Comparing Ambiguity In Proof And Susan Glaspell's Tri

The worst thing that could ever occur in a person's life is the inability to be the person who they want to be and think about life the way they choose to think about life. I have experienced such situations in my own life, and, after reading about the female mathematician Sophie Germain, I found it inspirational--if not, comforting--to know that another woman in history experienced the same in her life. A woman of her own thought, Germain hid her mathematical studies from her parents under the threat of them kicking her out of the house. It is no argument that the legendary Marie-Sophie Germain has become such a revolutionary figure for not only women, but for the mathematical community as a whole.

In Trifles, Susan Glaspell debates the roles between men and women during a period where a debate was not widely conducted. Glaspell wrote Trifles in the early 1900s—a time when feminism was just getting started. In this play, Glaspell shows us her perspective on the roles of men and women and how she believes the situation would play out. Trifles seems like another murder mystery on the surface, but the play has a much more profound meaning behind it. Glaspell presents the idea that men and women analyze situations differently, and how these situations are resolved based on how we interpret them. Research shows that women’s brains “may be optimized for combining analytical and intuitive thinking.” On the other hand, male brains are predominately “optimized for motor skills and actions” (Lewis). In the play, this research shows true when the women, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, analyze details rather than looking at the apparent, physical evidence, and they find out the motive of the murder. The men, on the other hand, look at broader evidence that does not lead to any substantial conclusion. When Glaspell was writing this play, she wanted the women to be the real instigators, the ones that would end up solving the mystery. While the men in the story laugh at the ‘trifles’ that women worry about, these details mean a great deal in Glaspell’s eyes. Glaspell presents the idea what men and women are different in the way they live their lives through detail.

Catherine goes on and explains to Hal that Robert’s work has no connections to mathematical greatness, but to the same level as a “monkey at a typewriter.”( Auburn 15). When Hal says he is “ prepared to look at every page.” (Auburn 15), Catherine says “ no. I’m not crazy”(Auburn 15). This is significant because we as readers question if Catherine is really saying that to Hal or trying to convince herself that she isn’t crazy. We get an idea that Catherine is crazy to. As Robert’s struggle with schizophrenia continues he starts to exemplify some bizarre habits. We aren’t introduced to Robert’s true madness until Catherine comes home from college to visit him. We get the image of a man sitting outside on a cold Chicago winter night without a jacket complaining that the excruciating heat inside the house.

A World Dominated by Men: The Conflict of Gender Roles in Trifles by Susan Glaspell

Arcadia is a play of dualities, carefully juxtaposing a variety of antithetical conceptions including chaos and order, past and present, and life and death. In fact, the title of the play itself generates a juxtaposition between the pastoral utopia the word connotes and the sinister undertones of the phrase “Et in Arcadia ego” (12). The title underscores the underlying focus of the play by reminding the audience that everything ultimately decays to death and chaos. This duality of chaos and order, arguably the most significant duality in the play, serves as the soul of the plot, dragging all inhabitants of Arcadia both past and present toward bedlam. Passion and reason serve as proxies for chaos and order, allowing Stoppard analyze the ramifications and realities of chaos theory on a level the audience can comprehend. The thermodynamic concept of entropy first becomes apparent when Thomasina notes that “you cannot stir things apart,” highlighting the relationship between irreversible actions and increasing

Likewise in Proof,. Most of Catherine’s success can be chalked up to the informal education she received at the hands of her father. As she barely even attended University, Catherine herself attributes her mathematical proficiency to spending so much time at

Catherine's pathetic ideal of a "picturesque" rendezvous is also the majority mentality at the time. Her realization of the cruel truth is but a glimpse of the futile art of war and

The play itself was moving. It brings about uncomfortable topics that any people do not like discussing, such a mental illness and loss of a loved one. The play unpackaged human emotions and shows how people can deal with grief and uncomfortable situations or truth. The play follows Catherine, a 25-year-old college dropout whose father Robert has just recently passed away. Catherine had dropped out of school to take care of her father the past several years. Catherine is the protagonist in this play. She is somewhat lost, but she continues to strive to do what she believes is best. Her father, Robert, was a famous mathematician, but he was also mentally ill. The relationship between these two can sometimes be misleading, due to the nature of some of the dialogue, but they both loved each other. Robert became a mathematician in his early twenties when he contributed to the game theory. When the play begins Robert is already dead, he has passed away from a heart attack. Upon his death Catherine sister Claire comes to see her. Claire thinks that Catherine might have some of the same mental issues that her father did, and she wants to take Catherine to New York with her to find help. The relationship between the two sisters has never been the best and Catherine does not want to go with Claire. Catherine is

I found myself sympathizing with Catherine throughout reading Proof. Catherine was a talented, intelligent 25 year old girl who gave up her education, dreams and desires to care for her ill father. For someone so young and had so much going for her she didn’t give it a second thought to care for her father. I found this really remarkable because how many would give up their lives to care for another especially a person as young as Catherine. I felt for Catherine because she struggled losing a sense of who she was. After Catherine’s father passing, she became withdrawn, depressed and was going through a difficult time. A visit from her father’s ghost shows how worrisome he was about her. “I’ve seen you. You sleep till noon, you eat junk, you

Susan Glaspell’s story “Trifles” is based on a true story many decades ago when women were treated as second class citizens. This story focuses on two women in the shadows of men who see their sex as superior and in doing so, miss the most important parts of their investigation. Glaspell uses space to show the bond that is slowly created between these two women that allow them to justify not reporting the evidence to the sexist males who essentially drop the ball because of their lack of empathy.

Ambiguity is defined as “the quality of being open to more than one interpretation.” In fiction, it leads readers to consider various conclusions and provokes them to go beyond the text itself. In Dubious Battle exemplifies this. John Steinbeck ensures that every character, every conflict, and every theme incorporates some form of ambiguity. Not only does this provoke the reader to think beyond the socio-economic problems directly expressed within the text, but it also sparks questions regarding the main purpose of writing the novel. Steinbeck achieves this by giving insight regarding the ambiguous nature of the characters themselves. For example, it is never clear who the protagonist is due to the vague nature of both Mac and Jim.

Ambiguity is manifested differently for everyone. It is significant in novels to allow the reader a choice, to give him a unique perception of the novel different from any other. Ambiguity shows that not everything has a definitive explanation; ambiguity shows that answers are opinions and beliefs, not fact and law; ambiguity shows that life is full uncertainty and the

From this monologue analysis, it has been discovered that Catherine is a very dramatic and somewhat childish character as is shown because on page 91, Nelly says “…our fiery Catherine was no better than a wailing child!”(Bronte 91). Catherine acts very childish to shut herself in her room for several days because of argument with her husband. Also, her dramatic characteristic is shown because her monologue jumps around a lot in topics, from what happened when she entered her room to her anger at Edger to her sadness with grief, to her derangement, to again her anger at Edger. The knowledge of these characteristics can help perform the interpretation like how Catherine would act it out to Nelly, very dramatic and emotional. It can also be concluded

Catherine felt that she could never relate to the environment because she felt she was a totally diverse from the environment. She was not a person that could speak for herself. Claire helped her sister after her father’s passing to try to get her back into the environment that remained absent to Catherine for so long. Catherine was a very shy person. There is an extreme disconnection of who Catherine is and what she presents herself to others. When Hal noticed she had a lot of math books in her room she told him they were just a window dressing. The disengagement between who she is and what she presents herself to other people is an inability to effectively communicate. Catherine gave Hal an extremely complicated proof which was her

In Susan Glaspell’s play Trifles a man has been murdered by his wife, but the men of the town who are in charge of investigating the crime are unable solve the murder mystery through logic and standard criminal procedures. Instead, two women (Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters) who visit the home are able to read a series of clues that the men cannot see because all of the clues are embedded in domestic items that are specific to women. The play at first it seems to be about mystery, but it abruptly grows into a feminist perspective. The play Trifles written by Susan Glaspell can be considered a revolutionary writing in it its advocacy of the feminist movement.