Susan Glaspell 's ' Trifles '

the men and the women. Glaspell portrays that women weren’t looked upon the same as the men. Most women were highly looked down upon by their job in society which, was mostly housekeeping and taking care of their kids. The men in Trifles have this belief as the Country Attorney indicates: “Dirty Towels, not much a housekeeper, would you say, ladies?” (187). Upon most conversations between the men and women, the men tend to mock the women. These quotes, also, demonstrate how the men feel about the overall kitchen, which is consider a “woman’s territory”. What went on in the kitchen and everything inside of it was trivial to the men and thus didn’t want anything to do with

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.

The play ?Trifles?, by Susan Glaspell , is an examination of the different levels of early 1900?s mid-western farming society?s attitudes towards women and equality. The obvious theme in this story is men discounting women?s intelligence and their ability to play a man?s role, as detectives, in the story. A less apparent theme is the empathy the women in the plot find for each other. Looking at the play from this perspective we see a distinct set of characters, a plot, and a final act of sacrifice.

First of all, Glaspell largely examines the repression of women in the 1900s. Women were highly looked down upon by men, and were seen mostly as housekeepers and child bearers, and were definitely not seen as intelligent people. The women in this play prove that the stereotypes against them are completely wrong. The men in this story are sent out to discover the details of a murder, while the women come along to gather some things for Mrs. Wright, who was accused of killing her husband. Throughout the play, the men mock the

In the past, people treated individuals depending on the gender: people treated men better than women as men’s strength took an important role to live in the past before the society develops. However, as the people generally thought of women insignificant, women have started to speak up to get over this unchanging perspective. In the early twentieth century, more women maintain for an equality in gender which is called feminism. As feminist group gets larger, more literacy works supporting feminism are published. One of those is ‘Trifles’ by Susan Glaspell as the American feminist movement addressed feminism at that time (Manuel, 57). There are several factors in Trifles representing the disadvantages of absence of feminism and the importance of feminism such as setting and situation.

“Bigger and better” demands society. Deeming the grand, the striking, and the eye-catching items in life as what is significant; dismissing the trifled subjects as inconsequential and trivial. However, In Susan Glaspell’s, “Trifles”, the seemingly minor, plain, bits of everyday life become the important yet overlooked evidence of murder. Although the play begins with emphasis on the cold, frozen setting of their home, through following the women and their curiosity, we see that the trifle objects such as the bird, the birdcage and the door become treasured symbols that represent the depths of Mrs. Wright. The trifle items in Mrs. Wright’s home start as literal objects, but become symbols when the meaning behind them is understood.

The men in the play showed lack of respect and concern for how difficult it was for women to keep the house clean and running smoothly. During the play the men did nothing but criticized everything the women said about Mrs. Wright, they would

In the play "trifles" by Susan Glaspell a woman named Ms. Wright has been taken in as suspect for the murder of her husband and the play takes place as the detectives search her home for a motive. While the true murderer and their motive is never plainly stated through symbolism and small details within the play one is able to get a look into the thought process of Ms. Wright and realize her motive for killing her husband. The symbolism within the story also draws parallels to Ms. Wrights actions and those of the ones who cover up for Ms. Wright.

Near the climatic moment in Susan Glaspell’s one act, Trifles, a farmwife sucessfully justifies to her friend why they should hid the evidence of a murder another woman committed. Instead of using logical reasoning, Mrs. Hale reasons with her by using empathy, saying, “I might have known she needed help! I know how things can be-for women. I tell you, it’s queer, Mrs. Peters. We live close together and we live far apart. We all go through the same thing-it’s all just a different kind of same thing.” (Glaspell, 943). Originally performed in 1916 by the Provincetown Players, an American theatre company Glaspell helped established, Trifles strove to create consciousness about the oppression women faced daily. This play was revolutionary for time,

“Trifles” is a one act play written by Susan Glaspell in 1916, which was first performed on August 8th by the Provincetown Players in Provincetown, Massachusetts at the Wharf Theater. The author, Susan Glaspell, was born on July 1, 1876 in Davenport, Iowa. Over her lifetime she had become proficient in many different professions: Playwright, Actress, Novelist, and Journalist. For her works, she won an American Pulitzer Prize in 1931. The Provincetown Players was founded by Susan Glaspell and her husband, George Cram Cook. This was the first modern American theater company. Most of her works centered on current issues at the time such at gender roles between males and females. Susan Glaspell was not the typical woman of her time, she decided to go to school and get herself an education and find herself a her own career instead of waiting around for a husband. In 1899, Glaspell graduated from Drake University in Iowa and found herself a job as a journalist for the Des Monies Daily newspaper. The play Trifles was based upon a story that Glaspell reported on when she was a journalist.

The article had a deep analyzation of Trifles by Susan Glaspell. Alkalay-Gut focuses in on scenes that show the clear division amongst the men and the woman in the play. For various scenes, the article takes apart and truly explains the symbolism throughout the course of the play. Not only are the symbols explained and given high importance, but Alkalay-Gut mentions the main character would have never had a fair trial to begin with. This ties in with my theme focusing on the belittlement of women.

A trifle is something that has little value or importance, and there are many seeming "trifles" in Susan Glaspell's one-act play "Trifles." The irony is that these "trifles" carry more weight and significance than first seems to be the case. Just as Glaspell's play ultimately reveals a sympathetic nature in Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, the evidence that the men investigators fail to observe, because they are blind to the things that have importance to a woman, reveals the identity of the murderer and are, therefore, not really "trifles," after all. Thus, the title of the play has a double-meaning: it refers, satirically, to the way "trifling" way some men perceive women, and it also acts as an ironic gesture to the fact that women are not as "trifling" as these men make them out to be. This paper will analyze setting, characters, plot, stage directions, symbolism, themes and genre to show how Glaspell's "Trifles" is an ironic indictment not of a murderess but rather of the men who push women to such acts.

What is a trifle? A trifle is something that has little to no importance (dictionary.com). For instance, the color of your nails would be considered a trifle. In Trifles by Susan Glaspell, women are criticized and made fun of by men because of the little things they worry about, such as the color of their nails or their hair. This exhibits the gender role difference portrayed during the play’s time period. The central conflict is what the plot is centered around. In Trifles, the central conflict involves the investigation the Mr. Wright’s murder. As the story progresses, we learn that the women’s trifles would’ve helped the men solve the murder, which is ironic. Numerous accounts of symbolism, relating Mrs.Wright to the bird, is also found

Susan Glaspell's Trifles explores the classical male stereotype of women by declaring that women frequently worry about matters of little, or no importance. This stereotype makes the assumption that only males are concerned with important issues, issues that females would never discuss or confront. The characters spend the entirety of the play searching for clues to solve a murder case. Ironically, the female characters, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, uncover crucial evidence and solve the murder case, not the male characters. The men in the play, the Sheriff, County Attorney, and Hale, search the scene of the crime for evidence on their own, and mock the women's discussions. The women's interest in the quilt,