Situational Irony: Paying Attention to Trifles
All of the men in the story treat women with hearty, gently mocking superiority because they are convinced that women are less capable than them and that they are less intelligent than them. They mock Minnie, saying that she has enough to worry about to think about “trifles” like preservers, knitting, and sewing. The irony is that the women solve the mystery of John’s death due to the fact that they do pay attention to little trifles, while the men fail to do that.
Verbal Irony: Preserves
Mr. Peters laughs to the group: "Well, can you beat the women! Held for murder, and worrying about her preserves!" He is being deliberately ironic here: he means that someone wanted for murder should have deeper, more consequential things on their mind than of jams.
Verbal Irony: Knot it
There is verbal irony in Mrs. Hale's comment in terms of what Henderson thinks she is saying and what she is actually saying. Yes, Mrs. Wright really was going to knot instead of quilting her piece, which in and of itself is just a simple assertion of a fact. However, she is also acknowledging that Minnie "knotted" the noose around her husband's neck, that she and Mrs. Peters know more than any of the men do about what transpired.
Dramatic Irony: Mrs. Peters
It is ironic that Mrs. Peters, who is said to be "married to the law," attempts to conceal the evidence that would convict Minnie Wright. The men have no idea that this woman—whom they assume to be one of them, and whom they assume to be just a wife and not intelligent enough to find clues or "lawless" enough to hide clues—is actually willing to take a risk to secure that Minnie is truly judged by a jury of her peers.
