Comparison Of Susan Glaspell's Trifles And A Doll House

At the beginning of Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Story of an Hour” the young, yet physically frail protagonist, Mrs. Mallard, is tactfully informed of her husband’s recent demise. Immediately after receiving the grim news, she makes it perfectly clear how she feels about the circumstances. Mrs. Mallard “…wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms” and subsequently isolated herself inside of the privacy of her bedroom. Reflecting on the events alone, she displays a welling of despair; however Mrs. Mallard notices that, unlike her husband, the world outside of her bedroom window appears vivid and alive. When cogitating about her external observations, and dissolving her finite trepidation, Mrs. Mallard comes an epiphany:

Kate Chopin is known for being criticized for empowering the subject of female sexuality and independence. In Chopin’s short story, “The Story of an Hour”, it is placed in a time where men were known as being the head of the household while women were only in charge of raising the children and caring for the home. In the 1890s, women didn’t have so much power to themselves compared to today’s society where female empowerment is frequently encouraged. Chopin’s story narrates a sequence of Mrs. Mallard’s emotions that goes within the motion of the story. As she overcomes the sudden death of her husband, her emotion of grief soon turns into the sudden feeling of freedom, later on emerging into a strong independent woman.

She seems to feel resentment toward the fact that he has not loved and cherished her throughout the course of their marriage. Louise's thoughts continue to build as she thinks to herself "There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature" (23). This statement shows how he has held her back from expressing herself as a person and has forced his strong will upon her with which to obey. Nora has also been forced to conform to her role in society. She has conformed to playing the role of a caring housewife and mother. Her husband Torvald keeps a tight reign on her and makes sure that she behaves only as he pleases. In one instance, he detects that Nora has not been truthful with him. He remarks, "My little song-bird must never do that again. A song-bird must have a clean beak to chirp with?no false notes" (761)! This remark allows the audience to understand how much control he has over Nora. Throughout this story, Mr. Helmer maintains an arrogant attitude and expects Nora to always agree with him. In one instance, Nora remarks to him, "But don't you think it is nice of me too, to do as you wish?" Torvald responds, "Nice??because you do as your husband wishes?" "Well, well, you little rogue, I am sure you did not mean it in that way" (761). Nora's feelings are constantly repressed and regarded as unimportant to Torvald. He admits that he

Symbols are important, especially in literature. They have been known to inspire hope and life, in turn inspiring some of the most profound actions in the history of the world. Yet, humanity’s statement to symbols goes beyond us finding meaning in innominate or non-human objects. People assign humanity into objects, almost a part of themselves. This concept is clearly demonstrated in Susan Glaspell’s play, Trifles. The work contains many element of symbolism that make important and relieving comments on the characters of the play and the themes of the story.

In the early 1900’s, both males and females were perceived as complete opposites of eachother. Women were considered physically weaker and morally superior to men. The gender roles during this time period were clearly demonstrated in the play “Trifles”, by Susan Glaspell. At a first glance it may seem like the play is only about the death of Mr. Wright. The play could simply be interpreted that the characters all work together to determine the murderer of Mr. Wright. The initial perception overlooks how the women were treated during this time period. The men conclude that the women are incapable of finding the murderer of Mr. Wright only because they are female. Similarly, Mr. Wright does not think twice about how poorly he treats his wife

Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour is a brilliant short story of irony and emotion. The story demonstrates conflicts that take us through the character’s emotions as she finds out about the death of her husband. Without the well written series of conflicts and events this story, the reader would not understand the depth of Mrs. Mallard’s inner conflict and the resolution at the end of the story. The conflict allows us to follow the emotions and unfold the irony of the situation in “The Story of an Hour.”

In the late ninetieth and early twentieth centuries women were thought of as dolls, puppets, or property. In many cases, they weren’t allowed to make decisions for themselves. Women were only good at worrying about frivolous housework and lighthearted pleasantries. In the two plays “A Doll House” by Heinrich Ibsen, and “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell, there are several exploitations of this way of thinking.

A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen and Trifles by Susan Glaspell are two plays that depict sexist attitudes towards women as both take place in societies where men are deemed as strong and smart and women as vulnerable and even silly. In A Doll's House, women are depicted as beings whom are there to sacrifice for their men. Women are not to be taken seriously. Men, by and large, take women for granted because they are blind to the sacrifices that women do make for them; instead men see themselves as more important because they are the heads of households who make money and decisions for the family. In A Doll's House Nora's ultimate sacrifice is finally walking away from her family. In Trifles, women are once again rather ignored in society. This is reflected in the story that takes place in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Wright. Mr. Wright has just been murdered and some important men come to investigate the crime. The men believe that Mrs. Wright murdered her husband, but are confused as to why she would do it. As two of the men's wives wait downstairs while the men do their important work, they end up solving the crime. The name "Trifles" comes from the men in the story who scoff at the women for paying attention to "trifles" though, what they do not know is that it is these very trifles that help the women in solving the crime. In A Doll's House, Nora goes behind her husband's back and takes out a loan to help him. The lengths that Nora goes to in getting this loan must be kept in

Susan Glaspell’s one act play “Trifles” is based on an actual murder court trial that she remembered covering from her days as a newspaper reporter in Iowa. She wrote at a time when women were supposed to be submissive to men and especially to their husbands. This play takes a look at a common social problem during the early 1900s when Americans wanted to keep all of their relationship problems private. Many married couples would do anything to keep their lives free from scandal, and this murder mystery examines the necessity of appearances and reputation of having the perfect marriage that was typical during that time. This was done to protect the married couple from being scorned by family, friends and community if their secrets were ever turned into a scandal. It is an incredible play that may be better understood by those who have experienced the same situation at some time in their lives. This play/production is a good definition/example of a problem play because it aims to draw attention to a /the social problem, such as of emotional abuse.

People are capable of doing crazy things! Nora, in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, loved her husband so much that she committed forgery just for the sake of his wellbeing. Susan Glaspell’s character in Trifles, Mrs. Wright, murders her husband after she discovers that he killed the one most precious thing to her, her pet bird. It was out of love that these women committed illegal crimes. Nora wanted her husband to be healthy because she loved him and knew that without his salary coming in, their home would fall apart. In contrast, Mrs. Wright wanted her husband dead. He was responsible for taking the life of the only company she had for many years. Mrs. Wright loved her pet bird more than she

Something that characterizes these stories is the rich language and unique word choices Kate Chopin has made. In “The Story of an Hour,” Chopin uses phrases that seem to contradict to describe Mrs. Mallard’s inner turmoil as she comes

Due to her condition, the news was told to her very carefully through “broken sentences...” which resulted in a wave of grief, causing Louise Mallard to turn to the arms of her sister, Josephine (Chopin 13). Mrs. Mallard’s reaction is atypical to the reaction of others. After the sudden feeling of wild abandonment had diminished, she chooses to be alone rather than to have company of her loved ones as most women do during a time of mourning. Mary E. Papke says

“Trifles” is a play by Susan Glaspell. The play is set in the abandoned farmhouse of John Wright. Mr. Wright was murdered and the suspect is his wife Minnie. Glaspell uses this play to illustrate how women were socially oppressed in early America. Glaspell expresses just how men think a women’s worth is in how well she keeps her house. An example is when the county attorney states, “Dirty towels!” and “Not much of a Housekeeper, would you say ladies?” (pg. 746) The language is that of working class people, farmers and such. A impressive example would be when Mr. Hale was explaining his conversation with Mrs. Wright to the attorney. Mr. Hale stated, “‘How do. Mrs.

The play Trifles written by Susan Glaspell is a mystery story of a murder that takes place in a small farming town. At the time the play was written women in the united states were still not given the opportunity to vote. It is through the mystery of this murder that we find the role of gender to be a major factor throughout the entirety of the play. In the play, we are given tandems of females and males to follow as they seek to solve the mystery of how Mrs. Wright’s husband was murdered. The tandems are composed of Mr. and Mrs. Hale, neighboring farmers, the town sheriff and his wife as well as the court attorney, George Henderson. The first indication to the role of gender in this play is when the men split from the women in search

The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin is a short yet complex story, describing Mrs Mallard’s feelings. It focuses on the unfolding emotional state of Mrs Mallard after the news of her husbands death, and has overflowing symbolism and imagery. It is an impressive literary piece that touches the readers’ feelings and mind and allows the reader to have a connection to Mrs Mallard’s emotional process. Although the story is short, it is complete with each word carrying deep sense and meaning. It is written in the 19th century, a time that had highly restrictive gender roles that forbade women to live as they saw fit. Mrs Mallard experiences something not everyone during this time has the luck to have; the happiness of freedom that the reader only