Murder Mystery Play Trifles

In the murder mystery play Trifles, Susan Glaspell explores the idea that men and their ambitions easily dominate women’s lives. This one-act play analyzes the concept that women are often reduced to their statuses of their married relationships rather than their own identities. In addition, the men believe that women’s main role is as the homemaker. These aspects contribute to Glaspell's general motif that males hold patriarchal dominance, or the idea that leadership and authoritative roles are mainly held by men. Women must find their way around men’s dominance to overcome men’s power (Goldberg). Throughout the play, Glaspell uses dramatic elements such as character, setting, and conflict to prove the idea that men are patriarchally dominant

For example, instead of their own qualities, a female character’s identity directly relates to their relationship with a man. Throughout the play, the female characters are only referred to by their husband’s last names. With the exception of Minnie Wright, the women’s names are never mentioned despite them being the protagonists. This name-calling illustrates that the women are viewed only as wives instead of having their own identities. Equally important, the dynamic character of Mrs. Peters also contributes to the theme. In the drama, Mrs. Peters is married to the sheriff. Therefore, Henderson classified her as “married to the law” and expects that she will automatically follow the rules (Meyer 1384). Henderson does not consider Mrs. Peter’s own clean record, he simply believes she must abide by the law because she is married to a sheriff. This misidentification of Mrs. Peters shows that the men choose to only recognize women by their relation to

Between the two genders, the methods of investigation are very different. For the entire drama, the men and women have differing views on what is considered important. Because the men have more authoritative roles, as the patriarchy would indicate, they are taken more seriously. The men’s observations overshadow the women’s because the men feel their concerns are more important. For instance, the men assume the messy kitchen is Mrs. Wright’s fault because in 1916, when the play was written, homemaking fell under women’s duties. The men believe that John Wright was a “good, dutiful man” and, therefore, believe Mr. Wright could never leave his house in a mess. Mrs. Hale, on the other hand, believes that Mr. Wright could have very easily played a role in the messy kitchen. Despite this argument, the men believe they are right so they dismiss Mrs. Hale’s efforts to defend Minnie. Later in the play the women are forced to try and navigate their way around the men’s dismissal, just as the idea of patriarchal dominance