Foil

Character Role Analysis

Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters

While Mrs. Hale is busy asking what's up with all the misogyny around them, Mrs. Peters is busy making excuses for it. Unlike Mrs. Hale, the nervous Mrs. Peters is afraid at first to question the way the men in the play belittle the ladies. Where Mrs. Hale represents women who are beginning to question their place in society, Mrs. Peters represents women who are afraid to shake things up.

Eventually, Mrs. Peters comes around to Mrs. Hale's point of view. She's about to have a panic attack, but she does end up trying to help Mrs. Hale cover up the evidence. So in the last moments of the play, we see that all along our foils may have been more alike than they seemed.