A Jury of Her Peers
by Susan Glaspell

A Jury of Her Peers: Situational Irony 1 key example

Situational Irony
Explanation and Analysis—Evidence in the Trifles:

In an example of situational irony, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are the ones who discover evidence relating to Mrs. Wright’s murder of her husband, not the law enforcement professionals or the one who found the dead man's body. While the three men in the story (the county attorney, sheriff, and Mr. Hale) all believe that they are the ones who will crack the case—and actively mock Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters for looking for clues—they are the ones who come up empty-handed.