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. …show more content…
Peter and Mrs. Hale actively. However, the acquired customs and attitudes of the men prevent Mrs. Peter and Mrs. Hale from acting within their own agency while the men are in the room. For example, when the men are discussing the state of the cupboard closet and Hale says “Well women are used to worrying over trifles” (Loc 200 Glaspell). The women respond by moving moving closer together. What the men say have an effect on Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peter. Even an indirect address to the women sends them on an alert. However, to the men it is common banter. Glaspell is providing commentary on the social hierarchy that existed in the early 1900’s. Men are able to criticize women in day to day candor, but women must thread their words carefully to avoid bringing attention to themselves. More proof of this is an interesting description of the men in Trifles immediately after this …show more content…
Through her writing, she acted as a precursor to the first wave of present day feminism that still shakes the flaw social constructs of our patriarchal system. She uses metaphors to illustrate allegorical imagery that when analyzed is rooted into the problems that women faced of the 1900s. And a thorough investigation and criticism of the bias that still holds true to today involving narrative constructs and their character gives readers the boons of an objective view of literary work. Women have experienced the worst that men have to offer and through their obstinance of the past, have become stronger and stand taller today than ever
The short one-act play Trifles by Susan Glaspell, was years ahead of its time. Its time was 1916 but the subject matter is timeless. The aspect of this play that most caught my interest was the contrast between the men and women characters. This is a play written in the early 1900s but transcends time periods and cultures. This play has many strengths and few weaknesses, but helps to provide a very accurate portrait of early American women and the issues they dealt with in everyday comings and goings.
Susan Glaspell, from Davenport, Iowa is only the second woman to win a Pulitzer Prize [1]. Much of her writing is strongly feminist, mostly dealing with how society viewed women and the prevalence of male dominance. Possibly, the idea behind the play “Trifles” was based on a woman named Margaret Hosack from Iowa, who is thought to have killed her husband due to his abusive behavior. Susan Glaspell was influenced by this story when writing ‘Trifles’ because she worked at the Des Moines Newspaper at the time of the event and in
Virginia Woolf once said,“For most of history, Anonymous was a woman.” These insightful words, of English modernist and feminist writer, seem a perfect summation of the enduring oppression and silencing of women in society. A paramount theme and notion present in fellow feminist playwright, Susan Glaspell’s Trifles. Glaspell’s 1916 one act play explores notions of gender, justice, and freedom; through her command of the English language and rhetoric.
In both works, Glaspell uses characterization and the central conflict of both stories to imply that the sexist views of the males are not constructive to marital relationships in general. The main characters in both works present multiple examples of such relationships.The the Hale’s are the first characters we are introduced In “Peers” there is more emphasis on Martha Hales’ actual feelings for her husband. It states that she wishes that when her husband is questioned about the murder, that he would just tell it like it is (Glaspell, A Jury of Her Peers). Mrs. Hales feels that her husband has a habit of becoming mixed up on the story and she’s worried about that. In comparison, this detail is emphasized through unecessary his ramblings in Trifles, which sound like a two year old. It shows in both versions that their interaction with each other is taxing on their relationship.
Sexism was evident in society during the time era of “Trifles” and is challenged by Susan Glaspell’s female characters through structure, setting, and symbolism. It was very much frowned upon that the women were superior to the men then and even today men don’t want women to be equal to them let alone superior to them. So in order for a woman to get the greatest victory, as displayed through Mrs. Hale and Peters, they must
From the play “Trifles” written by Susan Glaspell I’ll be explaining the role of the women characters and how they were portrayed in the story. The play describes setting with homicide, mystery and dishonesty among its characters. It's a play that bases on stereotypes in relationships and attitudes between men and woman at this time in our history. The male characters play the powerful leader being for example, the sheriff, deputy and the attorney where the female characters Mrs. Peter and Mrs. Hale in a kind of seen but not heard role. Who were sent out to learn more about the details of the murder of Mr. Wright, who was found hanged in his bed.
Trifles is one play that really shows the conflict between gender roles in the early 20th century. At the beginning of the 1900s the idea of everyone having equal rights didn’t exist. Men clearly dominated every aspect of life, while women were often left with little importance. The oppression of women during that time stretched to the point that they were not truly acknowledge as their own person. Their sole purpose was to take care of their families by keeping house and performing their caretaker duties. According to the essay “Literary Context in Plays: Susan Glaspell” by Bailey McDaniel claims that Glaspell’s work Trifles is considered an observation on the demeaning, insignificant characterization of women’s labor and their lives within domesticity (McDaniel). Susan Glaspell really tries to emphasize this feminist view throughout the entire play.
Gender roles and inequality are still evolving and continue to change. It has only been not that long ago that women started to break out their outlined roles and looked at about the same or- almost the same level- as men on a wide scale basis. Indeed, some women in certain parts of the world are still represented in the same way as in both plays that will be compared in this essay. The characters in Susan Glaspell’s Trifles and Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll's House highlight the challenges of gender roles. The attention focused on points of comparison and contrast of men vs women's reactions in the course of both plays, which, allow the audience to think about gender identity and role conflicts. The other common shared view in both plays is that they are both showcased from a female perspective.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Peters, the sheriff’s wife, and Mrs. Hale, the neighbor man’s wife, are able to relate in many ways to the loneliness and loss of self that Mrs. Wright felt while spending her days alone tending to her home and husband. The men in the play are so blinded by their sexist ideas about females, that they miss the evidence of a motive to convict Mrs. Wright of murder. The men, after hearing the women discuss how Mrs. Wright was worried about her jarred fruit freezing, make several comments regarding the fact that this is something trivial that a woman would worry about even while being held for the possibility of murder. Mr. Hale makes the comment, “-Well, women are used to worrying over trifles.” (pp. 945)
The title of this drama "Trifles" demonstrates how men have the assumption that women and their respective actions are seemingly unimportant. Trifles can be used in two forms in the English language. In verb form, trifle means to treat someone or something as unimportant or non-essential. The word trifle in noun form means something of little value or importance. Both definitions of this word yield an idea in this story that women are seen as trivial and are not worthy of respect by men. This idea is conveyed throughout the entire story by the belittling assumptions and attitude the men use toward the women. For example Hale says, " Well, women are used to worrying over trifles" (1003). Typically, a kitchen represents women's work and the idea of domesticity. In Glaspell's eyes, men tend to assume that nothing of importance occurs in the kitchen and this can be related to the idea that women are insignificant. As Glaspell writes,
In Trifles, the play takes place at an abandon house at a farm where John Wright and his wife, Minnie Wright lived. John was killed with a rope around his neck while his wife was asleep. The neighbor, county attorney and sheriff came to the crime scene for investigation. Along with them came their wives, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters; they were told to grab some belongings for Mrs. Wright that she may need while she’s in custody. Once they all entered the home the men dismissed the kitchen finding it as unimportant. The three men focused more on legal regulations of the law. The play was mostly revolved around the women, discovering the motive through “trifles” and other symbolic things that had significance to Minnie’s guilt. When Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters understood the reason behind the murdering they hid the evidence from their husbands, and kept quiet. Many readers would visualize this play as a feminist point of view due to women’s bonding in discovering Minnie’s oppressive life after marriage. However Glaspell, provokes two ethical paradigms that have different perspectives of justice. Glaspell uses symbolism to characterize women’s method in a subjective way, by empowering themselves through silence, memories of her and their own lives as well as having empathy about her sit...
Susan Glaspell highlights the settings as theatrical metaphors for male dominated society in the early 20th century. “Trifles” begins with an investigation into the murder of Mr. Wright. The crime scene is taken at his farmhouse where clues are found that reveals Minnie Wright to be a suspect of murder. In the beginning of the play, it clearly embodies the problems of subordination of women. For example, there are two main characters in this play—Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, who are brought along with the sheriff and attorney to find evidence for Mr. Wright’s murder. The men gather and work together at the stove and they talk with each other in familiarity while women “stand close together near the door behind men” (Glaspell 444). Perhaps the location of the women standing behind the men near the door reflects also their secondary or inferior social standing in the eyes of the men. Moreover, it seems that the wo...
Susan Glaspell's play, "Trifles", attempts to define one of the main behavioral differences between man and woman. For most of the story, the two genders are not only geographically separated, but also separated in thought processes and motive, so that the reader might readily make comparisons between the two genders. Glaspell not only verbally acknowledges this behavioral difference in the play, but also demonstrates it through the characters' actions and the turns of the plot. The timid and overlooked women who appear in the beginning of the play eventually become the delicate detectives who, discounted by the men, discover all of the clues that display a female to be the disillusioned murderer of her (not so dearly) departed husband. Meanwhile, the men in the play not only arrogantly overlook the "trifling" clues that the women find that point to the murderer, but also underestimate the murderer herself. "These were trifles to the men but in reality they told the story and only the women could see that (Erin Williams)". The women seem to be the insightful unsung heroes while the men remain outwardly in charge, but sadly ignorant.
Susan Glaspell’s play, Trifles, may not be the best story to read and it may be confusing to some people, but it teaches the reader a great deal about how women were treated and how women were viewed during the early 1900’s. When analyzing the play from a feminist standpoint, Mrs. Wright’s motive for killing her husband becomes more clear and understandable to why she did it. Susan Glaspell gives the reader an idea of how men and women were treated during that time. In the next few paragraphs, I will use Susan Glaspell’s feminist approach to demonstrate how Mrs. Wrights murdering of her husband is completely justified.
Susan Glaspell’s Trifles (1916), is a play that accounts for imprisonment and loneliness of women in a patriarchal society. The plot has several instances where women issues are perceived to be mere trifles by their male counterparts. The title is of significant importance in supporting the main theme of the story and developing the plot that leads to the evidence of the mysterious murder. Trifles can be defined as things of less importance; in this story dramatic, verbal and situational irony is used to show how the insignificant trifles lead to a great deal of truth in a crime scene investigation. The title of the story “Trifles” is used ironically to shape the unexpected evidence discovered by women in