Question

COUNTY ATTORNEY. You mean that they didn’t get on very well? MRS. HALE. No, I don’t mean anything. But I don’t think a place’d be any cheerfuller for John Wright’s being in it. COUNTY ATTORNEY. I’d like to talk more of that a little later. I want to get the lay of things upstairs now. (He goes to the left, where three steps lead to a stair door.) SHERIFF. I suppose anything Mrs. Peters does’ll be all right. She was to take in some clothes for her, you know, and a few little things. We left in such a hurry yesterday. COUNTY ATTORNEY. Yes, but I would like to see what you take, Mrs. Peters, and keep an eye out for anything that might be of use to us. What is one possible advantage of hearing the characters’ voices as opposed to silently reading the scene?

Answer 1

If we can hear the characters voices we can gauge their emotions. For example, we could tell better if Mrs Hale is trying to hide that "they" presumably John Wright and Mrs Peters didn't get along very well. It appears that Mrs Peters was going to take Mrs Hale some clothes or perhaps Mrs Hale was taking it to Mrs Peters and one of them may have been in jail but hearing the voices could make this clearer who is who.

Answer 2

c. Hearing allows listeners to associate a voice with each of the characters.Read the following scene from Trifles.