Susan Glaspell’s one-act play secretly embodies the personas of the three Fates in the characters of Mrs. Hale, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Wright. Their actions represented the Fates completely. These actions include Mrs. Hale redoing the patch on the quilt, Mrs. Peters’ change in perspective on the law and Mrs. Wright hanging her husband. In this essay, I will compare the characters of the three women to those of the Sisters of Fate.
Mrs. Hale embodies Clotho the Spinner. Being the sister who spins the thread of life, she determines one’s life. When the men jokingly ask the women on the intentions of Mrs. Wright on finishing the quilt by either quilting or knitting, Mrs. Hale responds by saying that it was not wise to tempt fate (79-80). By just pulling out several stitches, not sewn correctly (80) and replacing it with her own she symbolically impersonates Clotho.…show more content… Peters, the sheriff’s wife, represents Lachesis the Disposer of Lots. She embodies justice in that she tells Mrs. Hale that they should not be touching things (79-80) since that will be tampering with evidence. However, once they discover the dead bird, and they begin to recall the death of her kitten (83). She realizes that the bird, kitten, and Mrs. Wright could not escape. By deciding to hide the dead bird (85), she embodies the persona of Lachesis, who is responsible for people’s destinies. In doing so, she gives a fighting chance to Mrs. Wright.
Lastly, Mrs. Wright resembles the last sister of the Fates, Atropos the Cutter of Thread. It is clear that she was responsible for the hanging of Mr. Wright, being the sister who deals with
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ending life. Her rocking back and forth (73) represents a motion similar that to scissors. Furthermore, she describes her husband's death with a rope around his neck but she did not wake up because she was on the inside (74-75). This description symbolizes the collectiveness of the Fates instead of the individuality of