The struggle between the male and female gender has long seen its differences throughout our American history. Prior to 1848, women did not have a voice or a valued opinion; they were simply thought of as unseen and unintelligent. It took nearly 72 years before the 19th amendment to our Constitution was signed into law, granting women the right to vote (Infoplease). During the early part of the twentieth century, the duties and structures of women’s lives would have predisposed them to approach a problem from a different angle than that of men and even today, despite the significant changes in women’s lives and opportunities since mid-century, women’s responsibilities and concerns tend to remain somewhat distinct from men’s (Holstein). …show more content…
Wright as a withdrawn woman married to a taciturn and stingy farmer, childless, nearly friendless and completely isolated on an Iowa farmstead. Almost every action of the farmwives in this play is designed to make Minnie’s presence felt, something that had been long lost (Noe). The concept of the “unseen woman” continues when Mrs. Hale rescues the surviving jar of Mrs. Wright’s cherry preserves, when both women gather clothes to take to jail and when Mrs. Hale begins to sit in the rocking chair; we feel as if that third woman is on stage (Noe). Mrs. Hale completes an action begun by Mrs. Wright when she takes out the sewing basket and finishes a badly sewn piece and later she finds the empty birdcage and silk-wrapped dead canary. These actions enable us to envision Mrs. Wright working in her kitchen on the d ay of the murder and reconstruct the events that precipitated it (Noe). The setting functions metonymically, standing for the unseen woman, who, in turn, represents the unseen American women of her day, relegated to the domestic sphere and excluded from positions of power (Noe). The absence of the woman who is central to these spaces de-familiarizes her; making her less hospitable to the characters that we do see (Noe). Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters reflect this feeling of discomfort with their environment by the slow and hesitating way that they move about and talk in Mrs. Wright’s kitchen. Stage directions indicate that Mrs. Hale is “disturbed now and looks
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
As the ladies examine the house, while the men are other places, picking clothes and an apron up for Mrs. Wright, Mrs. Hale gains sympathy for her until finally she starts to take action. When they find the block of quilting that has stitching askew, she starts to fix it, perhaps to cover for Mrs. Wright?s distraught state of mind. While Mrs. Hale is finding sympathy for Mrs. Wright, Mrs. Peters offers a counterpoint that tries to justifies the men?s viewpoints and actions. Her comments to Mrs. Hale?s resentful musings on Mrs. Wright?s unhappy life and on the actions of men in regards to women in general all seem to be rote answers programmed into her by society and a desire not to cause any trouble. This all changes as soon as Mrs. Peters finds the bird.
Women have been a vital key to the shaping and progression of our society. Throughout time, women’s roles and opportunities in the family, workplace, and society have greatly evolved. They started from being housewives that don’t have many rights, even in the household, to being valued citizens in our
As the women walk through the house, they begin to get a feel for what Mrs. Wright’s life is like. They notice things like the limited kitchen space, the broken stove, and the broken jars of fruit and begin to realize the day-to-day struggles that Mrs. Wright endured. The entire house has a solemn, depressing atmosphere. Mrs. Hale regretfully comments that, for this reason and the fact that Mr. Wright is a difficult man to be around, she never came to visit her old friend, Mrs. Wright.
Mrs. Hale’s understanding of the situation also comes from the insight she had on Mr. and Mrs. Wright’s relationship. Her understanding allows her to more easily see a motive than Mrs. Peters or the men. Glaspell shows Mrs. Peters’ ignorance in the following lines, “Not to know him; I’ve seen him in town. They say he was a good man” (1035), and follows that with Mrs. Hale’s understanding of Mr. Wright “Yes-good; he didn’t drink, and kept his word as well as most… But he was a hard man, Mrs. Peters. Just to pass the time of day with him-[Shivers]” (1035). With this personal experience of knowing both Mr. and Mrs. Wright; Mrs. Hale has a different perspective of what has happened than the reader or the rest of the characters. With this knowledge Mrs. Hale can share Mrs. and Mr. Wright’s relationship with not only Mrs. Peters but also the reader, and allow both audiences a chance to make their own judgment of the situation.
“Trifles” by Susan Glaspell is a play that is largely based on stereotypes. The most prevalent one is the inferiority of women over men, though the play also explores the differences between genders in general.
In the play, the county attorney stumbles upon Mrs. Wright?s preserves. Due to the frigid temperature, most of her preserves held in glass jars had broken. Only one jar ? a jar of cherries ? manages to survive. The fruit possess much symbolism as well. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters feel very sorry that Mrs. Wright had spent much ?hard work in the hot weather? in order to have her preserves. She had saved the fruit so that one day she could enjoy them. However, this was not the case. All of her hard labor was shattered as a result of the temperature. Similarly, Mrs. Wright was shattered by her husband killing her canary bird. The broken jars and spoiled fruit also resemble Mrs. Wright. They are both contained in this ?cold? atmosphere and sooner or later break. The one jar of cherries that manages to survive suggests Mrs. Wright?s character. Despite all the negative influences around her, she will not meet her demise and she has to do the only thing that would keep her from vanishing? that is, murdering Mr. Wright.
However, Susan Glaspell uses the kitchen in the plot as another theatrical metaphor for a domain of gender identification because it is a women’s domestic territory where women’s life is revealed through common kitchen items. Throughout the play, we can distinguish the roles given to women in that era. In this era, women’s roles were generally reproductive, so they have been relegated to the home with less interaction with the outside world. Because kitchens have often served as work spaces, women have found a sense of empowerment through domestic tasks such as cooking, food knowledge, and efficiency of the kitchen. These conditions reveal the state of mind of women in the play. Minnie Wright’s “gloomy kitchen” (Glaspell 443) is “left without having been put in order—unwashed pans under the sink, a loaf of bread outside the breadbox, a dish towel on the table—other signs of incompleted work” (Glaspell 443). She lost her motivation to do housework chores, which represents that her mind is battered and leads to Mr. Wright’s murder—he has distorted her life.
The play Trifles by Susan Glaspell is engrossed in the theme of gender roles and expectations. It is made very clear the line drawn between the men and women in the play. The men have a different attitude toward Minnie Wright than the women do. Thus revealing the differences between them. The men immediately begin to criticize Mrs. Wright’s homemaking skills and the women empathize with her. They often say defend her by saying “There’s a great deal of work to be done on a farm.” (1861). The women were looked down upon by the men as the women are thought of as inferior to the men. As the men would often mock the women about what they take notice of in the home. The women were expected to be homemakers and obedient wives. The men were expected
The play is filled with symbols, especially the broken cage and the dead bird, which could have represented Minnie Wright herself, a woman whose zest for life had been squeezed out of her by her tyrant of a husband. The women discuss Minnie’s life. Mrs. Hale remembered Minnie Wright as a happy, beautiful, gifted young girl before the years of toil and mistreatment by John Wright had turned her into a sad, lonely and perhaps, battered woman (1624). Mrs. Hale was sympathetic because she also was a farm wife but at least, she had her children to keep her company. Mrs. Hale felt guilty that she hadn’t taken the time to visit Minnie Wright but she excused herself saying that their was so much work to do on the farm and the Wright place never looked cheerful. Moreover, we must notice that neighbors were few and far away from each other. Houses were miles apart separated by farmland and rough country; therefore visiting was a daylong trip.
Society has long since considered women the lessor gender and one of the most highly debated topics in society through the years has been that of women’s equality. The debates began over the meaning between a man and woman’s morality and a woman’s rights and obligations in society. After the 19th Amendment was sanctioned around 1920, the ball started rolling on women’s suffrage. Modern times have brought about the union of these causes, but due to the differences between the genetic makeup and socio demographics, the battle over women’s equality issue still continues to exist. While men have always held the covenant role of the dominant sex, it was only since the end of the 19th century that the movement for women’s equality and the
Hale as he makes conversation with the county attorney about a party telephone stating, “I spoke to Wright about it once before and he put me off, saying folks talked too much anyway, and all he asked was peace and quiet.” This shows, Mr. Wright had the friendliness of a grizzly bear, the attitude of an Indian chief and the intentions of a crab. It seems as though everyone in the town understood Mr. Wright and how he preferred to keep things quiet and simple. So quiet in fact that he moved his wife “down in a hollow were you can’t see the road,” and chose not to have any children because it was less work without them and less noise too. Mrs. Wright lived her entire marriage alone confined to a tiny house in the middle of nowhere with her only true companion a bird who sung to her who she loved like a child. Upon inspection of the home the bird was gone, and the cage was broken making one wonder its whereabouts. Finding her bird either missing or dead could have been enough to make her become enraged with pathos. Mrs. Wright blamed her husband for her loneliness his silence each day along with her not allowing her to sing anymore in the choir or have friends over. Mr. Wright trusted his wife just like everyone in the small town were the Wrights have always lived also trusted her.
Mrs. Wright is referred to when Mrs. Hale speaks of her by using her maiden name, when saying ?I wish you?d seen Minnie Foster when she wore a white dress with blue ribbons and stood up there in the choir and sang.? The old rocking chair symbolizes Mrs. Wright as she has allowed herself to depreciate, just as the rocking chair has depreciated. ?The chair sagged to one side,? Mrs. Hale stated that the chair was not anything like she remembered, referring to the fact that Mrs. Wright has also changed since she
To counterattack the statement pressed by Hale, Henderson tries to show that women are somehow important because men would do nothing without them. Though, presence of unwashed dishes, dirty towels and tables reflect Mrs. Wright as a carefree woman. But, women in this scene (Mrs. Hale) try to defend her by highlighting that in such a farm, there are more roles that it meets the eye. Two things are evident here; men in this play take up the position of professional lawmakers while women take the position of caregivers who are ready to help Mrs. Wright even if she is
While the play develops you may see Mrs. Hale’s act of empathy toward Ms. Wright due to the fact that she knew her and knew how hard It was to be a stay at home wife and how hard it was to run a farmhouse. In a moment where Mr. Henderson inside is sexist mind judges Mrs. Wright as to failing in her performance to keep a clean and good working farmhouse, Mrs. Hale defends Minnie against his judgment demonstrating how women are united by common experiences and men fail to understand their