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The young, dashing County Attorney (aka George Henderson) is the play's main antagonist. As the play opens, he takes charge of the investigation, confidently interrogating Mr. Hale and chastising the Sheriff for not properly securing the crime scene before his arrival. With the women, he adopts a lighter, more playful tone that seems designed to win them over as allies in his investigation. For example, after Mr. Hale’s sexist remark about women being concerned with “trifles,” Mr. Henderson replies, “And yet for all their worries, what would we do without the ladies?” The women seem less than impressed with his gallantry, however. Mrs. Hale especially takes exception to his frequent jokes, which she finds condescending. When he speaks to the women, they reply haltingly, obviously concealing their true thoughts, but the County Attorney does not seem to notice or care. When he asks the women about the birdcage and the quilt, he is simply making polite conversation or fishing for laughs, completely unaware of their significance as evidence. Unwittingly, the County Attorney becomes the butt of the “quilt it or knot it” joke, which he repeats several times in the play. The men find this joke funny because they don’t know or want to know the difference between the two quilting techniques. In the play’s final line, when Mrs. Hale reminds the County Attorney that Minnie planned to “knot it,” he is still blissfully unaware that his willful ignorance of “feminine trifles” has allowed the women to conceal the evidence that is right in front of his face.  

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