Minnie's Crime

The invisibility of Minnie serves several other purposes. It portrays the way in which men from the play approach the investigation and the very way they perceive women. Starting from her husband, neither of the men seems to understand Minnie. The three men performing the role of the investigators fail to see crucial details of the situation and the importance of insight into Minnie’s psychological condition, which is necessary for solving the case. The men cannot read the messages Minnie Wright sends through the details of her house because the men refuse to relate to the role of women during this time period. The absence of the character of Minnie demonstrates injustice, suffering, and the unjust treatment of women. Glaspell uses this device in order to show the ability of Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale to find out the true story of Minnie Wright’s life by displaying Minnie’s everyday objects and her personal space,

The worst part of it all is that she had a little pet bird that she treated like her own child and John Wright has killed by wringing its neck. She has nothing to love or care for and definitely has no one to love and care for her in the way she so desperately needs. When John Wright kills her only friend that brings her happiness, her little bird, she has to kill him. Minnie always had friends and loved life until this man kept her away from it. Minnie has every right in the world to kill her husband.

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

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

Other significant symbols in the story are the bird and the birdcage. Mrs. Hale describes Minnie, before her marriage, as "kind of like a bird herself-real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and fluttery"(glaspell 165). The bird is caged just as Minnie is trapped in the abusive relationship with John. John figuratively strangles the life out of Minnie like he literally strangles the bird. When he kills the bird, he kills the last bit of Minnie and her spirit. Mrs.Hale and Mrs. Peters find Minnie's bird cage in the cupboard, but they don't realize the importance of it until they find the dead bird with its neck twisted to one side. The birdcage symbolizes Minnie's life. The bird and the birdcage is a private symbol which is also representative of the role women are forced into in society, the bird being women and the cage being men. Minnie then strangles the life out of John like he strangled the life out of her bird.

The name of the woman who murdered her husband, Minnie Foster, is an example of symbolism. The name “Minnie” is derived from the word miniscule, which means small or inferior. In her relationship with her husband, Minnie was made to feel small and insignificant. This symbolizes that Minnie was repressed by her marriage. Mrs. Hale repeatedly refers to Minnie as Minnie Foster, her maiden name, instead of her married name, Minnie Wright. This symbolizes that Mrs. Hale did not approve of Minnie's marriage to Mr. Wright. In the mind of Mrs. Hale, Minnie is

The narrative states,” ‘She just nodded her head, not getting a bit excited, but rockin’ back and forth. “Why-- where is he?” says I, not knowing what to say,’” (Arp 410). Minnie’s husband is dead but she does not seem emotional about it. The fact that she shows no emotion foreshadows the idea that she may have killed him, but it also could show that no sign of emotion is how she deals with death. In addition, the reader can see into Mr.Wright’s psyche despite him being dead throughout the entire narrative. The narrative states,” ‘No, Wright wouldn’t like the bird,’ she said after that--’ a thing that sang. She used to sing. He killed that too,’” (Arp 423). Mr.Wright liked peace and quiet so he killed the bird because it sang. This shows that he justified in his mind the killing of an animal because of something as simple as

Before she married John, she used to sing in the choir, she was always very active in her community. After she got married, she never interacted with her community; she was always “lonely”. Minnie was a housewife alone all day while John was away at work. Minnie and John never had any children, "Not having children makes less work—but it makes a quiet house" (Susan Glaspell, 21). Mrs. Hale says, “Just to pass the time of day with him [John]… [Was] Like a raw wind that gets to the bone." (Susan Glaspell, 22). Minnie must have been miserable living with John, so she took up the bird. She possibly treated the bird as her child, singing to it and caring for it. She was devastated to have seen the birds’ neck wrung the way it was. She must have mourned the death of the bird the same as the death of a child. Mrs. Hale describes Minnie Foster as, “kind of like a bird herself -- real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and – fluttery”(Susan Glaspell, 22). When Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters find Minnie's birdcage in the cupboard, they do not realize the importance of it until they find the dead bird with its neck “wrung” (Susan Glaspell, 23). Mrs. Hale says to Mrs. Peters, “No, Wright wouldn't like the bird -- a thing that sang. She used to sing. He killed that, too” (Glaspell, 25). Mr. Wright’s presumed killing is a “symbolic attack” (Brian Sutton, 172) on his wife, and

The two women were left in the kitchen and they discovered clues for why Minnie was motivated to murder Mr. Wright. Martha Hale and Mrs. Peters noticed details in the kitchen that the men sought it as normal. Glaspell points out the men’s opinion of

Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters were only in Minnie's home for a short period of time yet this revealed to them that Minnie was much like them. As Mrs. Hale was leaving her house to go with the others to Minnie's house she noticed

In the course of life, most people experiences the same things, but in different ways and at different times. For Minnie Foster of Susan Glaspell’s, Trifles, and Hester of Gwen Pharis Ringwood’s play, Still Stands the House, they both experience extreme isolation, depression, and insanity.

At this point everything seems to point to the fact that Minnie had committed the murder of her husband. The ironic thing about the plot is that the women were going through Minnie's things and the men just viewed them as insignificant trifles, when that is how the women pieced together that Minnie had gone crazy. In the play since it is a one act play as soon as the climax happens the play goes straight to the end. In the story everything develops differently and once the climax happens there is more time between it and the climax to give the reader more

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

John not only takes away her love of singing and cheerfulness but he also isolates her from the outside world. Being cut off from everyone with nothing to occupy her time Minnie may have had a mental breakdown. In “A Different Kind of the Same Thing”: Marie de France’s Laustic and Glaspell’s Trifles, it states, “listening to a songbird is equated with the desire for freedom” (Sutton 171). Minnie yearns for freedom from her tormenting husband and after years of misery she finally breaks. Sutton also explains the reason Minnie is isolated for example, she says, “[s]he lives on an isolated farm, and because of her husband’s cold personality…she rarely has visitors” (171). The only visitor the Wright’s have is Mr. Hale, who is only there to see

Minnie Wright not being present in the plot allows the woman to solve the mystery on their own. It also allows them to connect with her more as well as connect with her state of mind. Mrs. Hale says “Not having children makes less work - but It makes for a quiet house, and Wright out to work all day, and no company when he did come in” (122.) This quote shows how Mrs. Hale is feeling, she is realizing that Minnie wright must have been very lonely sitting in her house all day with no one and nothing to do. A few pages later she says “Oh, I wish i’d come over here once in a while! That was a crime! That was a crime! Who’s going to punish that?” (125) In this moment Mrs. Hale in strongly