Minnie Wright's Trifles Analysis

The play Trifles by Susan Glaspell is an interesting story about a woman named Mrs.Minnie Wright. Mrs. Minnie wright does not actually take part in the scene but is actually the main character throughout the play. The focus of the play is about whether or not Minnie Wright did in fact murder her husband, John Wright or did he commit suicide. Throughout the scene, they bring in people to look over or find evidence that can be used to give testimony at her trial. Mrs. Minnie wright should be found innocent of her husband's death, It does not matter if she had a part in his death or not. The fact that she was not happy because of her husband's attitude towards her tells the audience that she was not happy and was a captive in what was supposed to be her home.

He says that’s what he can’t understand” (Glaspell 622). The victim was strung up by a rope in an elaborate manner; but why would the only person alive on earth with knowledge of the hidden gun not use the weapon sure to properly complete the job? Next, Naysayers might claim that the dead bird, killed in the same manner as the victim, is proof enough to connect Minnie to the crime. This simply is not true. Minnie’s pet bird, which she loves, is obviously a symbol of who Minnie was many years ago. She was forced to stop singing, and to stop just being who she was, by her late husband, John. During her talk with Mrs. Peters, Mrs. Hale compares Minnie to the bird and informs Glaspell’s audience of the alleged dark history of the Wrights: “Wright wouldn’t like the bird – a thing that sang. [Minnie] used to sing. He killed that, too” (Glaspell 625). Mrs. Hale undoubtedly knows, or at least surmises, of dark and vile things John did to emotionally batter his wife, Minnie. The important point to take away from the bird, though, is not read in this quote. It is contained between the lines. The bird was found in an ornamental box presumed to be its coffin. Immediately following this discovery, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters form their own conclusions: “[L]ook at it! Its neck! Look at its neck! It’s all – other side to,” states Mrs. Peters (Glaspell 624). Despite the two gossiping ladies drawing their own conclusions, the bird cannot be used against Minnie in a

Murder, torture, and mayhem are merely three of the unique problems that can be found throughout the one act play Trifles by Susan Glaspell. The writer opens up the story by explaining the situation of Mrs. Wright, a middle aged woman who is being accused of murdering her husband. The crime scene is a mess. A sheriff, the prosecuting attorney and their wives are looking in to the gruesome death that occurred upstairs in the Wright household. It is immediately found that the men focus their attention to the area around the body of Mr. Wright in search of evidence. However, it is the women begin to stumble across the clues that may lead to Mrs. Wright’s persecution. As more evidence is found we are lead to believe that Mrs. Wright did, in fact, kill her husband. By the end of the play the reader is still left wondering, why? Was it a case of self-defense, or is there something much deeper going on? Once a full understanding is reached, it becomes apparent that the only basis that should be used for dropping the charges of this case should be built on the notion of mental insanity. Mrs. Wright clearly demonstrates psychological tendencies that are symptomatic of Dissociative Disorders (Ben-Zvi, 145). With an evaluation of her past life, her behavior immediately after killing her husband, and evidence that is later found by the women, it becomes clear that Mrs. Wright was stricken with a Dissociative Disorder.

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

In Susan Glaspell’s short story “A Jury of Her Peers”, the women, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, were able to outsmart the men in the investigation of Mr. Wright’s death by discovering the motive for the murder. Minnie Wright is Mr. Wright’s wife and she is the one who murdered him by strangling him in a room upstairs. The woman in the story, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, figured out the Mrs. Wright killed her husband because there was evidence and hints around the kitchen. The men that came to solve the murder were he sheriff, a lawyer, and Mr. Hale however they completely disregarded looking in the kitchen for evidence instead they just “…laugh[ed] [at] the insignificance of kitchen things” (Glaspell 369). This lead the men to go upstairs in the

This murder is one that the two women can identify with. The reason is that both of the women were farmers' wives and had very similar lifestyles. Mrs. Hale describes John Wright as a hard man, and never let Mrs. Wright do anything. I feel that this is just how she is describing her own life perhaps. The two women also find a quilt that is not stitched very well. This adds to the fact Minnie Wright was under some stress when sewing this quilt. At this moment Mrs. Hale begins sewing the quilt, the way it should have been sewn in the first place. I feel that Glaspell is giving the women a lot of symbols to justify the women's findings, and making it easy for them to foil the investigation.

The men?s prejudice is blatant and although it was easy for Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters to pick up on it, they react to it in a variety of ways. Defensively, Mrs. Hale, replies rigidly to the County Attorney?s remark by stating that "there?s a great deal of work to be done on a farm," (958) offering an excuse for Minnie?s lapse in cleaning. Later, he brushes her off when she explains that John Wright was a grim man. To the County Attorney, the women are just there to collect personal items for Minnie, they are not going to give him any valuable insight into the murder. To their credit, the women do not force their thoughts or feelings on the men when biased statements are made in their direction. They hold back and discuss the remarks later after the men go upstairs. Mrs. Peters observes that "Mr. Henderson is awful sarcastic in a speech and he?ll make fun of her sayin? she didn?t wake up" (960). The fact that she believes the men would laugh if they heard the two women discussing the dead canary reveals how sure she is that the men think of them as concerned with the

     Detectives are always looking for little pieces of evidence when investigating a crime. After all, it is this evidence that can turn a trial around, whether be it for the good or bad. This is especially the case in Susan Glaspell's Trifles. When Mrs. Hale comes across little pieces of evidence, she passes them off as being "trifles", hiding them from the detective. She is the sole reason that very little evidence is collected that would convict Mrs. Wright, and can be believed to have some sort of involvement in the murder of John Wright.

The audience and characters assume that Minnie is guilty, but with due motivation. “Two housewives, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, accompanying their husbands who are investigating the murder of a man by his wife, discover in the kitchen the clues which indicate the motive of the murderess” (Alkalay-Gut 1). The audience assumes that Minnie’s solitude, imposed on her by her husband, has lead her to be depressed. “Alienated from her husband, powerless and silenced by the circumstances of her marriage, and isolated from her neighbors, Minnie is an unseen woman long before she murders John Wright” (Noe 16). What if Minnie’s solitude was self-inflicted? Just as Mrs. Hale could have visited Minnie, Minnie could have visited Mrs. Hale and other women in the area, but chose not to. The audience assumes that John Wright treats Minnie coldly or harshly. Mrs Hale says, “No, Wright wouldn’t like the bird—a thing that sang. She used to sing. He killed that, too.” (Glaspell 1391). “Her life has been made miserable by an individual who has complete control of her” (Alkalay-Gut 3). What

Hale her neighbor says that the only time Minnie wright seemed happy was when she was not married. Mrs. Hale says, “I heard that she used to wear pretty clothes and be lively, when she was Minnie foster. But with thirty years of marriage, Mrs. Wright is now worried about her canned preserves freezing, and not having her apron whilst she is in jail. Mrs. Peters, the sheriff’s wife suggested that Mrs. Wright wanted her apron so that she can “feel more natural”; because that is what she is use to.

In the play titled Trifles, by Susan Glaspell, Minnie Foster Wright is being accused of murdering her husband, John. In this production, Mrs. Wright is consistently referenced, and although she is not witnessed, she is very recognizable. There are important symbols in this play that signifies Mrs. Wright and her existence as it once was and as it currently exists to be. Particularly the canary, this symbolizes Mrs. Wright's long forgotten past. Additionally, the birdcage, this symbolizes her life as it currently exists. Certainly the quilt is a symbol, which is an important clue on how Mr. Wright was killed. In addition, the rocking chair, this symbolizes her life as it has diminished throughout

In Trifles, the play takes place at an abandon house at a farm where John Wright and his wife, Minnie Wright lived. John was killed with a rope around his neck while his wife was asleep. The neighbor, county attorney and sheriff came to the crime scene for investigation. Along with them

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

The story of “Trifles” exposes the sexism that women dealt with then, and still to some extent deal with today. The men show major examples of diminishing and downplaying the women’s intelligence when ignoring them throughout examining the crime scene. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale find incriminating evidence against Minnie, but the men never think to ask them their opinion; they are too preoccupied searching for solid tangible, evidence. Although the women find evidence to believe Minnie is the killer, I believe they feel somewhat responsible for her. This concluding that both genders are somewhat sexist. The men on the husband’s side, and the women on Minnie’s side. Perception differs with their gender. While the men look for “something to show anger, or sudden feeling”, something more obvious; the messy kitchen is labeled as bad housekeeping, instead of being used as evidence. The clues are presented but their male perception enables the men from seeing them. (Glaspell’s)

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.