In contemporary society, we usually regard everybody as an equivalent person who is entitled to equal rights. However, this point of view did not exist at the turn of the twentieth century. Men dominated nearly every aspect of society, and women were often overlooked. Gender-specific roles have positioned women in the kitchen throughout history, preparing meals, baking bread, and canning fruits and jellies. A woman was also supposed to care for her husband and be a great mother to the children (Real 12). In this light, the paper describes how symbolism, setting, and irony were used in outlining the theme of gender roles and how women are not taken seriously in the play Trifles by Susan Glaspell.
First, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale conclude that Mrs. Wright meant to knot the quilt. This knot is notable since it resembles the knot on the rope around Mr. Wrights neck that Mrs. Wright tied (Glaspell 19). Furthermore, using the terms knot it as the final uttered lines points at this significance and offered the womens choice to defend Mrs. Wright and conceal their uncovered proof a solid finality. The men on the spot dismiss Mrs. Wrights suggestion of knotting the quilt as a simple error in her quilting technique (Glaspell 119). It represented the households domestic atmosphere since it is a technical term for crochet that the men are not certain of its meaning. Compared to the mens rejection of the female experience as irrelevant, this stresses the importance of womens experiences and how they are perceived.
Second, the plays title is ironic to send a message to the reader that things are not as they seem. That said, the depiction of masculinity follows strongly behind the representation of domestic positions in this play. The men leave the woman to talk trifles in the kitchen as they move outside to perform the serious examination of the case (Glaspell 20). The plays heading denotes that men undermine womens issues, demonstrating how men usually disregard womens concerns. For instance, the male characters view the house and the womens interests as a concrete environment with no linked emotions (Glaspell 20). Eventually, as the men ignore the womens worries, their minor concerns lead them to crack the case.
On the other hand, the setting of the play reveals how women and men view Mr. Wrights home from different angles. The men in this play are entirely unaware of Mrs. Wrights emotional aggression at her husbands hands. In this scenario, though, the women serve as Mrs. Wrights unauthorized kitchen tribunal. The women discover signs of domestic violence and conclude that this is why Mrs. Wright murdered her husband. However, even though they eventually hide the facts, it is evident that women were able to find out the truth from the kitchen setting.
Furthermore, there is a depiction of how women are viewed differently by men through the setting. For example, the women and men in the play view the environment from divergent perspectives from the start (Abd-Aun and Haneen 169). On the one side, the men appear at a crime scene to discover the cause of Mr. Whites death. Besides, the men perform the investigation methodically but find little evidence to use contrary to Minnie. This can be demonstrated in how the county attorney handles his examination by questioning essential witnesses, including Mr. Hale (Real 13). The men believe they have done a proper analysis and believed never missing something significant.
However, regardless of their process, they do not gather any helpful information that might link Minnie Foster to Mr. Wrights death. Conversely, the women treat the environment as though it were their own home as they attempt to put themselves in Minnie Fosters shoes. They got Minnie Fosters dead bird in her sewing basket (Huber 30). Conversely, the women realized that Minnie brutally strangled the dead bird during their further inspection and linking the act to Mr. Whites killing (Glaspell 21). Nonetheless, Glaspell attempts to challenge the gender-centered sexism that distinguishes against the female sexual characteristics by presenting women as more rigorous and intelligent even though they are perceived as not being qualified or equipped, thus representing men as inept.
Consequently, Trifles is perceived to be an early illustration of gender identity drama. That said, gender equality as a subject cannot be interpreted only as the composers or her protagonists appeal for womens rights. Instead, it may be a metaphor regarding female conscience, the thoughts, and expectations correlated with a female characters femininity. For instance, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, the two female protagonists, empathize with Mrs. Wright and recognize her reason for hiding the facts against her (Glaspell 19). Besides that, the mens cold, unsympathetic examination of material evidence has blinded them.
In conclusion, the plays setting, irony, and symbolism were used by Glaspell in outlining the theme of gender roles and how women are viewed differently. That said, the title Trifles as used by Glaspell symbolizes gender roles and how women were never taken seriously in the play by men as worthless creatures. Besides, the setting is used by Glaspell to prove that women are never as little as men perceive them. For instance, the women manage to find the evidence against the suspect from the kitchen, a place believed by men only to contain womens things.
Works cited
Abd-Aun, Raad Kareem, and Haneen Ali Haleem. The Woman as the Other in Glaspells Trifles, Hansberrys A Raisin in the Sun and Kanes Blasted, International Journal of Arabic-English Studies vol. 20, no. 2, 2020, pp. 169-186.
Glaspell, Susan. Trifles. New York, NY: Frank Shay, the Washington Square Players, 1916. Print, vol.1, no.2, pp. 19-25.
Huber, Daniel. Some linguistic lines of thinking on Trifles by Susan Glaspell (the play and its film adaptation), American Theatre Lab, 2017, pp. 30-40.
Real, Noelia Hernando. Trifles by Susan Glaspell. How to Teach a Play: Essential Exercises for Popular Plays, Methuen Drama, vol. 3, no.10, 2020, pp. 139-141.
The play Trifles is about a murder scene where the male authority investigates Mr. John Wrights death. Mr. Wright has been strangled to death by a rope and the wife, Mrs. Wright, is the main suspect. However, with their understanding of the relationship between the Mr. and Mrs. Wright, of emotional abuse and neglect, the ladies consider justice has prevailed for Mrs. Wright. The women are fast to put the mystery together and hide the evidence that would help the authority convict Mrs. Wright. As the director, the vision of the new play would revolve around hiding Minnies involvement in the homicide, directing the actors, changing the characters costumes, set design, and lighting only to show what is relevant.
For the production of the play, a murder scene would require an understanding of setting. Therefore, as the director of the play, I would set up the room to give the audience a reason to connect the circumstance leading to the death. Death is often associated with coldness, the leaving of that warmth that gives meaning to life. With Minnie having strangled John, I would ensure the setting of the place to be cheerless and cold, a type of environment where a womans natural culture is taken away. In households, women and children bring out life, give meaning to the house and make the house warm. With the scene depicting the absence of life, I would ensure to make the house unkept, a sign that Minnie no longer saw the need to live for. Moreover, using the understanding of the emotional abuse and neglect the ladies consider Mrs. Wright went through, the set up would show a sign of relief from the abuse.
The twist I would add to the play is that of a jovial person, who has just found her new freedom from the constant violence. With an understanding of the original setting of the play, I would add a phonograph in the script. In the 1900, phonographs were popular music players, which I would use to symbolize a place where Minnie would go to enjoy the newfound life that is free of stress (OBrien and Annie 41). With the exception of other rooms, unkempt, the study room would be clean since it is the only place that Mrs. Wright spends the most of her time after the death of John Wright. The sheriff would be a uniformed police officer, the county attorney would be dressed in a long robe, and the ladies dresses, Minnie included, would be based on the Edwardian fashion, reflective of the era (OBrien and Annie 45). The cast would still consist of the five characters; however, when it comes to the lighting, I would use spot lighting. The significance of it being to highlight the different characters and elements, throughout the play, at different times.
With the women getting united to defend Minnie and the men searching for evidence to give justice to the late Mr. Wright, I would direct the actors to four areas of the house. These would be the living room where the furniture is wrapped, a clean kitchen, upstairs where Johns body is, and to the studio where Minnie listens to her music. Given that she no longer felt connected to the house, this would make the audience understand how Mrs. Wright did not desire the furniture to waste. Contrary to what is seen in the story, a kitchen that has been unattended for some time (Glaspel 2). I would show that Minnie ensured to keep her house clean, despite acting surprised that her husband has been murdered, as she claims. Maintaining the cleanliness of the kitchen and the rest of the house would make the audience disconnect Minnie from the homicide.
Trifles is a play that allows the audience to connect the dot between Minnie and the death of John Wright. While the play depicts the house she lived as being unkempt, I have shown the possible changes I would make to hide the connection. Cleanliness is the main line of separation that would be used, alongside the time spent in the studio listening to music.
The short story by Susan Glaspell is full of flat and round characters. There is a reason why the authors crated both flat and round characters. This is a typical formula used by writers. This is because there is not enough space to develop characters and for readers to empathize with them and to understand fully the context of their existence within the story.
The flat characters are important because they provide a platform that allows the more rounded characters to shine. In this short story the presence of flat and round characters are not the only elements of fiction writing that are in full display the author also used stereotypes to create an interesting and believable story.
Before going any further it is important to point out that flat characters are characters found in the story that the author did not bother to develop even further (Arp, 2006). Sometimes there is a mere passing description of their presence. They may come up regularly within the plot but there is a limited amount of information given to create in the minds of a reader a character that has more layers or texture so to speak.
A round character on the other hand is a character in the story that the author focuses on (Arp, 2006). Usually this character, is the protagonist or antagonist, or simply someone who plays an important role in the development of the plot. By creating round characters the storytelle,r allows the reader to empathize with the character and the story comes to life.
A stereotype on the other hand is a technique used by writers to immediately create believable characters without having to use up precious space to inform the reader who they are and what they do. The use of stereotypes is a critical component of this short story because these characters immediately fills up the stage and these are the characters that can make the story believable.
More importantly the author ,can immediately go to the main point of the story without a lengthy introduction describing what the character looks like. For example a stereotyp,e of a police officer is enough for the reader to understand that a police officer is an important component of the story but the author does not need to elaborate even further.
Characters
The Sheriff, Hale, County Attorney, and even the two wives can be considered as flat characters. It is only Mrs. Wright and to some extent Mr. Wright who can be considered as well-rounded characters. There is not much that has been said about the Sheriff except the fact that he is there because he has to perform perfunctory duties. As a Sheriff he was obligated to investigate the scene of the crime.
The same thing can be said about the County Attorney. There is not much that has been said about him. He was there to investigate the crime. The same is true for Mr. Hale because he was the witness to the crime.
There is not much that has been said about him, his personality, even the extent of his relationship with Mr. and Mrs. Wright was not explored. It was enough for the writer to say that he is a neighbour of the Wrights. The wives are also flat characters and although they were mentioned most of the time they only served as commentators and narrators.
Through the eyes of Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, the readers were able to see the rounded character of Mrs. Wright and to some extent Mr. Wright. From them the readers were able to get a glimpse of the former life of Mrs. Wright and how she suffered as the wife of an overbearing husband. Through the recollection of the two ladies it was discovered why Mrs. Wright felt terrible with the destruction of the canary at the hands of an angry Mr. Wright. The reader was then able to understand why Mrs. Wright was driven to kill her husband.
As mentioned, stereotypes were used so that the storyteller can immediately get to the meat of the story. The Sheriff, the Country Attorney as well as the dutiful wives were in stereotypical roles. The Sheriff was said to be middle-aged and a take-charge guy who is also a natural leader. He was able to command the group.
The Attorney, on the other hand, played the stereotypical role of the investigator perfectly. The wives were dutiful, and they could not criticize the way the men condescended on them. But in the end, they showed their true colors by protecting one of their own. Although they have evidence to link Mrs. Wright to the crime, they chose to withhold that crucial piece of information and that is a stereotypical behavior for women.
Conclusion
The author was able to skilfully mesh the flat and round characters. The flat characters were able to help the writer set up the stage so to speak so that the round characters will shine brightly in the story. The round characters, on the other hand, were given enough space for the reader to empathize or understand what they had to go through. In the case of Mrs. Wright, the reader understood why she had to kill her husband. Stereotypes were used effectively as well to make the story believable.
Works Cited
Arp, Johnson, & Perrine, G. Perrines Literature: Structure, Sound and Sense. Boston, MA: Thomson Wadsworth, 2006.
Glaspell, Susan. Trifles. Virginia Commonwealth University. 1916. Web.
Susan Glaspell is a celebrated American writer, and Trifles, a one-act play, is among the many works that she wrote in the early twentieth century. At the time, women in American society were facing various challenges and Glaspell used her literary skills to highlight the same, albeit dramatically. In this play, the author uses the unseen woman device to emphasize the theme of sisterhood. In this technique, the protagonist of a story does not appear on stage. According to Susan Glaspell 1876-1948 , when viewed within the context of contemporary discussions about the reconstitution of the subject position and the possibility of a feminist mimesis, the unseen woman can be seen to provide a means of reconfiguring the female subject and recuperating realistic representation through feminist stage practice (p. 70). This paper discusses the theme of sisterhood in Trifles to show that while women have not always been friends, they stand in solidarity at times of crisis to defend their gender.
Analysis
Trifles is a dramatic story about murder, but as it develops, issues of domestic violence, especially against women emerge. A typical Midwestern farmer, John Wright, is found lying dead on his bed. The investigating officer is convinced that Mrs. Wright, the dead farmers wife, is responsible for the murder because she gives a flimsy explanation that someone sneaked into their bed at night and strangled her husband while she lay by his side and she did not notice the incident until morning. By the time the play starts, Mrs. Wright is already in jail and three men, a neighbor (Lewis Hale) who found Wrights corpse, a local sheriff (Henry Peters), and county attorney (George Henderson), arrive to investigate the scene of the crime. They are accompanied by two women, Mrs. Hale, Mrs. Wrights longtime friend, and Mrs. Peters, wife to the local sheriff. The men have a sexist attitude, and they complain that women are obsessed with trifles, and they cannot find any evidence to line Mrs. Wright to the murder of her husband.
However, the two women in the murder scene, due to their obsession with trifles, manage to uncover evidence implicating Mrs. Wright in the murder. In the process of collecting items for Mrs. Wright, they come across an empty birdcage and eventually discover the dead bird carefully placed in the suspects sewing basket. It appears that the bird has been strangled the same way as Mr. Wright, which is a clear indication that the victim killed the bird, and in retaliation, the wife killed him. This incriminating evidence is strong and it can be used to convict Mrs. Wright. However, the women decide to hide it.
From the play, it is clear that women have not always been friends. Mrs. Hale is a longtime friend to Mrs. Wright, having known her even before she married Mr. Wright. In the play, Mrs. Hale reminisces how her friend, Mrs. Wright, was a happy woman before she was married. However, she indicates that despite knowing that Mrs. Wright was having problems with her marriage, she had not visited her for a long time. This confession is a clear indication that while the two were friends, they were not very close. True friendship requires the involved people to remain in contact by knowing what is happening in the other partys lives and rendering help where necessary. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Wright fall short of this threshold. Mrs. Hale knows that her friend is unhappy, but she does not make the effort to visit and stand with her or offer any other form of help. Therefore, it suffices to argue that women have not always been friends. However, when the occasion presents to defend one another in the face of chauvinism, they are prepared to stand in solidarity.
The discovery of a dead bird implies carefully tucked in Mrs. Wrights sewing bag is a clear indication that she did not kill it. Therefore, there is a high probability that Mr. Wright killed the bird. This understanding is used symbolically to underscore gender violence, especially towards women, where they suffer in silence. The two women can identify with Mrs. Wrights suffering, which explains why they choose to hide the evidence that could incriminate her. According to Alkalay-Gut,
The women here realize, through their involvement in the murder investigation, that only by joining together can they, isolated and insignificant in their society, obtain for themselves and extend to others the support and sympathy that will help them endure the loneliness and unceasing labor required of them (p. 1).
In other words, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters perhaps know the pain of being a woman in an abusive relationship, hence the reason why they decide to conceal the evidence. This act has nothing to do with friendship, but everything to do with standing in solidarity with sisterhood in defense of the female gender. This assertion holds given that, Mrs. Peters does not even know Mrs. Wright in person. They have never met in their lives, but she can identify with her pain and support her course. Mrs. Peters relates to the suffering of seeing something close to ones heart is taken away. She says, When I was a girl my kitten there was a boy who took a hatchet, and before my eyes and before I could get there If they hadnt held me back I would have hurt him (Glaspell, p. 8). Mrs. Peters is speaking metaphorically about her kitten she is talking about domestic violence, which is similar to what Mrs. Wright has been going through.
Therefore, the two women in this play remain loyal to sisterhood even to the point of risking their lives with jail time should their actions be uncovered. They are willing to break the law to defend one of their own in what Shih calls the importance of women bonding (p. 244). It should be noted that Mrs. Peters is the wife to the sheriff investigating this murder, and thus she chooses loyalty to sisterhood over her husband.
Conclusion
Trifles highlights the theme of sisterhood by showing the lengths that women are willing to go in defense of their gender. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters can relate to Mrs. Wrights pain and suffering in an abusive relationship. This aspect explains why they decide to hide the evidence that could incriminate Mrs. Wright in a patriarchal court of law. They are ready to pay the price by supporting their gender by their lives, to the point of breaking the law and abetting murder. While the play does not clarify whether Mrs. Wright is ultimately acquitted or indicted, Glaspell achieves her objective of showing that, while women might not be friends, they are willing to stand in solidarity in defense of their gender.
Works Cited
Alkalay-Gut, Karen. Jury of Her Peers: The Importance of Trifles. Studies in Short Fiction, vol. 21, no.1, 1984, pp. 1-10.
There has been a significant change regarding the position that women held in the 19th century and the present-day community. This shift is apparent not only in America but also everywhere around the globe. Susan Glaspells play, Trifles, which forms the basis of this paper, reveals the extent to which men in the traditional society treated their female counterparts as insignificant beings. Women could not make independent decisions pertaining to national and community developments. As it will be revealed in this study, they were considered inferior individuals whose contribution was almost insignificant and, consequently, meaningless, as suggested in the title of the play, Trifles. However, Glaspell depicts women as fighting against gender roles, which do not allow them to demonstrate their potential that they are capable of handling technical tasks such as forensic data gathering.
Roles of Men and Women in Trifles
Women as Housekeepers
Glaspells masterpiece begins by portraying the pathetic nature of John Wright and his wifes backyard. Their home appears as if it has been neglected for a while. In particular, the kitchen is poorly arranged to the extent that unclean utensils are scattered everywhere, including uncooked food items and a filthy towel, which are left on the table. It is crucial to point out that either John or his wife, Minnie Wright, has to be held responsible for this messy kitchen. As the scene unfolds, Wright takes the blame for leaving her house unattended to (Levin 29). In fact, when Henry Peters requests Johns neighbor, Lewis Hale, to comment on Wrights home, Peters interrupts by stating that nobody has bothered to gather, relocate, or attempt to clean all dirty items in this kitchen since he last visited the couple.
Although Peters does not indicate directly that Minnie Wright was not doing her house duties well as expected by the society, George Henderson does not hesitate when referring to Mrs. Wright as an irresponsible house manager. Concerning John Wrights home, Henderson asserts, Its not cheerful. I shouldnt say she had the homemaking instinct (Glaspell 1031). Such comments reveal womens roles in ancient societies. Men expected their female counterparts to ensure neatness in their houses in addition to cooking for their husbands and children (Levin 29). Glaspells strategy of using the kitchen where cooking normally takes place can be used to substantiate this claim.
Men as Key Decision-Makers
Susan Glaspell presents men as decision-makers who are supposed to investigate and make rulings regarding womens issues or other matters concerning the community (Sutton 173). When the County Attorney and Henry Peters visit this abandoned home escorted by their wives with a view to finding out the root behind John Wrights death, they command their spouses to go to Minnie Wrights kitchen instead of involving them fully in the murder investigation process (Black 100). To Henderson and Peters, women can only perform well when doing kitchen work and other insignificant house affairs while men handle sensitive matters related to the community as a whole.
In the current scenario, when collecting evidence regarding the murder of John Wright, the County Attorney and Peters allocate women the task to investigate the kitchen because they see it as a place meant for inferior people who handle less important functions. However, Mrs. Hale is not pleased with mens idea of leaving them out of important decision-making processes. She insists, our takin up our time with little things while were waiting for them to get the evidence. [&] I dont see as its anything to laugh about (Glaspell 75-77). They seem concerned that men have always ignored them when dealing with sensitive family matters, regardless of whether or not they are directly affected such as Mrs. Wright.
However, as it later emerges, womens concerted efforts to assemble details, including the empty birdcage, the sewing machine, and the dead animal hidden in this stitching box, influence the final decision made by men. Their findings help in identifying the root of John Wrights murder, which happens to have been caused by his wife (Hilton 147). Glaspell depicts some women as having learned to accept their roles as house managers whose contribution to mens decision-making affairs never count. For instance, in a dialogue with Mrs. Peters, Mrs. Hale states, Id hate to have men coming into my kitchen, snooping around and criticizing (Glaspell 983), meaning that she is comfortable with being excluded from other matters that have no bearing on housekeeping, cooking, and dishwashing.
Gender Roles Followed or Fought Against
As earlier indicated, the ancient American society gave men the power to control their female colleagues who they regarded as inferior and unable to handle technical functions (Keyes 214). For instance, when collecting information to help in investigating the death of John Wright, they take charge of this situation because they view it as involving search procedures that are beyond womens scope of duties. They even dictate where the involved female colleagues should go to look for this information (Mulry 293). Glaspell strategically fights against mens authoritative roles that depict women as incompetent people.
Despite being authorized to only restrict their search process to the kitchen where meaningless things take place, the author confirms that men may not perform optimally or make well-informed decisions without considering womens input. Ironically, efforts by Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale end up producing the much-awaited information regarding the cause of John Wrights death (Mulry 293). Their male colleagues appear astonished by the fact that women have managed to collect helpful forensic evidence, despite being unsupervised or told what to check in the kitchen. In particular, when men are seated waiting for women to present their findings, they do not expect any meaningful data. However, the unanticipated results make them change their perceptions of women in the society.
The idea of letting women do their duties unsupervised should be followed. Specifically, the County Attorney asserts, No, Mrs. Peters does not need supervising&For that matter a sheriffs wife is married to the law (989). This statement reveals mens awareness that women have always fought against such unfounded roles, which degrade them, despite their capacity to do perfect things independently. However, although females protest mens belittlement of their capabilities, Glaspell emphasizes the need for them to always view men as heads of families who agree that they may not achieve much without their input. In fact, the County Attorney asks, what would we do without the ladies? (Glaspell 982). Women are depicted helping men in case of need as indicated in the murder investigation process whereby they accompany their spouses to gather evidence.
Conclusion
In the ancient American society, womens duties were restricted to the house. In this setting, they were expected to wash dishes, take care of their spouses and young ones by cooking and doing laundry work, and give birth to as many children as possible. However, in the contemporary society, women have broken this norm by being incorporated into jobs and positions, which were earlier meant for men. Some of them went ahead to publish scholarly works that have attracted the attention of the global audience due to the critical message they convey regarding their capacity to work competently just like their male counterparts. This paper has focused on Susan Glaspells play, Trifles, which presents various roles played by men and women, including gender expectations, in the ancient American culture.
Works Cited
Black, Cheryl. Susan Glaspell: The Complete Plays. Comparative Drama, vol. 46, no. 1, 2012, pp. 99-102.
Hilton, Leon. Trifles, by Susan Glaspell. Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory, vol. 21, no. 1, 2011, pp. 147-149.
Keyes, Carl R. Masculinity, Power, and Political Activity in Early America. Early American Literature, vol. 48, no. 1, 2013, pp. 213-230.
Levin, Amy. Speaking of Freedom: U.S. Multicultural Literature and Human Rights Talk in an Emerging Democracy. Radical Teacher, no. 101, 2015, pp. 25-31.
Mulry, David. In the Presence of a Domestic Drama : Susan Glaspells Debt to Joseph Conrads the Secret Agent. The Explicator, vol. 72, no. 4, 2014, pp. 293-296.
Sutton, Brian. A Different Kind of the Same Thing : Marie de Frances Laüstic and Glaspells Trifles. The Explicator, vol. 66, no. 3, 2008, pp. 170-174.
Written by Susan Glaspell, Trifles is a play, based on a true occurrence in Iowa. The author focuses on the development of the both the minor and major characters. Through the development of the characters, Glaspell vividly describes their stereotypes.
In Glaspell’s play, Minnie Wright exhibits the role of a round character. During her youth days, she is always a happy, cheerful, and social songstress. Additionally, her wardrobe consists of bright colored clothes that made her outstanding among other girls. Unfortunately, after Mr. Wright married her, she drastically changed her behavior. Mrs. Hale describes her as “sweet, pretty, timid and fluttery but all the characters disappeared after marriage” (Glaspell Para. 5).
On the other hand, Minnie’s husband is tyrannical, abrasive, domineering and aweless, a fact that Minnie respects during her thirty years of marriage. However, from the blues, Mr. Wright dies or killed at night depending on one’s perspective. Surprisingly, Minnie confesses that someone strangled her husband without her noticing. Unfortunately, the Sheriff and the attorney disapprove her claims and choose to imprison her as the prime suspect. After critical investigations, the law convicts her of murder.
Minnie has a dynamic character that makes her to adapt to the prevailing situation. Although she is submissive to her husband, she turns a murderer after tolerating her husband’s unbecoming behavior. One moment of rage and bitterness from her husband is enough to kill him and this ability o change depending on the prevailing situation underscores roundness in character development.
John Wright is a powerful, rough and crude husband; he turns his cheerful wife to a sad and antisocial woman. However, one day his wife strangles him with a rope killing him instantly. The roundness in Mr. Wright’s character comes out clearly given the fact that at one point he is strong, abrasive and ‘masculine’ but she dies in the hands of one considered weak. Therefore, in essence, Mr. Wright changes from a strong character to a weak one and this defines the roundness of his character.
On the other hand, George Henderson; the county attorney, represents one of the flat characters; characters who remain rigid throughout a story; no change of thought or persona. During the murder of Mr. Wright, he comes to the scene to carry out an investigation. He is a tough and bully but dismisses the kitchen as a source of evidence of the murder. Ironically, he concentrates in the bedroom and barn places which belong to men.
Although he convicts Mrs. Wright as the murder, he is unable to discover solid evidences apparently evident in the kitchen. His character is stagnant he neither changes his behavior nor listens to women. Similarly, Henry Peters is a Sheriff who accompanies the attorney in the murder investigation.
However, just like Henry, he overlooks some of the important places that might give evidence about the murder case. Additionally, his contemptuous nature comes into limelight when he kicks some items in the house disapproving them as source of evidence. He concentrates in the bedroom to search for evidence and his rigidness passes him for a flat character.
There is a high degree of gender and culture stereotyping in the play. Mr. Wright follows the society culture of being domineering especially to women. The role of women is in the kitchen and they are not supposed to talk before men. Mrs. Wright ends up losing her happiness and cheerful nature because she is a submissive woman. On the other hand, the sheriff and attorney do not involve the women in the murder cases.
They dismiss a woman’s place like the kitchen and concentrate in the bedroom. Similarly, Clarkson observes that women like Mrs. Hale remain silent when they discover the box-containing evidence because the society demands such of them (286). In summary, Mr. and Mrs. Wright are the round characters in the play; their characters are dynamic hence changes depending on the situation at Hand. On the other hand, the flat characters include the law enforcers and Mr. Hale.
Works Cited
Clarkson, Suzy. “Silent Justice in a Different Key: Glaspell’s Trifles.” The MidwestQuarterly 44.6 (2003): 282-290.
The differences in women and men’s perceptions of themselves and each other are discussed in Susan Glaspell’s one-act play “Trifles” (1916) where the author focuses on the problem with references to the aspects of gender. The social opposition of women and men is represented in the play with the help of describing the differences in the female and male vision of the world processes and social development.
As a result, the play can be considered as the ironical discussion of the prejudiced viewpoints related to the roles of men and women within the society. In spite of the fact that men and women play equal roles as the protagonists of the play, it is necessary to analyze the viewpoint of men about the described situations because it is necessary to compare the socially adopted visions of the male roles with the biased visions of the gender roles.
Thus, it is important to state that the viewpoint of men in Glaspell’s “Trifles” is correlated with the patriarchal principles of the society observed in the early part of the twentieth century because the male characters are inclined to discuss their actions as right and logical and women’s actions and considerations as only ‘trifles’.
Glaspell describes the male characters as full of dignity and as concentrated on the really important issues because they came to the house of Mr. Wright to perform their duty and professional tasks. That is why the men’s actions are associated with logic and reasoning (Gainor 45). On the contrary, the female characters are perceived by men as focused on secondary tasks because they cannot be really useful for the society.
Thus, women’s main task is to be housewives, and they should perform it well. From this perspective, the men’s viewpoint about the things which are important for women is described in one phrase said by Mr. Hale who states that “women are used to worrying over trifles” (Glaspell 38). The important things and tasks can be done and performed only by men because they are the core of the patriarchal society oriented to success and progress.
The author draws the audiences’ attention to the fact that there are two opposite visions in society about the distribution of gender roles and tasks. Providing the parallel narratives of female and male characters, Glaspell helps the audience concentrate on the men’s ideas without references to the women’s ones.
That is why it becomes more clear that men see women only in their relation to men because men play more important roles in society (Belasco 782; Glaspell 39-40).
As a result, it is possible to state that male characters in the play are inclined to develop their conclusions about the people’s roles, referring to the discussion of strict gender roles. Even if men state that all people are equal, they also state that men are more important than women for society’s progress because their actions are based on the reason.
In her play “Trifles,” Susan Glaspell draws the public’s attention to the fact that the rules to live in the society are developed by men, and they are inclined to criticize women because of their less important role.
These critical ideas and messages can be rough or light as it is represented in the discussion of ‘trifles,’ but these critical notes are observed in society. That is why it is necessary to discuss the problem of gender and different perceptions of women and men.
Works Cited
Belasco, Susan. The Bedford Anthology of American Literature. USA: Bedford-St. Martin’s Press, 2008. Print.
Gainor, Ellen. Susan Glaspell in Context: American Theater, Culture, and Politics, 1915-48. USA: University of Michigan Press, 2003. Print.
Glaspell, Susan. Plays by Susan Glaspell. USA: Cambridge University Press, 1987. Print.
“Trifles,” by Susan Glaspell, is a story about how a woman breaks down emotionally at the death of her husband. However, from the story itself, we come to know that both Mr. and Mrs. Wright never had a healthy relationship. Mr. Wright’s company for his wife was like that of “a raw wind that gets to the bone.” (Glaspell, 1916) Actually, for Mrs. Wright, the canary bird meant a lot as she had no children or anyone else. Henceforth if it is considered that she killed the bird or even her husband, then it is too difficult to accept. From the story, we know that she is very cold and has not very much activity to do for her. Being such a kind of woman murdering is beyond any thoughts. However, the existence of the canary is itself a mystery as no one can guarantee that anyone has actually seen the bird at all. Thus, the canary appears to be a metaphor for the inner-self of Mrs. Wright.
The empty cage can well signify the nature of aloofness that occupied the mind of Mrs. Wright in the absence of any children. Mrs. Hale stated, “Not having children does less work–but it makes a quiet house, and Wright out to work all day, and no company when he did come in.” (Glaspell, 1916) Thus, she was alone, and in her deep melancholy, she uses to find herself extremely alone in the world with no one to care for her or her to care for. The relation with her husband was cold. Therefore, the only person who could provide her with solace in this condition was absent from her emotional self. This made her aligned with the canary cage that could have a dweller but never had one.
Mrs. Hale never saw the bird. She only assumed that there was a bird in the cage. According to her, “Why, I don’t know whether she did or not–I’ve not been here for so long. There was a man around last year selling canaries cheap, but I don’t know as she took one; maybe she did. She used to sing real pretty herself.” (Glaspell, 1916) That assumption was the maximum evidence possible in order to establish the existence of the bird.
As a bird, the canary is associated with joy and brightness. The predominant yellow signifies life in its most vibrant form. The light of the sun and the warmth within is also yellow, as often seen on the canvas of Van Gough. This light and warmth were missing from the life of Mrs. Wright. Nevertheless, as light is important for life, so is warmth. Mrs. Wright had none. So, she placed an empty cage and deemed it to be the cage of a vibrant, lively bird. This is an existence that she longed for thus complemented the melancholy through imagination.
In conclusion, it should be stated that the author presented the play in an apparent ‘who done it’ mode, but the main significance of the play is the basic theme presented in it. This theme is the loneliness and lifelessness of a woman and her struggle of coming out of this loveless situation. This entire scenario is well formulated in the form of the canary and its empty cage. The canary is a metaphor by itself, and it symbolized the empty existence of Mrs. Wright.
Trifles, a play written by Susan Glaspell, is one of the most famous works of literature published in the United States. It touches sensitive issues which are burning for the American society, particularly during her life time.
The play is a one-act piece, and seeks to illustrate woman’s sorrow when the main character is trapped in a relationship with her husband. Susan Glaspell also tries to present the nature of woman’s intelligence. On the other hand, the play, Trifles, depicts men as insensitive and judgmental. Prejudice prevents them from making the right decisions in their quest to resolve a case of the murder (Mael 21).
Eventually, the women determine the course of the investigation by concealing the evidence that can incriminate a fellow woman. They understand the suspect’s situation and circumstances under which she might have committed that crime and killed her husband. Through the drama, it is possible to see the attitude of the author to the issue as well as her views since her literature presents her feelings and her opinion on the sensitive social matters (Smith 36).
Susan Keating Glaspell’s background
Susan Keating Glaspell was born on July 1, 1876, and died the same month 72 years later. By the time of her death, she became a well-known poet, a novelist, a playwright, and a screenplay director who won many prizes. It is evident that Susan Glaspell’s plays and novels have a deep meaning and sympathetic characters that many people thought to be a result of her personal life experiences (Makowsky 45).
Apart from Trifles, she also wrote A Jury of Her Peers, which is known to have some feminine inclination. During her early years as a writer, she wrote and published a fiction called For the Love of the Hills in a journal and received a critical acclaim from many media houses. Ladies Home Journal and Women’s Home Companion were among some of the magazines that praised her. (Makowsky, 321)
Susan Glaspell grew up with two brothers, and when she was younger, she accompanied her father who sold hay and animal feed for a living. At a tender age, she gained a significant experience in farms and the farming culture. (Ben-Zvi, 211). Later she explored farming in her fictional works as an adult.
Having grown up as the only girl in the family and having spent her childhood on the farm, Susan knew the many challenges women faced, either in their matrimonial homes or in the society. This explains why most of her works were deeply sympathetic to the feminine gender. In addition, her experience on the family farm as well as the farms she visited with her father is also reflected in her works.
As seen in the play Trifles, Susan was a devout feminist and always pointed out the problems women faced. According to the play, Mrs. Wright acted in anger, directed not just to her husband in particular, but to all the males in general. Her husband, Cook, stole her life away from her. It was also a man who killed her only companion when he had failed to be there for her. (Alkaley-Gut 612).
The family setting
Glaspell used Trifles to express her view on women in an average family setting. She was a feminist who tried to present a radical view on women in her plays and books. While married, she was the major income earner, not her husband, Cook. She took this responsibility for all those years that she lived with Cook. However, the events in the play seem to illustrate the course of her life. In the play, after the crime has been committed, strange circumstances surround the case.
There is no apparent motive for the murder. However, due to Mrs. Wright’s reserved nature and her denial of knowing anything, she is arrested for the murder. On the other hand, Glaspell lost her husband in 1924 (Alkaley-Gut 25). However, he was not murdered. In addition, there were no severe differences between Glaspell and her husband since they were still together. On the other hand, Mrs. Wright, the main character in the play, has been leading a sad life with her husband until he has been eventually murdered.
Glaspell’s feminism
Susan Glaspell contrasted men and women in her plays. Women are presented as sympathetic and emotional as compared to men. On the other hand, men are presented as objective and cold-blooded in their conduct. However, women are only sympathetic to one of their own. Mrs. Hale claims to have known Mrs. Wright since she was a girl.
She recalls her observation of the singing talent in Mrs. Wright. She also regrets that she has not visited Mrs. Wright for a long time. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale are worried about Mrs. Wright’s preserves, despite the fact that she is already in jail and probably about to face murder charges.
Men’s insensitivity
All men in the play are presented as unemotional and objective. When Mr. Hale is asked to give his account of the incident, he describes how he and Harry arrived at Mr. Wright’s house and got a cold reception by his wife. She reluctantly responded to his queries by telling him that Mr. Wright was dead. She was knitting a garment and apparently unperturbed by the death of her husband. After they confirmed that Mr. Wright was dead, they also noticed that he had been strangled.
Mrs. Wright denied o being aware of who was her husband’s murderer, and this implied that she could have killed him herself. Consequently, the men acted objectively by reporting the incident to the authorities. The sheriff and the county attorney portrayed men’s insensitivity when they were inspecting the house. They laughed at the fact that the women were more concerned with jars and clothing rather than the circumstances of the murder.
Women have little sympathy for Mr. Wright, despite the fact that he was murdered. They describe him as an insensitive man. They do not want to accept the possibility that Mrs. Wright could be guilty of the murder. This seems to be an effort by Susan Glaspell to present the nature of women’s interpretation of situation. Women are more concerned with the plight of people that are alive at that moment.
This is why Mrs. Wright’s predicament appeals to their emotions. Susan Glaspell was a feminist, and her feminist stance is further exemplified in her portrayal of women’s intelligence in case when Mr. Peters, the sheriff, and Mr. Henderson, the county attorney, are investigating the murder. They move all over the house. They are convinced that Mrs. Peters is the murderer. The only remaining piece of evidence is the motive behind the murder.
The men do not consider the possibility that Mrs. Wright might have been in a psychological distress. Consequently, the sheriff and the county attorney miss all the important pieces of evidence.
On the other hand, the women do not move much. This is an effort by the author to express the docile nature of feminism. They uncover compelling evidence without having to score the house. Feminism is portrayed as a superior characteristic as compared to masculinity. Throughout her life, Glaspell remained true to her view regarding feminism
Allusion to Glaspell’s life
The drama, Trifles, slightly alludes to Susan Glaspell’s life. She was born in a relatively rural setting. This is portrayed in the characters of the play as Mr. and Mrs. Wright’s neighbor, Mr. Hale, is a farmer. This means that the neighborhood is obviously located in a rural setting.
There are as well other instances that refer to her life albeit with a slight difference. Although her life was not as sad as that of Mrs. Wright, she drew a parallel between Mrs. Wright and herself. Just as Susan formed a drama group in her youth, Mrs. Wright sings in a choir in her youth too. However, her talent is not exploited due to the life led with her husband. It is apparent that her marriage has a significant influence on her talent.
Susan’s first husband, George Cook, was a farmer. He had a passion for literature, and did farming as a means of earning an income (Fetterley 74).
He adopted this lifestyle since he believed that creative writing should not have been done for financial gain. In several screenplays for Trifles, Susan would play the part of Mrs. Hale, the wife of the farmer. This shows that Susan Glaspell could relate her life to the plot of the play. She pictured herself as a part of the female gender suppressed by the males due to the women’s seemingly passive nature.
The literature was Susan Glaspell’s way of expression, as seen in the play. All men in the play look down on women. They agree that Minnie Foster is not a good housekeeper (Bigsby 54). This is an assumption based on the dirty utensils found in the house, the dirty garments and a table that is halfway cleaned. County attorney and the sheriff do not consider the contribution of Mr. Wright to the situation in the house.
Apart from several instances in the play that have allusion to Susan’s experiences in her life, the whole play also alludes to a real life incident. When Susan became a reporter for a newspaper, she was required to report on a sensational murder case for the daily. She created the play in the perspective of the case she had reported. The part of the play where Harry confirmed that Mr. Wright was dead can be directly related to the murder case she had investigated.
The play, Trifles, revolves around the role of women in the society and oppression of females by men (Mael 12). The sheriff and the county attorney do not adequately engage the two women in their investigation. In addition, women are likened to imprisoned people who eventually end up in a bad situation.
Mrs. Wright led a sad life with her husband and was finally imprisoned on suspicion of murdering her husband. Like the bird she kept, she spent her life in a cage until she was eventually killed. Susan Glaspell had a similar experience where she had a troubled marriage and eventually lost he husband. This is all a part of the author’s feminist agenda (Mael 4). Her plays are aimed at sensitizing the female audience of their situation.
Furthermore, she encourages women to take action and fight for their rights and equality. This is why the women in the play control the course of the investigation and eventually decide to pardon Mrs. Wright on their own terms (Bigsby 38). During Susan’s time, women were not allowed to sit in the jury since they were considered unfit to give a sound judgment. For this reason, Glaspell decided to urge women to struggle for their involvement in such matters.
Conclusion
Clearly, Glaspell was influenced by the course and experiences of her life to write her play, Trifles. Most of the characters in the play correspond to real life characters. For example, her husband, Cook, corresponds to Mr. Wright, an honest but unemotional person as Glaspell’s husband was also honest and cooperative.
He helped Susan to build her career and become a prominent writer and playwright. However, the couple had constant differences in their views on life, so Cook decided to start a new career away form Glaspell’s drama activities. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Wright represent different phases and situations in Susan’s life. Her appearance is similar to that of Mrs. Wright regarding dressing and vigor. Such biographical aspects of the play Trifles are also evident in other works by Susan Glaspell.
Works Cited
Alkaley-Gut, Karen. Jury of Her Peers: The Importance of Trifles. 2002. PDF File. Web.
Ben-Zvi, Linda. “‘Murder, She Wrote’: The Genesis of Susan Glaspell’s Trifles.” Theatre Journal 44.2(1992): 141-162. Print.
Bigsby, C. W. E. A Critical Introduction to Twentieth-Century American Drama. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1982. Print.
Fetterley, Judith. Provisions: A Reader from 19th–Century American Women Writers. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985. Print.
Mael, Phyllis. “”Trifles”: The Path to Sisterhood.” Literature/Film Quarterly 17.4 (1989): 281-84. Print.
Makowsky, Veronica A. Susan Glaspell’s Century of American Women: A Critical Interpretation of Her Work. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993. Print.
Smith, Beverly A. “Women’s Work – “Trifles”: The Skill and Insights of Playwright Susan Glaspell”. International Journal of Women’s Studies 5.2 (1982): 172-–84. Print.
Susan Glaspell’s play Trifles (1916) is based on the real-life criminal story about the woman accused of killing her husband. In spite of the fact that the play is constructed as the detective story, the main play’s idea is in presenting the realities of the American society in the early part of the 20th century. In her provocative play, Glaspell discusses the story of analyzing the murder of Mr. Wright from the female and male points of view.
Thus, John Wright was killed at night, and now it is necessary to conclude whether Mrs. Wright killed her husband or the farmer was killed by the other person (Glaspell 982-983). In this play, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, as well as Mrs. Wright who is never presented on stage, can be discussed as the main female characters because their actions change the story’s ending.
Although women in Trifles combine their efforts to protect Mrs. Wright, the female characters depicted in the play can be discussed as hopeless because these women are ruled by the desire to state their social position among men; furthermore, Mrs. Wright has to kill her husband in order to protect herself in the patriarchal society; and the female characters have to hide the evidence in order to oppose the social injustice in relation to the issue of gender and distribution of social roles.
Despite the fact that Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale are portrayed in the play as rather decisive women, these females are hopeless due to the years of experiencing discrimination in their families and in the society. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale are portrayed as suffering from many disparaging discussions of their positions and roles in the society. Thus, discussing the female roles and thoughts, the men depicted in the play state that “women are used to worrying over trifles” (Glaspell 982).
The audience can guess that now Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale are rather hopeless, and their actions are caused only by one desire which is to emphasize their unique social position among men. The women’s role in the American society of the early part of the 1900s is shaped only by social conventions, and this situation makes hopeless women find different, even risky ways to change the situation.
The female characters presented in Trifles are hopeless because the unjust situation observed in the American society makes them focus on any ways to cope with the situation. Thus, Mrs. Wright can kill her husband because of the impossibility to overcome the obstacles of living in the traditional American society where men can be discussed as the only dominated force.
Referring to this detail, it is possible to discuss the play Trifles as the “realistic portrait of women’s lives in patriarchal society” (Goodman 191). Therefore, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale are inclined to sympathize with Mrs. Wright and understand her act because each of them knows the details of living in the society dominated by men.
As a result, the female characters’ hopelessness even makes them violate the traditional principles of morality and hide the evidence which can be used against Mrs. Wright who is discussed as the murder of her husband. From this point, the female characters represented in the play are hopeless, but they are rather strong. It is important to pay attention to the fact that Ben-Zvi states in her work: “Women killing somebody else, especially when that somebody is male, has fascinated criminologists, lawyers, psychologists, and writers.
Fascinated and frightened them” (Ben-Zvi 141). Focusing on Ben-Zvi’s statement, it is important to note that hopelessness experienced by many women in the patriarchal society affected their dramatic choices to accentuate their power.
Focusing on finding the evidence to state Mrs. Wright’s guilt, the female characters concentrate on a lot of features and details which make them think that the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Wright was not happy, and Mrs. Wright had many reasons to kill her husband (Glaspell 983). Thus, it is possible to assume that Mrs. Wright lost her hope for the better future in relation to her family life.
In spite of the fact that the audience can hope that Mrs. Wright is able to avoid being accused of her husband’s murder, many female characters presented in Susan Glaspell’s play Trifles should be discussed as hopeless because of their impossibility to change the social situation for better.
That is why, hopelessness can be considered as the main explanation to the female characters’ judgment of Mrs. Wright’s behavior and to their women’s further focus on hiding the evidence. Those women who are depicted in the play can also be discussed as ruled by their anxiety in relation to such ‘trifles’ as their social position.
From this point, the idea of hopelessness serves as the effective explanation to the discussion of the women’s actions described in the play. In this case, the story of Mrs. Wright’s choice is rather typical for the patriarchal society of the early 1900s.
Works Cited
Ben-Zvi, Linda. “‘Murder, She Wrote’: The Genesis of Susan Glaspell’s “Trifles”. Theatre Journal 44.2 (1992): 141–162. Print.