Trifles By Susan Glaspell Essay

The county attorney does not give a second thought about how John may have treated his wife. Instead, he’s focusing on Mr. Hale’s testimony regarding the alleged “scared” look on John’s face. The men’s bias is often and openly expressed to the women verbally. In accordance to the dialog of the play, the men show they don’t consider what women say vital or pertinent. The Sheriff fires back, identifying with his partners, “Well, can you beat the woman! Held for murder and worryin’ about her preserves.” (Glaspell 1412). The men agree in general about the sheriff’s remark. Mr. Hale comes along and says, “Well, women are used to worrying over trifles.” (Glaspell 1412). The dialog of the play demonstrates the obliviousness and general absence of appreciation given to women’s comments. Even the sheriff addresses his wife openly as if a woman’s role in the home was insignificant. The prejudice from the men is evident and once a reader or audience starts inquiring about how the men treat women, a pattern is seen regarding the men’s standards. The court attorney kicks his foot against the pots and pans below the sink in the wake of discovering no clean towels, telling the ladies “Not

Throughout the drama, Mrs. Wright and the canary share many similarities. For example, Mrs. Hale, the wife of Mr. Hale, describes that Mrs. Wright “was kind of like a bird herself—sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and—fluttery” (185). Overall, the quotation describes Mrs. Wright as a gentle and submissive woman, the type of woman society expected her to be. In addition, although Mrs. Hale compares her to a bird in a favorable manner, she also defines Mrs. Wright as a woman that is fragile and uncappable of providing for herself, another social stereotype that women were subject to. Ultimately, however, the rigid social expectations for women served to reiterate their role in the home and to further confine them to the homestead itself, especially as society typically objectified and trivialized women, celebrating the conforming wife while condemning women to have their wings clipped by society’s standards. In this way, beyond her personality, Mrs. Wright becomes even more synonymous with the canary, an estranged creature confined behind bars as an aesthetic spectacle that is unable to sing an independent song.

What does the play seem to say about power and gender? Compare and contrast at least four characters, using specific examples to support your answer.

One issue that seems to have been prevalent throughout history is that of strict gender roles. Issues involving gender are no exception in the play Trifles by Susan Glaspell. Strict gender roles create a conflict that is not only revealed through the division of labor, but is also shown through the men’s expectations and limitations for the women in their society. The conflict in this play is expressed through the theme, the dialogue, and the setting.

The theme of gender is presented to the audience as dramatic irony as well, since this play was written in 1912, the play shows how women were in that certain period of time, they didn’t have as many rights, they weren’t treated equally with men, in fact they were seen to be lower than men. However in the time that this play was written which is 1945 women had a lot more rights due to the fact that when men left the country for war, which according to Mr.Birling wasn’t supposed to happen, all the women were the people who looked after the country and kept it going, women became more interdependent and the society just grew and became a lot more open minded with their thoughts. JB Priestly has tried to show the importance of women in the play as well in the play as well at some places but very indirectly, like in that part where the inspector says, “There are a lot of young women living that sort of existence in every city and big towns in this

The gender differences in the play are obvious and important to the story. The men in this play exhibit some traditional stereotypes of men during the time period, such that they were aggressive and self-centered. The women seem to be more cautious, intuitive and sensitive. These traits allow the women to come a lot closer to figuring out the murder than the men do. At one point in the play the women find a quilt that Mrs. Wright had been working on. Mrs. Hale asks Mrs. Peters, “I wonder if she was goin’ to quilt it or just knot it?” (658). Just then the sheriff comes down the stairs and once again ridicules the women for worrying about such little things. “They wonder if she was going to quilt it or just knot it!” (658), he exclaims. This is actually an important piece of evidence in the story, as the ladies find out later. They realize that she was extremely nervous about something while she was sewing, because she usually sews “so nice and even” (658), but the piece she had been working on was “all over the place” (658).

To get us started, how do the roles and identities of women in this play compare to that of the male figures?

The prominence of the patriarchal society in Susan Glaspell's one act play, "Trifles," differentiates the roles of the two genders that society demanded them to undertake. In the 1900s, countless women were restricted within their home while the men left working to financially support the family. The head of the family and society is the man, and the play clearly depicts the limitations women had in this patriarchal society. Throughout the play, the women defy the patriarchal expectations. Thus, Glaspell reveals the patriarchy, as a restrictive force, assigns women unwanted roles.

During the time in which the play took place, society frowned upon women asserting themselves. Women were expected to play a role in which they supported their husbands,

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

Throughout the story, Glaspell characterizes the men by negative, and even insulting, things they say to their women counterparts. Glaspell wrote County Attorney sarcastically saying, “What can [men] do without the ladies?” (982). Snide comments like this continue in the play, spoken by every man in the script.

During the time in which the play took place society frowned upon women asserting themselves.  Women were supposed to play a role in which they supported their husbands, took care of their children,

Right from the beginning, the play introduces the differences in the male and female characters by their attitude towards one another. The men identify themselves by their job titles, the sheriff and county attorney. The men treat the women and Minnie Wright as irreverent and worthless. “Hale: Well, women are used to worrying over trifles” (Glaspell 1040). In the play, the woman’s identity describes her connection with the woman’s husband, not the role as an independent human being.

1. How does Glaspell characterize the women in the play? What attitudes toward men do they display? What do they discover, and why?

The theme of gender separation is often shown in the non-spoken aspects of the play. This is seen before the play even begins. The way the characters are