An Analysis Of Susan Glaspell 's ' A Heavy Conscience '

Trifles, Susan Glaspell’s play written in 1916, reveal concerns of women living in a male dominated society. Glaspell communicates the role that women were expected to play in late 19th century society and the harm that can come of it to women, as well as men. The feminist agenda of Trifles was made obvious, in order to portray the lives of all women who live oppressed under male domination. John and Minnie Wright are two main characters who are never seen; however provide the incident for the play. In this play women are against men, Minnie against her husband, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters against their husband’s, as well as men in general.

Susan Glaspell’s one-act play “Trifles” was written in 1916. It was written based on real events. When Glaspell was a reporter, she covered a murder case in a small town in Iowa. Later, she wrote this short play which was inspired by her investigation and what she observed. Glaspell used irony, symbolism, and setting in her creation of the authentic American drama, “Trifles”, to express life for women in a male-dominated society in the early nineteen hundreds.

Throughout history, sexism has been an ongoing conflict for women and still occurs even today. Constant fights over equal pay, the right to vote, and the right to work has become a major issue for women all over the years. In Susan Glaspell’s one-act play, Trifles, she explores the stereotypes and differences between the genders. The play was written and takes place in 19th century during the time where women were not treated the same as men. Written during that period, Trifles, deals with the rights of women and assumptions about women in society during that time. This feminist drama surrounds the murder of, John wright, who was found strangled in his house. Throughout the play, the audience recognizes that the women solve the murder mystery of Mr. Wright. While the men are oblivious to the truth because of their assumptions. Glaspell not only questions the women’s roles in society, but the knowledge and aspect that are valued within the specific contexts. Trifles utilizes irony to present the life problems faced by women during that time.

The play “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell is type of murder mystery that takes place in the early 1900’s. The play begins when the sheriff Mr. Peters and county attorney Mr. Henderson come to attempt to piece together what had happen on the day that Mr. Wright was murder. While investigating the seen of the murder, they are accompanied by the Mr. Hale, Mrs. Hale and Mr. Peters. Mr. Hale had told that Mrs. Wright was acting strange when he found her in the kitchen. After taking information from Mr. Hale, the men leave the women in the kitchen and go upstairs at seen of the murder. The men don’t realize the plot of the murder took place in the kitchen.

As the women walk through the house, they begin to get a feel for what Mrs. Wright’s life is like. They notice things like the limited kitchen space, the broken stove, and the broken jars of fruit and begin to realize the day-to-day struggles that Mrs. Wright endured. The entire house has a solemn, depressing atmosphere. Mrs. Hale regretfully comments that, for this reason and the fact that Mr. Wright is a difficult man to be around, she never came to visit her old friend, Mrs. Wright.

Susan Glaspell’s one-act play, Trifles, weaves a tale of an intriguing murder investigation to determine who did it. Mrs. Wright is suspected of strangling her husband to death. During the investigation the sheriff and squad of detectives are clueless and unable to find any evidence or motive to directly tie Mrs. Wright to the murder. They are baffled as to how he was strangled by a rope while they were supposedly asleep side by side. Glaspell artfully explores gender differences between men and women and the roles they each fulfill in society by focusing on their physicality, their methods of communication and vital to the plot of the play, their powers of observation. In simple terms, the play suggests that men tend to be assertive,

When the two women come across the empty, broken bird-cage, they ponder the reason for the broken door and the fate of the canary who occupied it. Later they discover the dead bird wrapped in silk with its neck broken, presumably by the hands of Mr. Wright. The bird symbolizes Minnie Foster, the young choir girl. The dead bird symbolizes Minnie after marriage, when she loses her spirit, and the cage symbolizes her husband who mistreats and isolates her. While describing Mrs. Wright, Mrs. Hale compares her to the bird when she says to Mrs. Peters, " She used to sing real pretty herself”. ( 576) Literary critic Janet Stobbs Wright states," Only as a picture emerges of the way in which Minnie Foster has been changed by her marriage to John Wright, is a process of identification between the two women initiated".

Susan Glaspell's play Trifles explores male-female relationships through the murder investigation of the character of Mr. Wright. It also talks about the stereotypes that women faced. The play takes place in Wright's country farmhouse as the men of the play, the county attorney, the sheriff, and Mr. Hale, search for evidence as to the identity and, most importantly, the motive of the murderer. The attorney, with the intensions of proving that Mrs. Wright choked the husband to death, was interviewing Mr. Hale on what he saw when he came in to the house. The women, on the other hand, were just there to get some clothing for the wife who was in jail for suspected murder of her husband. However, the clues which would lead them to the answer

One critic, Leonard Mustazza, argues that Mrs. Hale recruits Mrs. Peters “as a fellow ‘juror’ in the case, moving the sheriff’s wife away from her sympathy for her husband’s position and towards identification with the accused woman” (494). Though this is true, Mrs. Peters also comes to her own understanding. What she sees in the kitchen led her to understand Minnie’s lonely plight as the wife of an abusive farmer. The first evidence Mrs. Peters reaches understanding on her own surfaces in the following passage: “The sheriff’s wife had looked from the stove to the sink to the pail of water which had been

Suzy Clarkson Holstein the author of “Silent Justice In a Different Key: Susan Glaspell’s ‘Trifles’” writes about the men in the play looking for reasons why Minnie would kill her husband at a very legal standpoint. By looking through the scene of the crime, searching for obvious clues to why Minnie would murder her husband. The woman Sympathize with Minnie, they look at her house, and the little things around them: her kitchen, her quilt. They realize that her life doesn’t reflect her personality . “The mundane details of Minnie's life lead Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters to comprehend what their husbands do not: the motive for the murder” (Holstein 283-284). They go through the parts of Minnie’s life that were deemed unimportant by their husbands

In Trifles playwright Susan Glaspell writes about a woman who murdered her husband on a cold winters day in the 1900s. The play takes place in the farmhouse where Mr. and Mrs. Wright lived. Two women and their husbands go to the farmhouse a few days after they discover that Mr. Wright has been murdered. The men look for evidence to prove that Mrs. Wright is the one who murdered her husband while the wives gather things to take to Mrs. Wright who has been put in jail.

As the examination closes the sheriff inquire as to whether he needs to review the things the ladies are taking to Mrs. Wright in prison. The district lawyer rejects this tongue in cheek recommending that there is no need in light of the fact that the sheriff's better half Mrs. Peters is basically hitched to the law when the men leave the space to check one final detail the ladies' eyes meet once more. Mrs. Peters tries to shroud the crate containing the dead winged creature clinched of blanket pieces she is taking to Mrs. Wright however it doesn't fit. Mrs. Hale conceals the case in her jacket pocket. At the point when the men reappear, the ladies have one final opportunity to impart this piece of information to them. They don't, and the play closes. From the depiction we discover that Minnie Foster is your commonplace nation bound lady who went ahead with the customary exercises that happen in remote and disengaged places. We realize that she "sang wonderfully" and was obviously understood among alternate young ladies for Mrs. Hale appears to have an esteemed memory of Minnie Foster's strips, and blooms in her dress. Minnie was clearly additionally very dynamic in the group as she is thought to be vivacious before her marriage. It is suggested in the play that the canary served as Minnie Wrights just partner that a vendor was offering

“Trifles” a play by Susan Glaspell, emphasizes the thought that women were kept in their homes and their contributions to the home and family went unappreciated and unnoticed. The play gives readers a view of how women were view and treated during the 1900’s. As a female analyzing the play, Mrs. Wright’s motive for killing Mr. Wright was quite clear. Susan Glaspell gives her readers a feminist approach, to demonstrate how Mrs. Wright’s murdering of her husband is justified.

The play Trifles is a world-famous production written by Susan Glaspell in 1916 during the women’s suffrage movement. The women’s suffrage movement was a point in U.S. history when rights for women, like voting and gender equality, were greatly stressed to be enforced. Glaspell’s involvement in the movement did not go unnoticed. Today Glaspell’s plays are famous worldwide for her feministic and socialistic views on legal reform, and involvement in the women’s suffrage movement. However, the play Trifles stands out amongst her others due to it being based on a true murder story she covered as a reporter. The play is about a man named Mr. Wright who is discovered by his neighbor, Mr. Hale, with rope around his neck murdered. Upon discovering Mr. wright, the county attorney and sheriff get involved, along with Mr. Hales wife, Mrs. Hale, and the sheriff’s wife, Mrs. Peters. Throughout the investigation at the Wright residence, the women are not asked for help, and are looked down upon by the men. While the men seldom ask the women for their opinion on the murder, the case unfolds right in front of the two wives’ eyes. Like the women in the play, Glaspell was unable to play a significant role in the murder case she was involved in, and her observations over small and minor details she thought may be of importance went unnoticed by the men. Throughout the play, Trifles, Glaspell symbolizes the conflict of men versus women seen during this period through recognition, the

Have you ever wondered what people say about you behind your back or what they think of you what you're not there? This book strongly shows what other people think of Minnie Wright and their true opinions come through. Trifles is a play written by Susan Glaspell. It is a murder mystery about who killed John Wright. Towards the end of the story, we come to the conclusion that the murderer was Minnie Wright, John wrights wife. Minnie Wright took her own husband's life because he had killed the one thing that she had loved most, her bird. She thought as if she needed revenge on him for doing what he did, this being said she killed him in the same way that he had killed her beloved bird; a rope around the neck. Susan Glaspell decides to tell this story mainly through the eyes and minds of Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale. While the main plot of the story is about Minnie Wright and her actions, she never appears in the story because well, she doesn't have to. Susan Glaspell chiefly relies upon the characters in the story to give the readers and audience a sense of what type of person Minnie Wright is. Readers can sense her presence through the way she and her house are described. The characters say things like, “here is a nice mess (referring to her house)” (118.) or “she looked queer” (116.) These small statements can help us form an image of what Minnie Wright is like when she is not even present. Minnie Wright’s absence also allows the women to sympathize with her and therefore makes the women feel obligated to keep her secret.