Susan Glaspell uses the third person limited omniscient point of view in "A Jury of Her Peers." This means that an outside narrator tells the story but only allows the reader inside the head of one of the characters. In this story, readers understand and observe the action through Mrs. Hale, the neighbor of the woman suspected of killing her husband.
All the action of the story takes place within Mrs. Hale's view. The story opens in Mrs. Hale's home, continues with a buggy ride to the Wright farm, and concludes in the main floor of the Wright farm house. The men in the story go out of the house and upstairs, but since Mrs. Hale stays on the main floor, the reader is only aware of what she sees there.
The reader knows what Mrs. Hale is thinking. She worries about whether her son is dressed warmly enough for the weather; she hopes her husband, Lewis, doesn't say inappropriate things to the sheriff; and she chides herself for not having been a better friend to Mrs. Wright. Mrs. Peters, on the other hand, is only described objectively. Her actions and words are related, but not her feelings. For example, in this sentence: "'Why, I think that's a real nice idea, Mrs. Hale,' agreed the sheriff's wife, as if she too were glad to come into the atmosphere of a simple kindness," Mrs. Peter's gladness is assumed rather than stated because Mrs. Hale can see the other woman acting "as if" she were glad but cannot know that she was glad.
The third person limited point of view helps the reader feel Mrs. Hale's feelings deeply. Part of the drama of the story is that Mrs. Hale does not know whether she can trust Mrs. Peters to react toward the situation the same way Mrs. Hale does. In the climax of the story when both women look at each other and reach the same conclusion, suspense builds through the use of the third person limited omniscient point of view, making it a very powerful scene.
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