missed important information that can leads them to the important clue of the murder case. This characteristic is represented by Mr. Henderson. He does not want to discuss the topic chosen by the female characters because he assumed that the topic is not important for the investigation. The existence of Mr. Henderson’s careless characteristic in this play is also completed by the presence of the female’s characteristics incisive. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters in this play are presented as incisive person that makes them pay attention to the details of everything in the house. Their incisive characteristic leads them to an accurate ‘informal’ investigation that found the important clues of the murder case. In this case also, Mr. Henderson’s careless characteristic cannot be separated from Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters’ incisive. They are strongly connected in meaning of their characteristics.

4. Hard Male vs. Sociable Female

The characteristic of male character that is presented in the play is a hard person. This male character that represents this characteristic is Mr. Wright. This can be seen from the dialogue of other character about him. It is said by Mrs. Hale that Mr. Wright was a hard man even just to pass a day with him like a raw wind that gets to the bone. This characteristic is the opposite of Mrs. Wright who is a sociable person when she was young. She joined the town choir and made lots of friends. It just the same with previous binaries, in this case, Mr. Wrigh t’s characteristic as a hard person also depends on Mrs. Wright’s sociable. They are strongly connected in meaning. Based on that comparison, it is clear that Glaspell puts male and female characters in opposite side. Moreover, she characterizes the male and female characters as pairs of opposite things. In the analysis above, it is found that most of male characteristics are the opposite of female’s characteristics, and also vice versa. Here, as the example, when male character is characterized as an intolerant person, then the female character is characterized as a tolerant person. It is just the same thing for the rests. According on the analysis above, the characteristics of male and female characters are strongly connected although they are in opposite. Their characteristics