In Susan Glaspell’s short play, “Trifles,” the author meticulously explores the gap between the sexes as it existed in early twentieth-century America. American culture, on the whole, has evolved considerably over the years, yet change comes very slowly. “Trifles” was published in 1916 prior to the Women’s Suffrage Act. This was a period in American history where women were treated as chattel, rarely respected and valued only by the efficacy of their homemaking skills. These sentiments are craftily exposed in this “whodunit” tale, loosely based upon a true murder case Glaspell covered as a reporter. This play is a mystery consisting of two separate investigations: the “official” investigation conducted by the
A work of literature often subtlety alludes to a situation in society that the author finds particularly significant. Susan Glaspell incorporates social commentary into her play Trifles. By doing so, she highlights the gender stratification that exists even in the most basic interactions and presents a way to use this social barrier to an acceptable end. Despite being written almost a century before present day, Glaspell’s findings and resulting solution are still valid in a modern context. Trifles demonstrates the roles of men and women in their everyday behaviour and interaction. The women use their ascribed positions to accomplish what the men cannot and have the ability to deliberately choose not to help the men with their newfound knowledge.
The setting and symbolism of the play act as a portal that allows for the dramatic development of the message and themes. Throughout the play, Glaspell continually uses the setting to demonstrate the differences between men and women during that time period, and further, how the lives and roles of women were devalued and considered unimportant. From the start of the play, the audience immediately gets a feel for the run-down atmosphere of the farmhouse, the life Mrs. Wright must of led, and more importantly, the distinct separation between the male and female sexes. Not only are the genders separated biologically and geographically throughout the play, they also differ in mindset, behavior, and overall thoughts regarding the motive of the murder. This can be seen when Mr. Henderson, Mr. P...
“Trifles” by Susan Glaspell is a literary breakthrough. Thought by many to be the first piece of modern work advocating women 's rights, this play made a splash into the male dominated era of the early nineteenth century. Set on a farm after the murder of Mr. Wright, three male characters assign themselves with the position of investigators, while their two wives serve as mere gatherers for the convicted felon Mrs. Wright. Mrs. Peters, one of the women, deliberately challenges society 's social norms. With the surrounding males confining her to only domestic functions, Mrs. Peter not only questions yet takes on his male dominated role, providing justice for a fellow female. By leaving the theme of justice in the hands of Mrs. Peters, Glaspell
Susan Glaspell is a thought-provoking exemplar of an authentic early feminist writer, “born in 1882 in Davenport, Iowa.” (Learner) She grew up in a small, conservative, middle-class town in the Midwest, which had a powerful influence on her. Her evolution from regional focused compositions to modernism was made possible and achieved by her geographical relocation to the east coast. Following her graduation “from Drake University” (Learner) she found there to be copious boundaries and restraints for women in the work place. She expressed her resentment of these boundaries, and promoted the feminist movement in her fictional and dramatic writings in many arenas: novels, journalism, short stories, and plays. Her most notorious, profound, and controversial writing was the play Trifles, which is equaled only in magnitude and weightiness by the novel Fidelity. Glaspell use of sympathetic female characters was a brilliant way to advocate contemporary feminist issues.
In Susan Glaspell’s, “A Jury of her Peers”, it is the women who take center stage and captivate the reader’s emotions. Throughout the feministic short story, which was written in 1917, several repeating patterns and symbols help the audience to gain a deeper understanding of the difficulty of prairie life for women and of the bond that women share. The incredible cunning the women in the story demonstrate provides insight into the innate independence that women had even during days of deep sexual discrimination. In “A Jury of her Peers”, the hardships women of the early twentieth century must endure and the sisterhood that they can still manage to maintain are manifested as a mysterious, small-town murder unfolds.
The play, Trifles, written by Susan Glaspell, establishes the discrepancy between men and women’s perception and roles during the early 1900s. Its title, Trifles is tied to the concept that is reemphasized many times in the play, which illustrates that women’s thoughts, observations, and voices were considered as trifles or something of which that has least significance to the society and its values. Glaspell gradually builds the plot up to a controversial murder mystery by giving each character specific attributes and by developing symbolism with the objects mentioned in the play. However, if the play was elaborated to incorporate more details of some factors such as characterization and background of Mr. Peters, Mr. Hale, Mrs. Peters, and Mrs. Hale for a movie, then it could possibly lose its mysterious sensitivity and hinder imagination of particular components of the mystery in the readers’ mind.
The play Trifles was written by Susan Glaspell in 1916. It reflects the author’s assimilation with culturally tied views of gender and sex roles. As the title of the play, “Trifles”, evokes the concerns of women who are often regarded as trifles—insignificant subjects—that bear little or no significance to the true work of society which is, evidently, fulfilled by men. Glaspell (Susan Glaspell 1902) questions, and thus calls the viewer or reader to also wonder, the comparative value of men’s and women’s work and perspectives by introducing a taut-filled drama that stretches out the development of two different accounts, one female and one male. Holstein (Suzy Clarkson Holstein 2003) contends in her essay, though the questioning Glaspell (Susan Glaspell 1902) raises is not only on women’s roles in society, how knowledge and perspective are evaluated in specific circumstances.
Susan Glaspells “A Jury of Her Peers is a short story that reveals the gender conflict and women’s struggle in a male-dominated society. With writers like Glaspell, we learn that flat characters are not irrelevant, but help to highlight and develop the qualities of the major characters. Lewis Hale, a neighboring farmer, Henry Peters, the Sheriff, and George Henderson, the county attorney are the flat characters in this story. Glaspells uses the male characters to reveal the subjugation of women that was a characteristic of the society at the time. The author shows the readers the similarities in the attitude of all the male characters through their actions, speeches and thoughts.
In the 1960’s women roles were changing they were getting more involved in the American society. While working as a journalist Susan Glaspell reported a case of a murder which influenced her to write the play Trifles. In the play, Trifles the women are being presented as weak and powerless, a murder has been committed by Minnie Wright. There are a total of five characters in the play, three of them are men and the other two are females. The males are the county attorney, sheriff, and a neighbor farmer. The women are Mrs. Peter and Mrs. Hale. The men are searching for clues to convict Minnie of the crime, while the women find the most important pieces to the crime. In the play “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell, the author demonstrates feminist stereotypes, representations of genders during the era when women had less power.
Susan Glaspell provocative Play, "Trifles" offers a glimpse into the patriarchal culture and disillusionment of marriage as it acts as the catalyst for examination into personal identity, societal responsibility, and the irreverence that women faced in America at the turn of the 20th century. Based in 1916 this one act play includes elements of what the women 's suffrage movement was all about. Through nuances and subtlety in speech gender imbalances are revealed in the characters and give way to motive for murder. In line with the theme the writer had used before women are disregarded wholly and their thoughts counted as frivolous. Characters question themselves as to if they could justify a murder if there fellow woman was under duress. While the men
Susan Glaspell lived in the era where the act of feminism started to increase, which was during a time when women’s right were not as recognized in the general public. She is well known for writing pieces that revolve around the issue of feminism because the tyranny of women during this time had come to a point where women were not truly accepted as their own person. Their only tenacity was to care for their families by doing what they’re expected to do such as caring for the house and children. Glaspell even establishes in her story that the women weren’t mentioned as an individual but as someone’s wife, such as property. In her play titled Trifles, she shows that women are keener than the men in their lives give them praise for. Glaspell uses her play to make a very radical statement that women are more intelligent than alleged and are more than just a housewife that is uneducated and clueless.
...y, but Glaspell told their personalities through the voices of other characters. Integrating the male chauvinism delicately in various scenes and actions of the play, Glaspell showed the then existing male dominance, and challenged the readers and viewers to question who is actually guilty of the murder, Minnie Foster or the male dominant society! Glaspell also indicated that by tampering with evidence, the female characters not only concluded Minnie is not guilty of the crime, but also psychologically triumphed over their male counterparts.
The short dramatic play “Trifles,” by Susan Glaspell tells the story about the persecution of American women dominated by the men during the 20th century. Glaspell uses gender discrimination, setting to disclose the prejudice of the society and the solidarity of men that rebellion motives. “Trifles” also discusses investigation, law, duty, justice and judgment. It takes place in a farmhouse to investigate a real murder case. The male characters of the story carry on their official investigation for the murder of Mr. Wright while the female characters sustain their unofficial investigation which is not justified. The men of the town who are in charge of investigating the crime are unable to solve the murder of mystery through law and criminal
Trifles by Susan Glaspell tackles the problems of the patriarchal systems that women have lived in. The focus of Trifles is bringing the oppression of women to the public. However, I believe that understanding the different roles men played in Trifles and will give a new perspective of the trials women went through in this proto-feminist play. As such, this essay will explore the roles men played in the lives of women. Specifically, what aspects of the writing illustrate the implied authority of men and the active oppression over Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters. In addition, interesting aspects of the subtexts are found in metaphors and motifs of the text. These metaphors are indicative of the behaviors women had to attain in response to male dominance. Finally, by analyzing the relationship of the antagonist against protagonist and where the chracters sit on the axis of conflict