Trifles is a one-act play written by Susan Glaspell in 1916. The play is a murder mystery set in a small Iowa farmhouse, where a man named John Wright has been found strangled in his bed. His wife, Minnie Wright, is the prime suspect.
The play is told from the perspective of the men who are investigating the crime, and the women who are helping them. The men, who are the county attorney, the sheriff, and the neighbor, are focused on finding evidence that will lead to Minnie's arrest and conviction. They are not interested in the mundane details of the household, such as the condition of the kitchen or the quilting in progress. They dismiss the women's concerns as "trifles," which leads to the title of the play.
However, the women pay close attention to these details and are able to uncover clues that the men have overlooked. They discover that Minnie's canary is missing from its cage and that the cage is covered in cobwebs. They also notice that the quilt is not finished, which suggests that Minnie was interrupted while working on it. This leads them to conclude that Minnie must have been in a state of distress when she killed her husband.
Throughout the play, the men belittle and dismiss the women's observations and insights, which serves to highlight the societal gender roles and expectations of the time. The men are in positions of authority and power, while the women are expected to be subservient and to focus on the domestic tasks of the household.
Despite their lower social standing, the women in Trifles are able to use their knowledge of the household and their intuition to uncover the truth about the murder. They demonstrate that the seemingly insignificant details of everyday life can be important and that women's perspectives and experiences should not be dismissed or ignored.
In conclusion, Trifles is a thought-provoking play that explores themes of gender roles, power dynamics, and the importance of paying attention to detail. It challenges the notion that women's concerns and insights are unimportant and highlights the value of diverse perspectives in solving problems.
89 Trifles Essay Topics, Questions, & Essay Examples on Trifles by Susan Glaspell
I believe that Mrs. Hale are irrelevant characters; obviously, the play itself ultimately recognizes their importance, but this initial dismissal by the male characters serves to simultaneously misdirect the. Pay close attention to the kitchen, which is a representation of her life, she is unable to keep one room she enjoyed being in, inside her house, clean. Hale is more talkative and interested in the case, while Mr. In the opening scene, we learn a great deal of information about the people of the play and of their opinions.
"Trifles" by Susan Glaspell
Wright killed her husband because she had dealt with abuse and neglect for years, and was pushed past the point of breaking, we know she was being subjected to pretty much slavery, and we know the women empathize with her, see, we know everything. All they care about in looking for are the weapons used to commit the crime, rather than figuring out the motive of the crime. The men want to do their search of the area, get to the point and consider small details later. Although the women find evidence to believe Minnie is the killer, they feel somewhat responsible for abandoning her. Peters is there to unknowingly help, Mrs. There are a few different interpretations to what the bird cage may symbolize in Susan Glaspell's play, Trifles.
trifles by susan glaspell
In the most straightforward sense one might be inclined to think of Minnie Wright as the It is also important to note that it is almost impossible to talk about one woman without talking about the other, because their conversations with each other are what help to identify either of them as a protagonist and serve to instigate the most important actions of the play. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1995. Wright had bread set, for instance, an important detail that marks what she was doing before the event. Peters tells a short beginning of a story about a boy who took a hatchet to her kitten which alludes to the fact that she would understand how Mrs. Hale's status as the primary protagonists is also challenged or complicated by the other characters, who, due to their sometimes laughably obvious sexism, constantly attempt to belittle the women and disregard their actions.
