The theme of the play,”Trifles,”by Susan Glaspell, is demonstrated through the situation of a woman revolting in a society dominated by males. The situation presented in,”Trifles,”is a woman, Mrs.Wright, who was belittled by her husband, and was pushed to the point that she murdered him. Mrs.Wright was in gruesome state of mind due to neglect. The county attorney, George Henderson, and the sheriff, Henry Peters go to Mrs. Wright’s house to scavenge for evidence. Mrs. Peters, the sheriff’s wife, as well as Mrs. Hale, a neighbor, go to the house to be of assistance in the search of pining Mrs.Wright guilty. When the group entered the farm-house their perspective of the event that occurred was inflicted. “She- come to think of it, she was kind …show more content…
George, Henry, and Mr.Hale have no remorse for Mrs.Wright and poke fun of the cleanliness of the house. The men lose interest in the kitchen and venture upstairs in hope of discovering evidence. The women want to put a basket together to give Mrs.Wright, so they stay in the kitchen. While searching for items that might bring her comfort the two stubble across a broken birdcage. Mrs.Hale made a connection that the birdcage cage resembled Mr.Wright’s anger. It became surreal, what Mrs.Wright endured for many years alone. Then they found lost freedom, a dead canary. Mrs.Wright loved to sing, but her husband did not appreciate this passion. Unable to do what she loved, Mrs.Wright bought a canary, something that would sing, but Mr.wright was disgusted with it and twisted the canary’s neck. Everything fell into place and the women knew they had to protect Mrs.Wright, they were done with being quiet. “I might have known she needed help! I know how things can be-for women. I tell you, it’s queer, Mrs.Peters. We live close together and we live far apart”(Johnson, ARP, 1141). It was this moment they knew they were going to help Mrs.Wright even if it meant hiding evidence. These three women revolted in a male-dominated
The farmhouse in Trifles was accessed by several individuals between the time of the murder and law enforcement arriving. The sheriff even sent Frank over that morning to start a fire for warmth, instructing him “not to touch anything except the stove – and you know Frank.” The men in the play are only interested in observing the areas where John would have been within the home, deeming the kitchen as unimportant. If they had only taken a few moments to consider the mindset and life of Mrs. Wright they would have discovered all the information they sought. Minnie’s obligation once married was to provide John with children, the fact they were childless helps to show her “failure” in this role in the men’s eyes, yet the women see the detached relationship she shared with John and the profound silence of a home without little ones. Mrs. Hale discovers an unfinished quilt with some very erratic stitching where Mrs. Wright has left off and begins to remove the stitches, as if trying to undo what has already happened. When the quilting method of Mrs. Wright is discovered the women link her method with the knot used around John’s neck. Without ever seeing
Trifles” is a play written in 1916 by Susan Glaspell. The play’s audience consists of young adults to those in their late 50’s. Mrs. Glaspell takes a serious matter of domestic violence and uses her platform as an author to raise awareness about the issue. In the play “Trifles” a neighbor went to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Wright only to find Mr. Wright dead in his bed. He had been strangled to death by a rope. The neighbor questioned Mrs. Wright about the matter and her response was odd and suspicious. Mrs. Wright was taken to jail while the home is being investigated for further evidence. Mrs. Glaspell’s play “Trifles” effectively achieves the goal in raising awareness on domestic violence by the evidence of the crime and through pathos.
Susan Glaspell's Trifles explores male-female relationships through the murder investigation of the character of Mr. Wright. The play takes place in Wright's country farmhouse as the men of the play, the county attorney, the sheriff, and Mr. Hale, search for evidence as to the identity and, most importantly, the motive of the murderer. However, the clues which would lead them to such are never found by the men. Instead it is their female counterparts who discover the evidence needed, and who are able to do so because of their gender.
In Susan Glaspell’s short Trifles, Mrs. Wright is being accused of murdering her former husband Mr. Wright. While their house is being investigated, there are a lot of clues that suggest what could’ve happened between Mr. and Mrs. Wright. Susan Glaspell uses many literal techniques throughout the story to give readers a depiction of what’s going on. Glaspell uses irony, symbolism, and themes to distinguish Mrs. Wright’s role in the murder and her character in the story.
“Trifles” is a one act play written by Susan Glaspell about a woman named Minnie Foster, who is accused of murdering her husband John Wright. Glaspell uses conflict between the characters, symbolism, and suspense to provide the reader with how different the men and women see the crime scene. Throughout this play, the men tend to assert their patriarchal dominance by leaving the women in the kitchen while they go upstairs to investigate the crime scene. As the play unfolds, the women begin to discover pieces of evidence among the mess in the kitchen which the men look over because; each of the items tends to be associated with that of a woman. The men focus on where the crime took place, rather than searching for evidence which could provide a motive behind the murder itself. Through the character’s actions, the use of symbolism, and suspense throughout the play, Glaspell is able to provide the reader with how men had superiority during this time period and how it creates a problem with solving the crime that takes place in the Wright household.
The definition of “trifles” is something that does not have much value or importance. In the play “Trifles”, Susan Glaspell illustrates the differences between men and women by the details that they notice and the things that each person considers to be important or necessary. In the play, Mrs. Wright is the main suspect for her husband’s murder. Mr. Henderson, Mr. Peters, and Mr. Hale are the three men in the play that are searching the entire house for physical evidence to prove Mrs. Wright as guilty. The two other women in the play are Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale and their behaviors are completely opposite from the men’s. Since the women are more focused on the small details of Mrs. Wright’s everyday life, they are able to find the most important piece of evidence that the men would never find on their own. By observing the key behaviors of the men and women and their roles, Glaspell illustrates the real meaning and attitude of “trifles” within the play.
“Trifles” by Susan Glaspell revolves around Mrs. Wright’s strange actions after her husband’s murder. With this in mind, it leads to an investigation. Meanwhile, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale find incriminating evidence, but decide to hide it. Due to the actions of the women throughout the play, the main focus of “Trifles” is uniting women against their male counterparts.
In the late 18th century to the early 19th century, women in the the society have been looked down upon by men. Susan Glaspell’s play, “Trifles”, was written in 1916, which reflects on the preoccupation of women’s role in the society. “Trifles” suggests, the concern of women are often considered as an unimportant issue, or even no importance to the true work of society, which is being carried out by men. Trifles is about a murder case where the wife, Minnie Wright, was accused for the murder of her husband John Wright. The sheriff, the county attorney, and the neighbours, Mr. and Ms. Hale explains how he paid a visit to the house the previous day, and searches for the evidence to prove Mrs. Wright guilty for the murder. The play subtly illustrates how the female characters, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, spots many small evidences to prove Mrs. Wright’s murder. However, the male characters do not spot these evidences, even though the female characters were subtly revealing the evidences through their testimonies. Glaspell uses the characters of the play, symbolism, and the message of the play to convey the notion of women’s inferiority.
So like missing pieces from a puzzle, the men couldn’t understand the whole picture of why a woman could commit such a crime against her husband. The way someone presents him or herself by the way they dress or speak is a mirror of the way they live their lives at home. So this makes me question how the relationship of Mr. and Mrs. Wright functioned. Someone with such a personality wouldn’t leave their home to look a mess unless there were other reasons. Mrs. Wright lost a child-like characteristic and became a secluded and disheveled wife. My diction referring to Mrs. Wright as a “disheveled wife” instead of “woman and wife” was to purposely direct the attention to the fact that she is no longer looked at as anyone other than a wife. Her former self, Minnie Foster, is long gone from the person she is portrayed as at the present moment. Glaspell writes “Mrs. Hale: she used to sing real pretty herself. Mrs. Peters: Seems funny to think of a bird here… why would she have a cage?” The birdcage reveals how Mrs. Wright felt trapped and was unable to escape her marriage until John broke the birdcage door thus allowing her to escape her broken marriage. A bird displays a beautiful array of colored
The play “Trifles,” by Susan Glaspell, written in 1916 is based on a real life murder that Glaspell came across as a young reporter. Inspired by her observations, she was able to turn the tragic event into a one-act play which involved a farmer named John Wright, who was strangled by the neck in bed. The main suspect is assumed to be his wife (Minnie Foster), who is placed in jail and does not appear on the scene. Instead two female characters, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, become the voice for Mrs. Wright throughout the play. A division is displayed amongst the genders within this play, and the setting and character roles are used to it point out. “Trifles,” by Glaspell uses irony and symbolism to uncover the importance of female identity versus the law by allowing the two women and Minnie Foster to seek revenge over male authority.
In this play there is a sort of underlying message or conflict with the characters that focuses on being loyal to their own sex. You can analyze that men and women approach things in their own way. In the end the women find all the evidence that they needed that could have lead Mrs. Wright to kill her husband and the motive for it. Such as the bread/ jam, the empty birdcage and the quilt. On the other hand the men did not find any substantial evidence and what they thought was silly and “trifles”, turned out to be the key to solving this murder. In the end the women decided to hide the evidence and they did not reveal to the men what they had
The one-act play ‘Trifles’, by Susan Glaspell has quite the compelling drama plot. In the beginning, the character Lewis Hale goes over to visit the neighboring Wright’s farmhouse, looking for John Wright. At the house, he learns from Mrs. Wright, in a much understated and subtle fashion, that John Wright is dead. Mrs. Wright impassively explains that someone had strangled him with a rope while he was sleeping in bed, where she was also sleeping. Then Mr. Hale contacts the sheriff and county attorney, whom subsequently put Mrs. Wright in custody for her bizarre and suspicious behavior. When the police begin to do their investigation, it is then when the plot turns to more complexity. The police allow the women – Mrs. Hale, a neighbor and acquaintance
Reading a play like Trifles helps people get a glimpse into the life of a distressed woman in the late 1800’s/early 1900’s. Although not very specific, with the banter between the men it is not hard to see that they have little to no respect for women. They complain about a dirty house when the woman that lived there was removed unexpectedly by the police. The wives that are there are teased and belittled because of what the men thought were their simple minds. Little do they know that Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters had just participated in a cover up that would prevent a solid case from being formed against Mrs. Wright.
Wright was described as a beautiful women filled with such joy and life until she married John Wright. Mrs. Peter’s and Mrs. Hale feels sorry for her because her husband treated her so bad. Due to female bonding and sympathy, the two women, becoming detectives, finds the truth and hides it from the men. The play shows you that emotions can play a part in your judgement. Mrs. Peter’s and Mrs. Hale felt sorry that Mrs. Wright had one to keep her company no kids and she was always left alone at home. “yes good; he didn’t drink, and kept his word as well as most, I guess, and paid his debt. But he was a hard man, Mrs. Peters just to pass the time of day with him. Like a raw wind that goes to the bone. I should of think she would have wanted a bird. But what you suppose went with it?” Later on in the play the women find out what happens to the bird. The bird was killed the same way Mrs. Wright husband which leads to the motive of why he was killed. Mrs. Wright was just like the bird beautiful but caged no freedom not being able to live a life of her own. Always stuck in the shadows of her husband being told what to do and
Most of the actions take place in the kitchen setting which demonstrates the author’s deliberate move to show the important details about the wifely role. The women hold their conversation in the unkempt kitchen, a domestic sphere that reveals everything about the lives of women. While the men were busy searching for clues around the farmhouse, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale see some evidence in the trifle that Mrs. Wright had left in the kitchen. The women can deduce that the messy kitchen with dirty pans gives a signal of incomplete work. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peter spend most of their time in the messy kitchen that significantly reveal Mrs. Wright’s state of confusion (Manuel 61). Mrs. Hale understands Mrs. Wright’s experiences of loneliness and desperation from the male-dominated circumstances. The female characters sympathize with her situation by acknowledging the forces in her life that made her take the roles including that of murdering her husband. The men overlook the evidence that the women can trace in the house, and their dialogue suggests lack of sympathy towards women as noted from their humiliation and sarcasm towards women. For example, the women can relate the death of the canary to the murder scene. The attorney shows how woman’s concerns are unimportant, instead of sympathizing with Mrs. Wright for what has befallen her, they portray their women