Essay on Observations of Women in "Trifles"

As he says this all the men laugh. Later on as the men come back from getting the fire wood, the attorney also says “Well, ladies, have you decided whether she was going to quilt it or knot it?” (1255) So the men must think the women are insignificant because they still think they are really discussing this subject. The only male in this story that does not seem to feel any hierarchy over the women is the neighboring farmer. He keeps to himself most of the time and does not really take part in putting down the women with their own ways. He does state one remark though that shows he still thinks a little more of himself than of the women. When the women said how Mrs. Wright was worried about her preserves. The sheriff states, “Well, you can beat a women! Held for murder and worryin’ about her preserves.” (1251) And Mr. Hale follows saying “Well, women are use to worrying about trifles.” (1251) Meaning how women worry to much about unimportant things. This making the women seem even more insignificant and useless in dealing with the case.

- Because it shows that Mrs. Wright knows how to knot a rope its ironic that she uses that term as mrs. Wright used a knot to kill her husband .

Wright to the murder of her husband. At the beginning of the play Mr. Hale acknowledges the males attitudes toward women without knowing. For example he states, “….I didn’t know as what his wife wanted made much difference to John.” (1001). This clearly signifies the male’s insensitivity to women. This statement that Mr. Hale made referring to John and how he does not care what his wife wanted or did not want does not even trigger the question, how was Mrs. Wright treated by her husband? Women were clearly not has important as the men. The men disregard women’s opinions and don’t give a thought to women’s needs or wants. Mr. Hale was speaking of John, Mrs. Wright’s dead husband in the above example; however Mr. Hale also expresses his insensitivity and arrogant attitude toward women. Mr. Hale states, “Well women are used to worrying over trifles.” (1003). Trifles something that is small, of no consequence, this is how Mr. Hale thinks of women. The things women are concerned with are of no importance, they are petty. This is an obvious illustration of the men’s arrogant and insensitive attitudes toward women.

In the early 1900´s women did not have the same rights as men and are not respected as much as men either. Women did not get their voting rights till 1920, four years after the play Trifles by Susan Glaspell. In the play women are suppressed by men and society, Mrs.Hale and Mrs.Peters prove that women are not constrained by society's rules and are in fact, the most astute characters in *Susan Glaspell’s play “Trifles”*.

While talking, the women find a fancy box belonging Mrs. Wright. Inside the box, is what they believe to be Mrs. Wright’s dead pet bird. They realize that “somebody – wrung – its – neck” (1172) Remembering a similar incident in her life, Mrs. Peters says, “When I was a girl – my kitten –there was a boy took a hatchet, and before my eyes, ..If they hadn’t held me back I would have hurt him.” (1172) They place the dead bird back in the box, and then, surprisingly, they hide the box. You can almost see what’s going on in the mind of these two women as they must be imagining poor Mrs. Wright, horrified that her awful husband killed her bird, then she must have snapped and strangled him to end her own suffering.

The third piece of evidence, the mutilated canary, shows the motive for Mrs. Wright to kill her husband. In the story the women find a beautiful box and in the box wrapped in silk was the dead bird which then by closer examination they found had its neck snapped. Based on the box and the silk we can infer that Mrs. Wright loved her bird and would not of broke its neck so that leaves Mr. Wright to do so. Silk is an expensive fabric and usually you put you most prized possessions in it, and the beautiful box also shows that Mrs. Wright loved her canary.

The men were still looking for evidence, but women are replaying the scene of murder in there minds. They conclude that Mrs. Wright was sewing in kitchen, when Mr. Wright came into the kitchen and saw the bird. This explains why Mrs. Wright was sewing nervously. I assumed that Mr. Wright didn’t like birds, because they are very noisy referring to conversation with Mr. Hale about the joining party phone line. Mr. Wright must have seen the birdcage with the bird. He must have broken the birdcage and broke the bird’s neck. This was enough of a motive need for Mrs. Wright to kill her husband. The

First of all, in “Trifles”, men acted towards the women just as they would back in 1916. The men are seen as very dominating and they have little to no respect for women (School Helper). It is shown in the play when Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale found the quilt Mrs. Wright was making and they showed it to Mr. Henderson. “They wonder if she was going to quilt it or just know it!” (Glaspell). When they showed Mr. Henderson the quilt, he mocked and laughed at them. Showing that he didn’t care about some quilt that could have been a big piece of solving the case. Also, the men in the play push the women aside and demote the women when they try to help in the investigation (School Helper). Mr. Hale and Mr. Henderson really don’t care about the things women back then were accustomed to. When Mr. Henderson asked Mr. Hale if anything was important to investigate in the kitchen, Mr. Hale said, “Nothing here but kitchen things” (Glaspell). Proving they don’t care about trifles.

Also, each play has women making decision for other women. This is human nature at its finest. People want to make decisions for other people. It is a basic desire to want to sway another person’s opinion. Even when teaching another person, opinions are passed along through most lessons. Control can be explicit or subliminal. Telling your wife, she can’t behave a certain way would be explicit. Saying “Women are used to worrying over trifles” has a more subliminal tone. Both plays are about control of women and their actions. In one play the woman are expected to give into men’s judgment, while in the other the women are generally ignored. Both plays have women portrayed as play things that are not meant to have

The plot of both Susan Glaspell’s “Trifles” and Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll House” provides scope for a few scenes that lack the presence of all or any men. These scenes, consisting of communication between the female characters, assist in developing the theme of women openly defying the fact that the society they live in is primarily run by men. All the power and authority in their society, no matter the situation, belongs to the men while the women are simply excluded. The women in these plays defy the norms set by society and manage to evade the expectations of their patriarchal societies.

An interesting twist within the story, was how the women decided not to share their thoughts and ideas with the men. Glaspell wanted to portray the way women subconsciously learned to stay silent over time, even if it is obvious that they have come across something relevant to the case. Mrs. Peters says, “My, it's a good thing the men couldn't hear us. Wouldn't they just laugh! Getting all stirred up over a little thing like a - dead canary. As if that could have anything to do with - with- wouldn't they laugh” (Glaspell). They dismiss their own witty theories as trifles due to the fact that they believe their husbands

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

The women empower themselves through silence, particularly in the kitchen communicating and reflecting upon things around them in the limited space they were given. The men dismiss the kitchen finding nothing that is relevant to the murder case. The men keep crisscrossing through the kitchen, ignoring and not realizing they could find the vital evidence through trivial details. Even though they were having difficulty in finding clues that lead to the murder. While the women were alone looking through Minnie’s kitchen they found the most valuable evidence the “missing piece to men’s puzzle” (Holstein 283). Mrs. Hale found the dead bird strangled in the sewing box telling “Mrs. Peters-look at it! Its neck! Look at its neck!” (782). Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters recognize the bird was strangled brutally “their eyes meet. A look of growing comprehension, of horror” (Glaspell 782). Both of them realized the bird was killed the same way as Mr. Wright with the rope around their neck. The strangled bird represents Minnie Foster how her freedom and joy was strangled to death. When the men came in the kitchen, the county attorney noticed the bird cage, wondering if the bird flew away, but Mrs. Hale lied and said “we think the- cat got it” ( Glaspell 782). The county attorney seek only visible evidence for murder he was wasn’t thinking critically what it may mean. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters covered the evidence keeping it between themselves for their own knowledge. They

Mr. Hale remarks, "Well, women are used to worrying over trifles" (1174), and Sheriff Peters assumes the insignificance of "kitchen things" (1174). Hence, women are forced into a domestic, secondary role, like it or not, and are not even respected for that. Mr. Hale, Sheriff Peters, and the county attorney all dismiss the dialogue between Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale as feminine chitchat. Further, the county attorney allows the women to leave the Wrights' house unsupervised because he sees Mrs. Peters as merely extension of her husband.

Mrs. Peters, we'll call her the antagonist, repeatedly brings up the fact that the men are only doing their job and that the law will determine Mrs. Wright's fate. Mrs. Hale, on the other hand, as the protagonist, resents the men's "sneaking" and "snooping around. Now she turns the men's stereotype of women against them. She feels guilty about not being around the Wright's farmhouse more often.