Essay on The Treatment of Women in Trifles by Susan Glaspell

“Well, women are used to worrying over trifles,” Mr. Hale, a character in the play, Trifles, causally points out alluding that women lack the common sense to worry about the important things in life (1389). Trifles was written by Susan Glaspell in 1916 and first performed on August 9, 1916 by the Providence Players in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The play Trifles is about the investigation into the murder of John Wright by his wife Minnie, and how the men overlook the “trifles” and the women use these small things to piece together the clues to reveal the truth behind the murder. Susan Glaspell uses irony and symbolism in the play, Trifles, to show the lack of appreciation that men had for women and their handling of small everyday occurrences

In the play Trifles by Susan Glaspell women had different roles in the early nineteenth hundred compared to women in today’s society. Ramona Mihaila stated that, “the girls’ education is oriented only towards domestic life” (658). So, at a young age the women were only prep to do one thing and that was to take care of the family. Women in the early and the late nineteenth hundred were just the maids of the house, cooked, cleaned, etc. In the article, by Kathryn Hughes she stated during this time, “Women were considered physically weaker yet morally superior to men.” However, men did not allow women to work or have a steady job like them, so men were the only providers during this time. Women could not speak their mind, so they had to live by

"Trifles," a one-act play written by Susan Glaspell, is a cleverly written story about a murder and more importantly, it effectively describes the treatment of women during the early 1900s. In the opening scene, we learn a great deal of information about the people of the play and of their opinions. We know that there are five main characters, three men and two women. The weather outside is frighteningly cold, and yet the men enter the warm farmhouse first. The women stand together away from the men, which immediately puts the men against the women. Mrs. Hale's and Mrs. Peters's treatment from the men in the play is reflective of the beliefs of that time. These women, aware of the powerless slot

Second, Mrs. Wright has been dead inside but her body was still alive. As the men survey the mess in the kitchen they completely miss the significance of the untidy room. They attribute the mess to poor housekeeping instead of recognizing its significance as a breakdown in the Wright’s home. The women, unlike the men, begin to understand through these unfinished chores that something has gone terribly wrong in Minnie’s world. Mrs. Hale stated, “Not having children makes less work—but it makes a quiet house, and Wright out to work all day, and no company when he did some in” (11). “Wright was close. I think maybe that’s why she kept so much to herself. She didn’t even belong to the Ladies Aid. I suppose she felt she couldn’t do her part, and

In the play “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell, the prevalent theme is that sexism can make people blind to the truth. The play takes place in the late 1800s, when sexism is very popular and normal. Men always thought lowly of women. In the play, there is two men investigating the murder of a man with the wife as the main suspect. One of the men investing, Mr. Hale says, “Well, women are used to worrying over trifles”(Glaspell, 1916, p. 3). Hale is saying women worry over small unimportant things, which isn’t always true. Then in the kitchen, the County Attorney notices dirty towels. He is quick to say that Mrs. Wright, the wife, wasn’t very good at cleaning. The County Attorney says, “...I know there are some Dickson county farmhouses which do not

The play Trifles published in the early 20th century by Susan Glaspell shows how women were viewed as possessions and belittled by their husbands. With this play, Glaspell exposes the sexism that the women endured in that period and characterized social stigma with the murder of John Wright.

The conflict between Mrs. Hales and Mrs. Peters is to whether or not to report to the authorities what they have found in Minnie’s room; which can be used as evidence that can land Minnie on jail for killing her husband. The fact that Mrs. Peters was the sheriff's wife made things more complicated; she knew that she shouldn’t hide things from her husband, because as the county attorney said, she was part f the law, “For that matter a sheriff’s wife is married to the law.” (Glaspell 735) Mrs. Hale on the other hand, shows her sympathy openly, she was a neighbor and a former friend of Minnie, and she felt regretful for not visiting Minnie and getting to know if she needed help, she knew that life was complicated for women even if it was not

Although Minnie Wright did not admit to the crime, it was made obvious by the way she reacted to the situation. According to Mr. Hale, she did not paid attention nor invited him to the stove when he came to their house; she also was just sitting in her rocking chair pleatin’ her apron after the fact that she knew her husband is dead in their room(Glaspell). The women. Mrs. Hales and Mrs. Peters, eventually found incriminating evidences against Minnie. The men however, failed to see these evidence because of their bias perception—small things do not matter.

From the beginning the women of “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell do not seem to have a significant role in the play. These women appear to just be along for the ride while their husbands do the dirty work of searching through the crime scene. In the end even though they serve as secondary characters to their husbands, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters play a large role in portraying the theme of this play, and without them the plot would not have been conducted nearly the same way to get the message out to the audience.

Mrs. Peters notices that Mrs. Wright was piecing a quilt. Both see that the craftsmanship of the quilt is declining. One minute Most of the patches are neat and tidy and then “as if she didn’t know what she was about!” (Glaspell) they get untidy and the thread taut as if it might snap any minute. Again both ladies eyes met, which is an ongoing pattern in the story that symbolizes when they fully understand. The errant quilt patches lead the women to a clear killer because they have full evidence that shows that Minnie was distraught over the killing of her bird and finished with the abusive treatment from her husband that eventually drives her mad and we see that through the quilt. Minnie had decided when quilting how she was going to kill him by tying a knot around his neck. The two women know this verdict, yet continue to ignore it. Mrs. Hale actually starts to fix the odd patches. They give excuses for the bad quilting so that they can protect Minnie. Mrs. Hale keeps a calm demeanor and insists that Minnie was maybe just

While the men purposefully look at one event, the women unknowingly connect themselves to a lifetime of pain in the same amount of time and begin to understand the murder was partially self inflicted. Not only do the women identify with Minnie, but they also blame themselves for not adhering to the sisterhood of women: “It’s a lonesome place, and it always was. But I sure wish I’d come to see Minnie Foster sometime” (Glaspell 15:48-15:56). By calling Minnie by her maiden name, Mrs. Hale acknowledges the person Mr. Wright created is separate from the person who resembles the beautiful little bird. The men’s blatant disrespect for the empathy of women directly leads to their “refusal to endanger a sister” (Holstein 290). The line between morality and law wavers in the eyes of the two sexes in this way.

The women in this story take offense quietly to such a comment, for they understand just how hard it is to be a wife of a farmer and maintain the home. Minnie’s kitchen is untidy with evidence of a job interrupted. The women notice and understand that no women would leave their kitchen in such disarray unless something interrupted their work. The women also are offended by the county attorney’s comment, “Dirty towels, not much of a housekeeper, would you say ladies?” Both Martha and Mrs. Peters understand that both the man and the women are responsible for making the house dirty. Mrs. Hale responds, “There is a great deal of work to be done on a farm,” which shows her growing empathy for Minnie. The women remain in the kitchen, the main setting of this short story as the men go off upstairs to the scene of the murder and out to the barn in search of clues to a motive for this crime. The author never takes the reader to these locations. The reader is never informed of what happens with the men on their search, instead we are focused on the women and the kitchen, as this is how the author illustrates the main theme of this story.

“[She is] not much of a housekeeper, would you say, ladies?” asks the County Attorney reference to the mess Mrs. Wright left on the kitchen counter. Mrs. Hale, the neighbor of the Wrights, coldly responds that “there is a great deal of work do be done on a farm” (Glaspell 775). Susan Glaspell’s Trifles is a one act play focused on Mrs. Wright, a character that never actually makes an appearance, though all the discussion in the play is surrounding her. The small section of dialogue mentioned above is a prime and subtle example that is shown early on in the play of the tension between the male and female characters, as Mrs. Hale was so quick to defend the woman who is an active suspect in her husband’s murder case. The County Attorney even comments shortly after in reply to Mrs. Hale that she is apparently loyal to her sex, thus further proving the distinct divide of the genders. There is great dissension experienced between the two women and the three men that are active characters as well as between Mrs. Wright and her husband, and it is this deeply ingrained conflict shown between genders that powers the play. Though the reader never encounters them directly, it is through the unseen characters, Mr. and Mrs. Wright, the aftermath of coercive violence is conveyed.

The characters in “Trifles” are introduced through their genders and this character categorization holds true to their roles throughout the rest of the story. Through these roles we can observe the subtle nuances throughout the play. Although the emphasis in “Trifles” seems to be focused around the men solving the mysterious murder, a closer look at the symbolism, diction, and structure of the story reveals that through their seemingly negligible roles, the women were bound to discover the facts before the men. Through this we begin to realize that throughout life it is the small and minute details that lead us to the bigger picture.

The sheriff, his wife, and the county attorney accompany Mr. and Mrs. Hale at the late John Wright’s house. It now serves as a crime scene to investigate the murder of Mr. Wright. Upon entering the home, the women conversed about how the house was untidy and in disarray, which was unusual for Mrs. Wright. Throughout the rest of the play, the men mock the women for their interest in insignificant things while they involve their concerns in something important, solving a homicide. But while the men are upstairs attempting to figure out what happened, the women use their so-called irrelevant clues to have an unofficial investigation and eventually crack the case.