“Trifles” by Susan Glaspell encompasses the idea of feminism among the women characters. Feminism is the advocacy of women to be seen as equals to men. “Trifles” shows a clear representation of women’s place in society. While solving a mystery of a man’s death gender roles are prevalent and key to solving this murder mystery. “Trifles” facilitates a rebellion of the women to be shown as competent to solve a murder mystery and not just a “housewife”. The women in the story take clear actions to show they are more than or equally as competent as the men in several areas of the short story portraying a sense of feminism throughout the story. In a time period where women are neglected, ignored and seen as less than men “Trifles” represents women’s …show more content…
Mrs. Hale went to defend herself by saying men are the one’s who get the house dirty. He responds “ Ah, loyal to your sex , I see.”(982). In the struggle of being belittled the women came together to get respect for themselves and to be valued as equals. When they solved the murder mystery to be Mrs. Wright they sought out a plan to protect her because in their eyes although she was guilty of murder finally got justice for her husband’s belittlement. Hiding the evidence is a clear action that portrayed feminism because they were belittled in several instances by the men and wanted to fight back against that constant neglect. They took actions that advocated and stood up to the gender roles of men being superior and better than them. Another aspect of feminism in the short story “Trifles” is the idea that a woman cannot do a “man’s job” at all or if they attempt it cannot be better than a man. “Trifles” contradicts …show more content…
Hale “ Has the bird flown?.... We think the - cat got it”(987). The County Attorney underestimated the women’s ability to protect their own and solve a murder mystery based on their own knowledge of life through a woman’s eyes. Another clear case where a man underestimated a woman was where Mr.Wright thought he could belittle and neglect his wife which ultimately got him killed. As stated by Hale “ Women are used to worrying over trifles. (The two women move a little closer together.)” The stage direction shows a strong sense for the women to hold together. They were belittled and through their belittlement they came together. They show that no one will understand a woman as well a woman. Feminism plays a key role in this play because the women are discriminated against and they advocate for themselves not by words but through
The power of women is different than that of men. Women display a subtle and indirect kind of power, but can be resilient enough to impact the outside world. In Trifles, Susan Glaspell delivers the idea that gender and authority are chauvinistic issues that confirm male characters as the power holders, while the female characters are less significant and often weak. This insignificance and weakness indicated in the play by the fact that the women had the evidence to solve a murder, but the men just ignored the women as if they had no value to the case at all. This weakness and inability of the female to contest the man’s view are apparent. According to Ben-Zvi, “Women who kill evoke fear because they challenge societal constructs of femininity-passivity, restraint, and nurture; thus the rush to isolate and label the female offender, to cauterize the act” (141). This play presents women against men, Ms. Wright against her husband, the two women against their spouses and the other men. The male characters are logical, arrogant, and stupid while the women are sympathetic, loyal, and drawn to empathize with Mrs. Wright and forgive her crime. The play questions the extent to which one should maintain loyalty to others. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale try to withhold incriminating evidence against Mrs. Wright, and by challenging the reader to question whether
Whose side are you on? The men’s? Or the women’s? In “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell,
The empowerment of women is the major factor in the two pieces written by Susan Glaspell. The male detectives couldn’t figure out what may have happened, but when the women try to bring all the pieces together, they are thrown aside and not substantive. Glaspell shows how the women acted as if they were detectives, much more than the men by being contributing to the fact that they solve the case, showing they were just as valuable as the men, and actually much more.
The major idea I want to write about has to do with the way Mrs. Hale stands behind Mrs. Wright even though it seems like everyone else especially (the men) would rather lock her up and throw away the key. We see this right away when she gets on the County Attorney for putting down Mrs. Wright’s house keeping. I find this to be wonderfully symbolic in that most women of this time usually allowed the men to say whatever they wanted about their sex, never standing up for themselves or each other
“Trifles” written by Susan Glaspell explores the oppressive nature of an enduring patriarchal hierarchy within farm life throughout the 1900’s coinciding with the extensive psychological damage solitude and isolation imposed on the soul of, Mrs. Wright.
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.
“Trifles” examines the contrast between men and women. Mr. Hale commented that “women are used to worrying over triffles”, implying that men do not concern themselves with such things (433). It also seems to state that women do not think of much else. By the end, however, it is clear that the significance di...
Susan Glaspell’s play, Trifles, was written in 1916, reflects the author’s concern with stereotypical concepts of gender and sex roles of that time period. As the title of the play implies, the concerns of women are often considered to be nothing more than unimportant issues that have little or no value to the true work of society, which is being performed by men. The men who are in charge of investigating the crime are unable to solve the mystery through their supposed superior knowledge. Instead, two women are able decipher evidence that the men overlook because all of the clues are entrenched in household items that are familiar mainly to women during this era. Glaspell expertly uses gender characterization, setting, a great deal of symbolism and both dramatic and verbal irony, to expose social divisions created by strict gender roles, specifically, that women were limited to the household and that their contributions went disregarded and underappreciated.
The strong women characters in Trifles allow for feminist discussion, but also question the classic gender roles present at any point in time. Through the crime committed by Minnie Wright, three women grow together and establish that justice for all is deeper than finding the culprit. Justice occurs in all things, in hiding the clues by Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, in the quiet dignity they both have by helping their friend, and by proving that women are capable of anything they are determined to
...t allow her freedom and friendships and may have payed for it with his life. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, knowing and understanding the desperation and alienation that this housewife felt, found the proof of a motive for the murder, despite the taunting and teasing from the men who were suppose to be the ones looking for the evidence. The false ideas that these men had towards all of the females ended up hurting them and keeping them from the truth. Instead of the wives offering up the evidence that was discovered, they decided to hide it from the men to protect Mrs. Wright. The disparaging attitudes presented by the men may have seemed harmless at the time, but it kept them from the truth and it made the women feel like their idea would be disregarded. Ultimately, if you look deeper, this male dominant society was harmful to not only women, but to the men as well.
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,
Feminism in Trifles and A Jury of Her Peers As a strong feminist, Susan Glaspell wrote “Trifles” and then translated it into a story called “A Jury of Her Peers.” These works express Glaspell’s view of the way women were treated at the turn of the century. Even though Glaspell is an acclaimed feminist, her story does not contain the traditional feminist views of equal rights for both sexes. The short story and the play written by Susan Glaspell are very much alike. The story takes place in an old country town in the early 1900’s.
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 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