Susan Glaspell's Triffles

Mrs.Minnie Wright does not deserve to be condemned for the crime of murdering of her husband. Mrs.Wright should not be condemned to prison or death because she has already suffered enough although her marriage and needs to have enough room and space to be able to take a breath. There is no concrete evidence that she had a hand in his death. The only evidence that seems to be against her is the fact that she is not acting the way the men want her to. The fact that she is not crying or wailing about the death of her husband seems to upset the men in the play. So much in fact that they seem to ignore

The play “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell is type of murder mystery that takes place in the early 1900’s. The play begins when the sheriff Mr. Peters and county attorney Mr. Henderson come to attempt to piece together what had happen on the day that Mr. Wright was murder. While investigating the seen of the murder, they are accompanied by the Mr. Hale, Mrs. Hale and Mr. Peters. Mr. Hale had told that Mrs. Wright was acting strange when he found her in the kitchen. After taking information from Mr. Hale, the men leave the women in the kitchen and go upstairs at seen of the murder. The men don’t realize the plot of the murder took place in the kitchen.

The play Trifles was written by Susan Glaspell, who is considered to be one of the first feminist writers in American literature. In the story there is an ongoing investigation to find out who killed Mr. Wright and all the evidence is pointing to Mrs. Wright. Two of Mrs. Wright’s neighbors are determined to find out what really happened. Trifles is a suspenseful story that holds many feminist viewpoints that collides with justice for women when it comes to domestic violence.

The patented murder mystery, in all its addictive predictability, presents the audience with numerous cliches: a stormy night, a shadowy figure, a sinister butler, and a mysterious phone call. Susan Glaspell's Trifles does not fit this mold. Glaspell's mysterious inquiry into the murder of John Wright presents the reader with only one suspect, Mrs. Wright. Even though the court examiner and sheriff cannot find evidence against Mrs. Wright, the reader can plausibly argue the case against the neglected wife. Glaspell's use of descriptive language and subtle hints established the mood, presents the motive, and uncovers the evidence needed to solve this murder mystery.

Authors can choose to write a story in many ways. The author of the stories is susan glaspell.While the play Triffles and “A way of a jury of Her Peers”, are comparable by and different in many ways.

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.

Mrs. Hale begins the play with a greater suspicion of the designs of the men in their investigation of Mrs. Wright's crime. However, not until she compares the state of the Wright kitchen to her memory of Minnie Foster does she articulate that "we all go through the same things--it's all just a different kind of the same thing," and she comes to accept her portion of blame for not alleviating Minnie Wright's loneliness (Glaspell pg. 1046). On the other hand, Mrs. Peters commences with the assumption that because she is married to the sheriff, she must uphold male definitions of duty and law. By the end of the play, she protects Minnie because she has chosen to empathize with someone who reflects her own needs rather than with the identity imposed

Knot It “Trifles” written by Susan Glaspell is a well written murder mystery play written in 1916. The play is based on a real case in Iowa when Margaret Hossack murdered her husband in his sleep and was set free. Glaspell uses many references to quilting in “Trifles” that pull the piece together and emphasis the importance of community, especially among women of the time. This is seen by the use the phrase “knot it” through out the play.

The play, “Triffles” was written in 1916 by Susan Glaspell. It is about a man named John Wright, who has been murdered by his wife Mrs. Wright. The police, including three men and two women, came into the farmhouse, where the murder took place and started searching for evidence. When Glaspell wrote this play, there was a lot going on at that time. Women were getting less respect and always looked down by men.

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

“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.

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

As we all know, women suffer a lot under men’s control in the early twentieth century. In the play, Mrs Wright is the best example to show the existence of oppression in women. The readers get to know the real reason why Mrs Wright murders Mr Wright. Before marrying John Wright, Minnie Foster was a cheerful and popular singer. Her life undergoes big changes after marrying John Wright. She is forced to live in John’s uncheerful and hollow farmhouse, managing households every day. She struggles and suffers alone as they are childless. This is portrayed through Mrs Hale and Mrs Peters conversations. “I stayed away because it weren’t cheerful. Maybe it’s down in a hollow and you don’t see the road.”John Wright has used to control Minnie Foster’s daily activities. She has no choice but keeping herself alone in the kitchen. Her decision to buy a canary to sing for her has made mad of the husband, John Wright. He killed the bird and the killing of bird oppressed Minnie Foster to murder her husband. The main cause of the tragedy is prominent through the theme of oppression of women. If John Wright treats her wife nicely, I am sure that the murder will not happen. With this, I think that Glaspell may like to emphasize that women often have the rights to be treated equally just as the

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.