Guilty of cowardice?
Jennifer's blog entry about Susan Glaspell's "Trifles" made a good point that I, too, had thought about while reading the play.
Jen mentions that Mrs. Hale seems to feel awfully guilty for not spending more time visiting with Mrs. Wright before the murder, almost as if she holds herself partially responsible for what happened.
What I wonder, though, is what kept Mrs. Hale from visiting? Did she simply not have the time, due to her obligations to her own family (especially her children), as mentioned in the play? Was it because she didn't like the atmosphere of the Wright home? Or was it something more, like fear of Mr. Wright, or perhaps even fear of Mrs. Wright? After all, Mrs. Hale mentions several times that her neighbor was never quite the same after she got married.
On a side note, I just noticed that Mr. Wright's name sounds an awful lot like "Mr. Right." Coincidence? Yeah, right.