Stereotypes are preconceived notions of other people based on the color of their skin, their gender, their age, or any number of other factors. They are based on general characteristics of a particular group of people such as ‘all Jews are stingy’ or ‘all women belong in the home.’ In short stories, authors frequently exploit these stereotypical concepts to illustrate a point. This can be seen in Susan Glaspell’s short story “Trifles” as the women are overlooked despite the fact that they have solved the mystery of Mr. Wright’s murder.
As Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale set to work gathering a few things for Mrs. Wright’s comfort in prison as she awaits investigation and trial following her husband’s death, in bed by strangulation with a noose around his neck, they begin to piece together the puzzle of this mysterious murder. The men laugh about the ‘trifles’ that the women are concerned with – Mrs. Wright at the prison worried about her preserves breaking in the cold and the two women in the kitchen noticing the quilt work Mrs. Wright had been working on – however, it is these trifles that tell the story of what happened. Because they are women, the men automatically assume that they are incapable of understanding the gravity of what has occurred just as the men have apparently ignored the possibility that it was Mrs. Wright who killed her husband.
While the men search for a motive, the women find Mrs. Wright’s quilting blocks and discover all the evidence the men need, not that they’re willing to point it out: “Here, this is the one she was working on, and look at the sewing! All the rest of it has been so nice and even. And look at this! It’s all over the place! Why it looks as if she didn’t know what she was about!” Tucked deep inside the basket is a fancy box intended for scissors, but instead holds the body of a small canary with its head twisted around backward. As the women discuss the clues, they realize “Wright wouldn’t like the bird – a thing that sang. She used to sing. He killed that, too.” Although the women realize that a crime must be punished and that Mrs. Wright must have been driven mad by the harsh treatment of her husband, between them there is an almost unspoken agreement that Wright’s harsh treatment of his wife, keeping her in isolation and silence, was also a crime that deserved punishment and keeps the knowledge of what they know to themselves.
While stereotypes suggest that the women are unintelligent, incapable of being interested in weightier matters than the ‘trifles’ they are overheard discussing by the men, Glaspell illustrates how it is in these very details that the women, not the men, are able to solve the crime. Had the men not been so willing to believe in the submissiveness and general quiet nature of women that is suggested in these stereotypes, they might have realized some of the facts that the women were able to discern. The women, aware of how Mrs. Wright’s actions would upset these stereotypes and thus cause the community to think of her as ‘unnatural’, decide to keep their knowledge to themselves because they are able to understand how Mrs. Wright felt.
Trifles is an intriguing crime drama involving John Hossack’s murder. Susan Glasspel was a lead journalist following up on the case in a quest to get justice for John. Margret reported to the police that a stranger broke into their house and killed her husband using an axe. However, she failed to explain why a stranger entered without breaking the door. In the process, she was arrested and charged with murder. Susan was an investigative journalist and prepared twenty-six different stories on the case. The social challenges caused by patriarchy became evident during the investigation, hearing, and determination of the case. The female officers protected the key suspect because they shared similar societal tribulations. When the corps visited the house to find evidence, the men rushed upstairs but did not find any evidence. However, the female officers, Mrs. Hale and Peters, remained in the living room after finding the pet’s lifeless body, a lead to unveil the mystery in the case (Saei Dibavar 7). The patriarchal system is the main cause of domestic violence because the oppressed women are likely to group and fight a common course of equality, dignity and respect.
Historical Criticism
Glaspell wrote the Trifles during a period when patriarchy was the main social system. Men were considered to hold the predominant power and made all the decisions in the families. On the other hand, the women were stationed at home and had little or no input on major matters that affected the families (Saei Dibavar 5). The social norms and gender-based roles created a rift between men and women in the society. Men had the right to own property, attend school, and treat women as objects of pleasure.
Women were constrained at home to take care of children and perform all the household chores. As the corps visited the house for evidence, the female officers followed their instincts and started investigating how the couple lived. They discovered that John Hossack was not in good terms with his wife and often mistreated her (Guswanto and Husna 21). They found Margaret’s favorite pet dead and concluded that she killed John to avenge the pet’s death. The women investigated the couple’s way of life because they understood that domestic violence is commonly caused by mistreatment. Hiding evidence insinuates that the women believed that John Hossack got what he deserved for mistreating his wife.
Causes of Domestic Violence: Social Oppression
Families in patriarchal societies oppressed women by depriving them of the right to education, work, and self-development. Those who got the chance to work did it on a meagre pay and did not last long. Further, women were supposed to stay home to take care of the children and other elder members of the family who required care. Additionally, the lack of the right to make decisions made women feel inferior, making them unite for liberation. The female investigators suspected that the murder resulted from social oppression. The murder was a reflex action after the woman had suffered in the hands of her husband. It is imperative to note that when the play was produced, feminist movements had started, and women believed in equal rights.
Since many women were empowered and encouraged to support each other, they hid the only evidence that could have led to Margret’s conviction. The rise of the feminist movement motivated the action of the policewomen as they stood in solidarity with the culprit. When people are exposed to suffering by their leaders, they are likely to team up and fight the common enemy. For example, Margret killed her husband in a state of rage because the husband disregarded her and killed her pet. However, the fact that the women were undergoing similar suffering made the police corps hide the evidence.
As the officers investigated the relationship between John Hossack and his wife, they realized they were in two worlds. Both Margret and John Hossack lived together, the patriarchal beliefs led to poor treatment and relationship. Marriage is a social institution because it is the basis of families. A strong family is built when the people of the couple exist in the same “world” and do things together. The play was however written at a time when most women were fighting for equality due to oppression while men were struggling to maintain the status quo. In the discourse, life in different worlds makes couples have different thoughts, jeopardizing relationships. The contemporary couple must understand each other and live on their terms because adhering to patriarchy may separate them and make them achieve a happier family since John Hossack believed in the patriarchal system (Jawad 36). Margaret’s rage was justified because she was exposed to suffering as her husband did not give her the identity she deserved. Killing a person’s favorite pet is a sign of disregarding feelings and happiness. John Hossack’s murder resulted from mistreatment and exposing the woman to suffering.
Men’s Blindness
When the patriarchal system gave men the absolute power to make all societal decisions, they became blinded by power. The power that blinded them made them fail to realize that women need to be treated with respect (Tatton 7). When ‘oppression’ is the language used by the rulers, revolt will be the only way to respond to the suffering. John Hossack, for example, was blinded by the power to the extent of disregarding his wife’s feelings by killing her pet. Consequently, the action led to a reaction, and the man was killed. The action, therefore, signifies that women must always be respected regardless of the leadership system in society.
When women suffer as a result of the patriarchal system, they are likely to revolt. The domestic violence that claimed John Hossack’s life was motivated by men’s blindness because of their societal power (Jawad 35). Different cases of domestic violence are caused by gross misconduct and disregard for the partner’s happiness and emotional well-being. Marriages in the contemporary world can only be maintained when the partners are not blinded by the powers offered by the social institution (Boserup et al. 45). Instead, couples must learn about each other’s behaviors, hobbies, and likes then strive to fulfill them. John Hossack suffered death because his blindness to power made him forget the power of his wife.
Other than domestic violence, men’s blindness causes them to overlook important aspects for judgment. As the police entered John Hossack’s house to get the evidence, they went straight to where the body was laid. They never paid attention to the sitting room because they did not understand that women were suffering, and investigating the sitting room would give them a clue that the couple had a poor relationship. Failure to understand the women’s pains makes the male corps miss the evidence. In the contemporary corporate domain, discriminatory gender roles must be eliminated to ensure that men treat women with respect and dignity (Guswanto and Husna 33). What the police officers viewed as feminine concerns proved to be the most important evidence to apprehend the culprit. For example, the men dismissed feminine things like a pet and how others live but used the women to get strong evidence against Margaret. Justice was not served because the evidence was hidden by the women, who thought they shared similar predicaments as the suspect.
Legal Duty and the Gender Allegiance
The Trifles explains how the women abscond their legal duties as attorneys to gather evidence about the murder case. However, they feel more indebted to their fellow woman and they hid the tangible evidence. Since the women investigating the case decided to hide the evidence against Margaret and opt to lie, the patriarchal system has developed a big rift between the men and the women, leading to the conflict (Saei Dibavar 4). The patriarchal system is the key reason for domestic violence because it makes women suffer, and when they decide to respond, they are likely to cause chaos. Were it not for the rift caused by the societal system of patriarchy, the policewomen would not give the evidence against Margaret, and they stood with her, viewing it as a chance to save the woman who was suffering a similar fate as them (Glaspell 12). The women share social oppression and identify each other’s pain (Jawad 32). It is imperative to note that allegiance to gender became popular when the noble women started fighting for equality. As women fight for equality, they are prepared to go to any length to support their colleagues.
The Trifles is a crime drama where the audience expects to end with a conviction and the culprit punished. The justice system is confused, and what matters at the end of the play is how the women stand in solidarity with each other. The suffering endured by the women due to the patriarchal norms brings them together and prepares them for a revolt (Tatton 6). Whenever a man constantly mistreats a woman, there is a higher. Although most of the violent cases are perpetrated by men in contemporary society, constant oppression may make women stronger and lead a rebellion against men (Guswanto and Husna 28). The murder of John Hossack underscored the importance of better treatment in contemporary families because it shows how women can revolt and take drastic action against the most dominant force in the world.
Conclusion
The Trifles by Susan Glasspel shares a case of murder to prove the key cause of domestic violence. The patriarchal social system gave men absolute power and did not give any power to women. Instead, they were homemakers and were burdened with all the family duties. However, women’s suffering brought them together, and they vowed to protect each other (Glaspell 18). Even when they had to choose between their jobs and protecting their fellow women, they always chose the helping others. The investigation leading to John Hossack’s death helps analyze the cause of domestic violence and the challenges faced by families. Margret went to the extent of killing her husband because of her suffering at the hands of a patriarchal. The cases of domestic violence reported were majorly caused by the patriarchal system, which segregated the genders.
Works Cited
Boserup, Brad, Mark McKenney, and Adel Elkbuli. “Alarming trends in US domestic violence during the COVID-19 pandemic.” The American journal of emergency medicine vol. 38. no.12, 2020, pp. 27-53.
Glaspell, Susan. Trifles A Play in One Act. Frank Shay, 1916.
Guswanto, Doni, and Lailatul Husna. “Psychological conflict between men and women in Susan Glaspell’s Trifles.” Jurnal Ilmiah Langue and Parole. vol. 2, no. 2, 2019, pp. 26-35.
Jawad, Enas Jaafar. “The Dilemma of domestic violence in Susan Glaspell’s Trifles.” Journal of the College of Education for Women, vol. 31, no. 1, 2020, pp. 25–36.
Saei Dibavar, Sara, and Sanaz Saei Dibavar. “Privileged Empathy in Susan Glaspell’s Trifles.” ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews. 2022 pp. 1-7.
Tatton, Sarah. “Netflix’s Pamela, A Love Story Overturns Stereotypes about Victims of Intimate Partner Abuse.” The Conversation, 31 Jan. 2023, pp. 1–7.
The one-act play, Trifles, reflects feminist ideas and female wit, courage, and curiosity. The basic situation is that a man has been found strangled in his bed and his wife, Mrs. Wright, claims not to know who killed him. The play begins as the County Attorney and the Sheriff have come to investigate the murder and find the motive.
Thesis
To unveil emotions and feelings and undermine women’s psychology Glaspell uses stylistic devices and language means which support the narration and conflict resolution.
Irony
Irony helps Glaspell to unveil women’s right to suffrage and dramatize the situation. in the play, women act decisively in response to men’s condescension and sex-role stereotyping both at home and in courts of law. Remarkable for its conciseness and craft, Glaspell’s play depicts the considerable, even fatal consequences that occur when men do not take women seriously. Inflamed by the persistent insult to their sex, two ordinaries, otherwise conventional housewives lie by omission to ensure a helpless neighbor’s right to defend herself against her husband’s brutality (Maillakais 1996). Ironically, becoming “outlaws” by concealing criminal evidence seems the only way the principal female characters in Trifles can right the wrongs of men (Demastes 62). When John Wright’s strangled body is found and his wife taken into custody, three men in official capacity come to examine the farmhouse to establish a motive and bring Minnie Wright to trial. While the suspect sits in jail, her neighbor, Mr. Hale, the Sheriff, and the County Attorney scrutinize points of entry into the Wrights’ home. As their husbands search the premises, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters search for the life story that Minnie Wright has left behind.
The irony is that women are not taken seriously because of social prejudices and gender inequality, but the problem and mystery are solved by the women. In effect, as they wonder aloud about the kitchen mess, the two women seem engaged in dialogue with what they find. But the men, unlike their wives, approach the unfamiliar by “snooping around and criticizing” (Glaspell). They aim, as Mrs. Hale observes, “to get her own house to turn against her” (Glaspell). Yet, as if it were taking up her defense, Minnie’s house remains unyielding to the probing of men; indeed, it acts as the custodian of female secrets. Blinded by their estimation that “kitchen things,” like women themselves (Glaspell), are undeserving of serious attention, the three investigators cannot see in the domestic details that surround them what their wives easily perceive: Minnie Wright’s victimization—exposed by erratic sewing, a roughly broken birdcage door, and a strangled canary. Emphasizing how sexism impairs the men’s vision, Judith Fetterley considers “A Jury of Her Peers,” Glaspell’s narrative version of the play, “a story about reading” in which the men are unable to “read the text that is placed before them” (Glaspell). In contrast, the women read the past encoded in half-set bread and sloppy cupboards. Using as authority their own experiences, they invisibly write the life—and ultimately “right” the fate—of Minnie Wright, their defenseless sister-housewife (Demastes 62).
Portrait of the low social position
Glaspell symbolically portrays the low social position and “unimportance” of women in society. The play’s central theme of gender bias discusses issues that reach beyond the dramatic situation itself: Serious problems occur when women’s voices, metaphorically and physically, are suppressed. Glaspell uses voice as identity and female voice as an authority (Maillakais 1996). The play emphasizes women’s solidarity. “Trifles” is the main symbol of the play depicted murder and women’s voices as unimportant in contrast to men’s business. Kitchen and housekeeping underline gender inequalities faced by women. the men mock them for their attention to small domestic details (“just like women!”), the two wives piece together a picture of the painful, lonely life Mrs. Wright has led, and what probably caused her to murder her husband.
A major fact is the discovery of a murdered songbird–the only element of pleasure in the household (Makowsky 82). They also feel very guilty because they did not try to help Mrs. Wright with their friendship. Mrs. Hale cries, “Oh, I wish I’d come over here once in a while! That was a crime! That was a crime! Who’s going to punish that?” (Glaspell). In the end, the men, in their attention to “important” matters, have missed the explanation of the crime, and the women, bonded by their sympathy and understanding, do not reveal it. As Ozieblo observed, “Although Glaspell never again used female bonding as the main theme of a play, it surfaces in Bernice and is significant in the later Alison’s House” (Glaspell). The action of this one-act play is set in a kitchen and domestic details are important in the setting and the action. Also the servant Jean kills Miss Julie’s finch which causes her to reveal her intense hatred for him. Glaspell makes the murdered songbird an element that leads to Mrs. Wright’s murder of her husband (Demastes 63).
The final deception
Since they can do nothing to change the sexist attitude of these self-important men, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters must seek justice, paradoxically, by going against the law. Their final deception, the act of hiding the dead canary, not only strikes back against John Wright for his cruelty but also serves as retaliation against their own husbands’ derisive sarcasm, unfairly directed at the domestic work women do serve the very men who laugh at them (Makowsky 99). Tracing evidence that the women find and the men ignore, students will enjoy probing verbal ironies which critique gender stereotyping (“Men’s hands aren’t as clean as they might be”; “what would we do without the ladies” Glaspell]; situational irony as expressed within the play’s title; the ultimate irony (and creativity) in the way John Wright was murdered and in Mrs. Hale’s decisive last line: “We call it—knot it, Mr. Henderson” (Glaspell).
Much can be made of Mrs. Hale’s ironic final rejoinder. Knotting refers to the quilting skill that Minnie Wright put to use in killing her husband: her reaction, through “women’s work,” to his strangulation of her true desires, and, of course, his strangulating the extension of that once-lively self. Also, knotting symbolizes the seditious, binding connection among the three women. Finally, students can appreciate the clever irony in Mrs. Hale’s seemingly honest, straightforward response to the County Attorney’s repeated, facetious question (“Well, ladies, have you decided if she was going to quilt it or knot it” Glaspell). Taking advantage of his low expectations for women’s intelligence, Mrs. Hale masks the two women’s physical cover-up of evidence, thus ensuring Mrs. Wright’s protection (Crocker 1996).
Summary
In sum, Glaspell portrays that women and men typically perceive what is right and wrong differently. Slowly stitching together the story of spouse abuse behind this murder, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters realize the subversive power of their knowledge precisely because it remains devalued by the men. Ironies in this play abound and are thematically linked to all that the women know and do which the men cannot understand.
References
Crocker, L. Studies in Liminality: A Review of Critical Commentary on Glaspell’s Trifles. 1996. Web.
Demastes, W.W. Realism and the American Dramatic Tradition. University of Alabama Press, 1996.
Glaspell, S. Trifles. 2008. Web.
Maillakais, M. A Woman’s Place: Literary BackgroMakowsky, V. Susan Glaspell’s Century of American Women: A Critical Interpretation of Her Work. Oxford University Press, 1993.
Trifles and A Jury of Her Peers are both versions of the same narrative by Susan Glaspell. Trifles is a play, while “A Jury of Her Peers” is a short story. The following text will review the differences in perception between the two works, contrasting the experience of a reader and a viewer. The narrative form causes significant stylistic differences in how characters’ actions are contextualized.
In “A Jury of Her Peers”, the author develops the ‘atmosphere’ outside the characters’ dialogues. For example, at the beginning of the investigation, the county attorney asks another man about the case: “Well, Mr Hale,” said the county attorney, in a way of letting what was past and gone go, “tell just what happened when you came here yesterday morning” (Glaspell, “A Jury of Her Peers” 2). By introducing the author’s explanation of the attorney’s intention – ‘letting go’ of the past – the author establishes the dynamic of men being bored by the seemingly mundane case. Hence, the reader may explicitly pick up on the tone and context through verbal additions.
In contrast, Trifles relies on the content and attitude of the characters to present the interaction dynamic. For instance, while men glance over the untidiness in the kitchen, women notice and discuss minor details of unfinished housework. The response of Mr Hale to that is, “Well, women are used to worrying over trifles” (Glaspell, Trifles 3). Although the author does not openly describe his tone, Mr Hale’s arrogance ‘transpires’ through his remark. Ironically, the arrogance of Mr Hale regarding female ‘trifles’ turns out to be wholly unjustified since the women uncover the murderer due to their observations. Thus, Trifles develops the perspective not through the author’s detailed commentary but rather through subtle character interactions.
Both the story and the play are remarkable; however, I find Trifles more intriguing. Its subtlety allows the reader to interpret the key dialogues independently and fully enjoy uncovering the hidden meanings. I believe that this approach allows the ironic ending, with Mrs Wright being the murderer, to develop in a much more striking manner. The nature of the irony is to leave some things unsaid – hence, I prefer the play over the short story.
Works Cited
Glaspell, Susan. “A Jury of Her Peers.” Images of Women in Literature, Cengage Learning, 1917, pp. 370–385.
-. Trifles: A Play in One Act. Baker’s Plays, 2010.
Novels, plays, songs and poems have been used in various ways by many scholars to convey important messages to their audience. People can view themselves in many literature presentations and realize the mistakes they make in life. Literature warns, educates, entertains and informs people about their societies and what shapes their behavior. This essay examines how play writers expose different perceptions of human beings through their characters and themes.
Trifles by Susan Glaspell
This play was written in 1916 and it explores various perceptions of men and women and how they behave when faced with different challenges. The author condemns gender stereotypes by exposing the evils associated with male chauvinism. She manages to show her audience how people have equal abilities to manage various issues in the society. The play presents how the detectives failed to discover what killed Mr. John Wright.
On the other hand, the three ladies present in the room are shocked at how these ‘professionals’ are not able to gather clues that will lead to the arrest of the culprit. In addition, the audience is able to see the evils associated with gender stereotypes. The women concealed the evidence that would have been used to find out the cause of the death being investigated.
This play is a good example of how the society continues to fail due to weird gender perceptions. The murder investigators think that they know their work better than other people. In fact, they think that women cannot help them in any way to establish the truth regarding this matter.
On the other hand, these women are submissive and they do not want to engage in arguments with men. Even though they look innocent, they inwardly laugh at the fruitless attempts shown by the incompetent investigators. This is expressed in their conversations when the attorney and sheriff say that the house has no evidence to lead to any meaningful case. This play shows that men think that women are weak, illiterate and must be kept in the kitchen. On the other hand, women respect men but inwardly laugh at their failures.
The Hairy Ape by Eugene O’Neil
This play portrays how wealth and power cause discriminations and class differences in the society. O’Neil uses bleak realism and natural conversation to create uniqueness. Literature continues to evolve and thus O’Neil was in the right path towards revolutionizing stage drama.
He has used a natural style to present his views to enable the theme of the play to blend with the behavior of the main character. Yank is a primitive but meticulous young man who thinks that he has more energy than machines. This male chauvinism drives him to despise women and think that he is not worth in his society. An honest statement that describes his character makes him change his residence.
In addition, he pays a lot of attention to bad comments about him and this makes him leave his community to stay with a gorilla. He meets his death at the zoo after staying there for some time and realizing that even gorillas do not want his company. His primitiveness is shown when he is disturbed by a negative comment from a girl and also when he said that he would blow up things while working with the firemen. The climax of his archaic behavior is when he decides live in the zoo with gorillas because the world had turned against him.
Conclusion
Glaspell and O’Neal have successfully managed to show how gender stereotypes and traditions affect human life. They have used different ways to show how people perceive each other differently and this contributes to the problems they face in the society.
Susan Glaspell was an active feminist in her time, so one may read her work through this lens. The play –Trifles – has numerous feminist connotations. It is a call to reexamine the value of women in a patriarchal society; through their central role in the drama, the female characters challenge traditional notions about women’s perspective and value.
The value of women
The men in the play enter the Mr. Wright’s house with a fixed mind. They take pride in their role as professionals, and use this background to analyze the murder scene (Glaspell 1043). Their rigidity explains why they did not identify Mr. Wright’s murderers. Conversely, the women entered the Wrights’ house with an open mind. They had no professional titles or legal obligations. In fact, they had come to the premises in order to collect Mrs. Wright’s personal effects.
However, these women’s way of knowing was not just different from the men’s; they had a practical way of applying it to discover something useful. While the men analyzed most of the conventional areas of crime-scene investigation, the women used their knowledge to consider Mrs. Wright’s entire marriage. They had a holistic view of the crime, yet the men only focused on one point in time.
When they stumbled upon a canary that had been strangled in the same way as Mr. Wright, they connected the dots and realized that Minnie was the murderer. Their lowly status gives them an upper hand in the investigation because they have no expectations to meet. The women’s perspective allows them to redefine themselves in readers’ perspectives. They eventually emerge as winners at the end of the play.
The society in which Trifles is set devalues women’s opinions. It is a patriarchal one that only holds men’s contributions in high regard. Such attitudes demean the way society operates.
Professionals do not function effectively because they push away matters that involve women. In the end, these biased individuals end up hurting themselves. The author wanted to challenge these thoughts by illustrating that the female perspective could solve problems or enrich lives. In essence, Susan Glaspell was using her play to engage in feminist criticism of her society.
One should note that feminist inclinations were not alien to the playwright. She was an active feminist who supported several organizations. Heterodoxy was one such entity; it consisted of 25 women. Their intention was to promote the freedom of women in all spheres of life. The author grew up in a conservative community but her exposure as a journalist awakened her to the plight of women in her society.
Not only were they landless, but they had no right to vote or participate in public discourse. The author was dissatisfied with the unequal power relations between men and women in marriage. Glaspell decided that she would use her writings to advance this cause. In fact, the disempowering relationship between men and women is evident in the deceased marriage. Mr. Wright, like a number of other men in that society, silenced his wife during their marriage.
She was a highly talented individual that could have experienced personal fulfillment if she had exploited this talent (Glaspell 1047). Her husband exerted negative control over her because he devalued her. The power relationship at the time was inclined towards men. Mr. Wright’s patriarchal attitudes could not allow his wife to have a life of her own. The writer wanted to highlight how this attitude could backfire in the form of extreme events like murder.
Perhaps one of the ways in which Susan Glaspell challenged society’s view of women was through her subject matter. ‘Trifles’ is a play about a woman who kills another human being. This subject has always been a source of fascination even for real-life investigators. When the killer is female and she kills a man, then this elicits fear in male audiences. Men react so strongly to such occurrences because they defy society’s expectations of femininity.
Society assumes that women epitomize the values of passivity and moderation. Therefore, when they vent out their frustrations on other people, through murder, then these expectations are crushed. In the play, Glaspell wanted to challenge cultural stereotypes of women. Susan wanted to erase the myth that women would always take the injustices that came their way by illustrating that women could also kill. She focused on a controversial subject so as to elicit strong reactions from her audiences.
Conclusion
The key characters in the play were women. They did not just participate in the play, but they drove the events in the narration. Conversely, the men in the play appear to exist merely for the purpose of proving that patriarchy has its limitations. The male characters are oblivious to women’s ability to commit crimes because they presume that passivity is feminine and action, even in the form of crime, is masculine.
This closed-mindedness impairs their ability to solve the case. The author had feminist intentions because the female characters manage to do what the men could not. Glaspell has taken on a controversial subject and shown that the patriarchal order is not the best solution.
Works Cited
Glaspell, Susan. “Trifles.” The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Vol D. Ed. Paul Lauter. Houghton: Mifflin, 2006. 1041-1050. Print.
“Trifles”, the story by Susan Glaspell is a murder mystery which does not try to hide the murderer, but attempts to conceal the motive of the murder. It creates a sympathetic situation for the lady, Mrs. Wright, who murdered her own husband rather than to create any hatred against her. The persons who discover the motive of the murder are also ladies and not anyone actively involved in the solution of the murder case. But the gentlemen who are actually supposed to find out the motive and solve the case are not able to succeed in reaching the depth of the matter, as they lack the sympathetic view which led the ladies to see seemingly minute unimportant things and reach the root of the incident. This is a case of difference of perspective and gender difference while finding a solution to a given problem.
Background
The story depicts the “queer” behavior of Mrs. Wright, who is charged with the murder of her own husband by strangling him with a rope around his neck. She was found “rockin’ back and forth” on a rocker and holding an Apron in her hands and “kind of–pleating it” when Mr. Hale came in to meet Mr. John Wright, Mrs. Wright’s husband. Surprisingly Mrs. Wright declared that her husband was lying upstairs but would not see anyone because he was dead. On being asked how he died, Mrs. Wright said “He died of a rope around his neck“. She was peculiarly calm while saying this and did not show any excitement even when the she learnt that the police was being called. She was charged with the murder of John Wright as there were no possibilities of any outsider doing the crime.
Discussion
The story represents a clear division between the way of thinking of the male characters, which is the Sheriff, the County Attorney and the neighboring farmer Mr. Hale and the women, that is the wife of the Sheriff Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, wife of Mr. Hale. The County Attorney, Mr. Henderson was in particular very “sarcastic” of the “gloomy” atmosphere of the house, specially the kitchen. He criticized Mrs. Wright as “Not much of a housekeeper” as the kitchen was full of signs of unfinished work. But Mrs. Hale did not agree with him. She said she had not entered this house for over a year as the Wrights’ house “never seemed a very cheerful place”, but she backed Mrs. Wright by saying that there is a “great deal of work to be done on a farm” and it is not fair “snooping around and criticizing” in her kitchen when she was not there.
Audience Male perspective
Mrs. Peters, the wife of the Sheriff was there to collect a “dress and a skirt”, a “pair of shoes” and some very insignificant or trivial things which Mrs. Wright wanted to have with her in the jail. Those things included the “apron” and “her little shawl that always hung behind the door”. Mrs. Wright also expressed worry about her “fruits” or “preserves” kept in the jars which actually broke due to the freezing temperature of night. This behavior of Mrs. Wright prompted Mr. Henderson and the Sheriff to laugh on her as they thought there was “something more serious than preserves to worry about”. Mr. Hale also thought that the “women are used to worrying over trifles”8. But, that way they missed out the feeling involved behind all those “trifle” things which could lead them to crack the case. This was formulated from the point of view of the male audience and the mode of analysis the male audience would use to solve the mystery.
Audience female perspective
But the women thought in a different way. Even Mrs. Peters, in spite of being the wife of the Sheriff and according to Mr. Henderson “married to the law”, was forced to think that some deep emotion was working at Mrs. Wright’s back of the mind when she tried to analyze the unusual behavior of Mrs. Wright. Not to talk of Mrs. Hale, who had seen the woman very closely since long and had a huge sympathy for everything she did. Mrs. Hale describes Mr. John Wright as a good man but along with it “close” and “hard”. According to her it was tough for Mrs. Wright to spend so many years with him. Both the women looked around the room with a sort of affection rather than any adverse feeling for a woman who had apparently killed her husband. Mrs. Hale remembered the days when Mrs. Wright used to be “Minnie Foster”, a young lady who used to “wear pretty clothes and be lively” and was one of the “town girls singing in the choir”. She was of opinion that living with a husband like John Wright and not having any children had completely changed “Minnie Foster” to a woman who “kept so much to herself”. She felt guilty for not visiting the Wrights for such a long time and not keeping track of what was going on in her neighborhood. As they went on discussing and reminiscing the present and past of Mrs. Wright’s life, they sort of generated more and more sympathy for her from the feminine perspective of the audience.
The women found out the pieces of a quilt which Mrs. Wright was sewing. They observed the pretty “Log Cabin” pattern partly sewed by her. One thing surprised both of them, that is part of the sewing was very good, but a portion was not at all good. Those made them think when a person can deviate from her quality sewing, whether it was tiredness or nervousness. An empty birdcage indicated that Mrs. Wright had a bird, probably a canary which was one of the canaries sold by a man cheap last year. For a lady who used sing for a choir it was not unlikely to have a singing bird with her, which could fill the vacuum in her life which arose from the absence of music and not having any children. But Mrs. Hale was skeptical of this as she knew John Wright, who was not a man who liked music at all. They wondered what could have happened to the bird as the Wrights did not have a cat; and thought the bird might have “got sick and died”. The ladies, out of affection for Mrs. Wright decided to give her the incomplete quilt which “might take up her mind”. But when they lifted up the pretty sewing box, they found the dead bird wrapped up in silk. The bird was brutally killed and “Somebody-wrung-its neck”. Mrs. Wright was about to “bury it in that pretty box” (Glaspell 1).
Now, everything became clear in front of the ladies and the female audience. The silent life of the childless lady was filled up by the bird after so many years of “nothing” and that too was apparently killed by John Wright bringing in a huge stillness again in her life. Mrs. Peters herself was aware how killing “stillness” could be as she had experienced it when her “first baby died–after he was two years old”. The ladies understood why John Wright was unable to wake up while the rope was slipped around his neck. It was a “crafty” act of killing. They knew if the County Attorney found out that bird, Mrs. Wright would be in deep trouble. Therefore they deliberately moved the box from its place and Mrs. Hale kept it in the pocket of her large coat.
Conclusion
The men audiences were unable to see these “trifles” which could help them solve the case. But the women, because they could unite themselves with Mrs. Wright in feelings, could reach to the depth of the case. They were sure that the lady, who worried so much for her preserves, wanted to have her shawl and apron even in the jail could not forgive her husband for killing her Canary and killed him quietly. The “trifles” were of so much importance to her, as there were no other interests left in her vacant life. “Trifles” as they might appear to others might not be as “trifles” for another person. They might lead to very intense emotional set backs in a person’s mind who consider them to be her life. If anybody tampers with them, it might lead to some extreme action like murder, as in the case depicted in the story “Trifles”. However, the main aspect remains in the paradox of differences in perspective in accordance to gender difference. The text suggests that due to difference in perspective, the women audiences are able to decipher the problem more easily than their male counterparts.
Susan Glaspell’s play “Trifles” dates back to 1916. The play was written in a period of great strife in both social and literary fronts. Glaspell’s play is based on real life events that she witnessed when working as a reporter. The play is based on the playwright’s observations as opposed to real life events.
“Trifles” features a scarce character pool of main characters. There are three women and three men in the play. All the characters in this play a vital role to the play’s development. Some of Glaspell’s characters in this play are flat while the others are more rounded. This essay explores the roundness or flatness of the characters in “Trifles” and their conformity to stereotypes.
The main difference between flat and round characters is that flat characters do not change as much as round characters do. Rounded characters seem more interesting because they develop in the course of the story. Round characters are also more believable because their complexity resonates with the audience.
On the other hand, flat characters remain static in the course of the play. In “Trifles”, the women characters are rounded as opposed to the men characters who are more flat. Glaspell uses a unique methodology of character development in her one-act play.
The main conflict in the play is the murder of John Wright. Although the murder is not solved in the course of the play, some characters are able to develop. The men characters are obviously flat characters. Mr. Hale and the sheriff are both middle-aged men who come to Mr. Wright’s house to investigate his murder.
Mr. Hale is a neighbor to the Wright family. His character does not undergo any major changes or transformations. Hale only provides information to the audience. We learn about details of the murder from Hale. All of Hale’s statements are static from the beginning to the end.
The sheriff’s character does not provide much input to the story. The only thing we know is that the sheriff is here on official duty. Most of his dialogue is used to reveal what is happening on the stage. Both the sheriff and Mr. Hale are not interesting characters and their input to the play’s plot is negligible.
The county attorney George Henderson came to Mr. Wright’s house in his capacity as an investigator. It is also probable that his job will also include prosecuting Mrs. Wright in case she is tried for her husband’s murder. He is portrayed as a young professional who looks down upon women. His initial feeling is that Mrs. Wright is guilty for the murder of her husband and she should be charged in court for it.
His conviction does not change throughout the story and his distaste for Mrs. Wright is evident. For instance, at one time he criticizes her house keeping skills. All the men in the play conform to stereotypes in several ways. First, they are quick to dismiss any ideas that come from the women even though they are crucial to the investigation (Glaspell 1095). The men believe that women cannot be of any help to the investigation.
However, in the end it is the women who find a possible motive to the murder. Moreover, the men expect the women to obey them and that is why the attorney does not bother to check them for any concealed evidence when it is time to leave the Wright’s house.
Both Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale are well-rounded characters and their character growth is evident throughout the play. Their characters’ development is verified through their feelings, emotions, and feelings. Mrs. Peters is the wife to the sheriff. She defends the men in the room by claiming that their actions are justified because they are only doing their jobs.
She does not seem very opinionated and tends to believe what the men-folk say. However, she is the first to discover that the birdcage is empty. She reckons that bullies are very hurtful and they too deserve to feel the pain they inflict on others. She moves from being a follower to being Mrs. Hale’s co-conspirator. She acts against the attorney’s wishes when she colludes with Mrs. Hale and they hide the evidence.
Mrs. Hale is the most rounded character in the play. In the beginning of the play, she is standing in a corner with Mrs. Peters until the men beckon them to get closer to the stove to seek warmth. Mrs. Hale was acquainted with Mrs. Wright even before she was married. After a few recollections, she starts feeling guilty for having neglected Mrs. Wright (Glaspell 1048).
She genuinely feels sorry for Mrs. Wright and jumps at the opportunity to help her by hiding the dead bird. The women in the play do not abide to any common stereotypes.
For instance, the attorney assumes that Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Wright are friends just because they are neighbors. This assumption is based on the stereotype that all women are social beings. The women also defy stereotypes by keeping the information they found in Mrs. Wright’s kitchen to themselves.
Works Cited
Glaspell, Susan. Trifles-The Heath Anthology of American Literature Vol D. Ed. Paul Lauter, Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2006. Print.
The play ‘Trifles’ by Susan Glaspell is written in feminist spirit, in a spirit of aggressive revolt against androcentric domination; this tone probably dictates the distinctive features of its plot. The most notable aspect of the play is the emphasis on female personality traits, such as cunningness and strong logic, when it is necessary to notice and analyze ‘trifles’, or minor details. Human life is actually composed of trifles rather than global issues, and the underestimated women characters from the play are the greatest example of this life wisdom.
The beginning of the play is the first episode demonstrating the inferiority of the female gender: the women characters must stay behind their husbands’ backs – this symbolic scene actually represents the conditions, to which middle-class women are fated, more precisely – to the life of eternal housekeeper, mother and wife, but nothing more (Ben-Zvi, 1995). Thus, thus first reason for the limited revelation of the nature of crime is ‘female revenge’ or ‘female camouflage’. The men mock the women’s interests like quilting and knitting: “They wonder if she was going to quilt it or just knot it. (The men laugh, the women look abashed.)” (Glaspell, at www.vcu.edu, 2008). In addition, the men’s wives are left in the kitchen for only reason: the investigators are sure there is no evidence in this room: “nothing but kitchen things” (Glaspell, at www.vcu.edu, 2004). Kitchen, a typically ‘feminine’ symbol, is viewed by them as deserving no attention. As Ben-Zvi asserts, “the concerns of the women are considered little or silly and insignificant and this is the most important reason for the men’s comments about them. The Sheriff laughs when the women express that maybe the frozen preserves have some meaning” (Ben-Zvi, 1995, p. 319). Mr.Hale, one of the witnesses, says: “women are used to worrying over trifles” (Glaspell, at www.vcu.edu, 2004), so ‘small-minded’ wives decide to teach a lesson to their husbands.
Another significant reason for the stress on female reasoning that, as the author demonstrates, excels male logic, is the notion that males are not likely to listen to their wives’ arguments. Even though the women could have build a perfect logical chain of evidence, the Sheriff and the Attorney wouldn’t have believed the allegedly simplistic statements like: “(Mrs. Hale) I s’pose maybe the cat got it [the cage]. (Mrs.Peters) No, she didn’t have a cat. She’s got that feeling some people have about cats – being afraid of them. My cat got in her room, and she was real upset and asked me to take it out” (Glaspell, at www.vcu.edu, 2008). Thus, it is even possible to predict the Sheriff’s reaction to the women’s confession; he would probably have said something like: “Ladies, I’m sorry, but we are busy with searching for true details and evidence, not the trifles”. The time honored male attitude towards female as to a dumb creature thus plays its role, so that the investigators in skirts have a ‘silent agreement’ to avoid revelations.
In addition, it is highly important to note that the major characters of the play manage to capitalize on their perfectly attentive eyes, i.e. they have a high degree of self-awareness and know themselves up to the most insignificant personality traits and skills (which appear defining in the situation described by Glaspell) so that they can successfully help one another in adverse situations.
As for the legal and ethical evaluation of the conclusion the females draw – in my opinion, these two positions are diametrically opposed. From the ethical viewpoint, their secret can be justified, as the women “live lose together and […] far apart. We all go through the same things – it’s all just a different kind of the same thing” (Glaspell, at www.vcu.edu, 2008), i.e. Mrs.Peters and Mrs.Hale understand Mrs.Wright’s situation and the fact that she had been locked in the same house with the male tyrant, who had been gradually destroying her soul and her personality. From the legal viewpoint, however, the crime must be punished, as it is the responsibility of court to decide whether the person can be justified or is guilty (Ben-Zvi, 1995).
On the other hand, even the policy of conspiracy chosen by the three women can be justified, as their ability to see minor aspects of a larger issue allows them to conclude that Mrs.Wright, although her crime refers rather to self-defense than to purposeful manslaughter, is likely to be judged in the discriminatory way in this patriarchal society, so their considerations are not likely to be requested. Interestingly, whereas males probably fail to notice their “superiority behavior”, women remember each discriminatory or subjectively humiliating episode, each negative trifle in their relationships with men. Therefore, due to the lack of trust for the judicial and executive apparatuses, controlled by men, Mrs.Peters and Mrs.Hale prevent the full revelation of the vital details and evidence of the transgression.
To sum up, the way the author highlights the women’s investigation is determined by two main notions: females are extremely attentive and much more analytical in reasoning about the space that surrounds them, as compared to males. Although women are obviously discriminated by their male antagonists, the author depicts a situation in which such gender bias is beneficial to the three ladies involved. Even though the females act righteously from the position of ‘ethical justice’, the destruction of evidence is classified as a crime, so that for the purpose of female solidarity Mrs.Hale and Mrs.Peters involve into the severe deviance.
Works cited
Ben-Zvi, L. Susan Glaspell: Essays on Her Theater and Fiction. University of Michigan Press, 1995.
The play, written in the early 20th century when the society was still male-dominated. They were the decision-makers in the family and in the political platform since women were still not allowed to vote and be represented in the political arena. Mrs. Wright is the symbol of the suffering the women went through as her duties were generally limited to the kitchen.
She tended to the farm and reared the family chicken with little support from her husband. In solving the murder mystery of Mr. Wright, two women, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, establish the true motive of the killing by looking at the clues they found in the house, which showed that Mrs. Wright was going through a tough time in the hands of her husband. Sheriff Peters and Attorney George Henderson assigned to the case, but they are the symbol of male dominance over women. They turn a blind eye to the revelations made by the women.
Thesis statement: Mr. Wright’s actions in Trifels are a true revelation of how cultural beliefs and identity influence a person’s behavior and show the wife’s condition in moments of love and hate.
Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale when in the kitchen gathering leads, they notice a little box, inside the box is a dead caged bird covered with a piece of cloth. The canary sang to Mrs. Wright, and it was the symbol of the wife’s desire for freedom and joy, which she longed for as she lived with the husband. Mr. Wright strangled the bird with a string.
The husband is the provider to the family; the items found in the kitchen by the two women during investigations were a stack revelation of the oppression Mrs. Wright faced in the house. They found stale fruit preserves and bread that had dried out of the box, the kitchen was also messy with no sign of recent cooking. This showed the inhuman treatment that Mrs. Wright went through despite the hard work that she did in the house. According to Glaspell, The attorney and the sheriff went ahead to blame Mrs. Wright for the mess that was in the kitchen.
SHERIFF. Well, can you beat the women! Held for murder and worryin’ about her preserves.
COUNTY ATTORNEY. I guess before we’re through she may have something more serious than preserves to worry about.
HALE. Well, women are used to worrying over trifles (1, 28-30).
The culture at the time depicted the men as important people in society, and their views were the grounds for establishing facts about the murder. The two women accepted this identity and decided to act on their own, they took the dead caged bird as evidence without informing the principal investigators to understand Mrs. Wright’s motive on the murder.
Mr. Wright crushed the happiness in her wife’s life; he made sure that she had no regular friends who visited over to see and empathize with the state that she was in. He restricted her moves outside the home so she could run away from the tribulations that she faced. Before Mrs. Wright married her husband, she had joy in her youth, and she loved to compose and hum tunes of her favorite songs. All these ended as she moved to her husband’s house.
Women have come a long way to the place they now command in the society in the present time. They had to help themselves get out of bondage by engaging in ‘silent’ activism to liberate the oppressed women in their families. The rise in advocacy and improvement in education have made them more aware of their strengths and have taken up political positions to defend their interests. However, the end is not achieved yet, with many still suffering silently in their family enclaves.
Works Cited
Glaspell, Susan. Trifels. Boston: Walter H. Baker, 2010. Print.